FROM THE PAST TO THE FUTURE

Reflections on the Third Sunday of Lent: Exodus 3:1-8a,13-15, 1 Corinthians 10:1-6,10-12, Luke 13:1-9

“Preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other”, said Karl Barth, a renowned Swiss reformed theologian. In today’s gospel, Jesus seems to be doing precisely that. Something horrible has happened and the news is spreading like wildfire. Some people from Jerusalem narrate to Jesus the news of the fairly recent massacre of Galileans who were offering sacrifices in the temple.

We know Pilate to be quite hot-headed and cruel whose rule was marked by brutality and tension with the local Jewish population. It is possible therefore that he would slaughter possibly innocent civilians of Galilee who generally travel to Jerusalem to sacrifice for the Passover. It is equally plausible that he would risk provoking the sentiments of people by ‘mingling their blood with the blood of their sacrifices’.  This was an abomination for the Jewish locals for the holy sacrifice was marred by bloodshed and murder.

Jesus shifts the focus (like he always does) from the violence and the ‘holiness question’ to the victims. Why did these Galileans have to die? Since the subject is a sensitive and political one, Jesus cites another recent event: the fall of the tower of Siloam: eighteen dead! How could God allow the accidental death of so many innocent people? The line of questioning is a classic one, what we call in theology and philosophy the problem of evil. Why do the innocents suffer and the wicked prosper? How could God allow the brutal murder of Galileans in the temple and the accidental death of those in Siloam? How could an all-powerful, all-loving God allow such evil and suffering?

Interestingly, Jesus shifts the focus from the past to the future. The people of his time were fixated on the past and it was normal for his contemporaries to justify evil in the name of sin and punishment. The only way they could make sense of the problem of evil was to attribute their suffering, sickness, and pain to their past sins. It is a flawed logic: They are suffering. So they must have sinned. Jesus refutes this justification categorically when he insists, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means!”

The conclusion of the Siloam story is the same: “Do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!” They did not die because they were sinners. Jesus challenges the assumption that any evil is a necessary consequence of one’s past sin. However, he also adds in both instances, “But I tell you if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” What does this mean? They did not die because of their sins. But if I don’t repent, will I perish like them? Jesus’ stand on the relation between sin and suffering: sin does lead to suffering but not all suffering results from sin.

Jesus does not propose a theory to explain the problem of evil. Instead, he insists that we look to the future: Convert! Repent! Change your outlook! As the Lord had already revealed through Ezekiel: I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked but that the wicked turn from their ways and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?” Suffering is a result of our choices and if we choose to sin, we also (knowingly or unknowingly) choose to suffer (Romans 6:23, 1 John 3:4).

However, that is not God’s destiny for us. So he calls us to walk the path of conversion. To remain in sin, not to want to be converted, is to condemn ourselves to death, and to a much more serious death than the end of our life on earth, to a spiritual death that will deprive us of the life of God forever. However, that is not God’s destiny for us. So he calls us to walk the path of conversion.

As the first reading insists, God’s plan for us is to guide us on this path of repentance from the slavery of Egypt to the promised land flowing with milk and honey. Therefore, do not get fixated on the past. Look to the future. Look with love, not with hatred. Look with justice, you will be ‘satisfied’. Do good around you, not evil. The Lord forgives and executes justice for He is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and full of love (Psalm 103). However, it is our responsibility to convert and embrace the experience of God’s patient wait with a greater sense of urgency.

Paul adds, “Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall”. Who knows how much time we have left? This is also the message of the fig tree parable (gospel). The tree has been given an ultimatum: a year! However, the gardener does not abandon it in its path from barrenness to fruition. He “cultivates the ground around it and fertilizes it so that it may bear fruit in the future”. Again the focus is on our future not on our past. Lent is not so much a time to obsess about our past but to recognise the potential of our future. It is not about what we have done but about what we can become!