Sermons for the Month
Faithfully Answering the Why Questions of Life
DATE: March 14th, 2004
SERVICE: Third Sunday In Lent
TEXT: Luke 13:1-9“To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN
I'll tell you what … I wish I had a dollar for every time someone asked me the questions that were asked of Jesus in today's Gospel lesson. Maybe you are thinking about - or looking back at - what was read and are wondering what exactly I mean.
After all, how many people could have asked me about the spiritual state of Galileans who were attacked by Romans when they were offering sacrifices? That's certainly not a common question, nor is an inquiry about a tower that fell in Jerusalem during the first century, killing 18 people.
Obviously those are not the questions for which I'd like a dollar. I'm referring to the real questions being asked in this text. There are two - one is, "Why did this happen to them?" The second one is, "How can I keep it from happening to me?" Those are questions that we all have asked, or been asked, often.
The people who came to Jesus want to know if those who had been killed in the temple by Pilate's soldiers had been terrible sinners. Is that why this awful thing - that resulted in the temple being defiled - occurred? Were they being punished? And what about that group that was randomly crushed when that tower fell in Jerusalem. What did they do? Did God target them because of their sin?
These questioners want to know what we all want to know when bad things happen. Why did this difficult (because the question usually is posed only in the face of challenge) thing occur and what can I do so that it does not happen to me?
As I reflect on these very human and constantly timely questions it seems to me that the answer to "why" usually falls into four categories. People say difficulties occur because:
- of something negative that the victim did;
- of something negative that a person who is in contact with the victim did;
- there is some Divine purpose or reason that we do not grasp or
- we live in an imperfect world filled with imperfect people.
Let's look at each of these. The first answer to the why question is that the victim did something negative. There could be truth in that if, for example, that person chose to drive drunk, had an accident and was injured. But I've also heard it said that the reason why someone is ill because he or she did not have enough faith to be healed or because the suffering is punishment for sin. If you ask me, that's the wrong answer to the why question.
The second answer is that a negative event occurred because of a choice someone else made, someone connected to the victim. Once again, this could be true. A person may chose to drive drunk and cause suffering to an innocent person. But I also knew a woman who believed her husband died of a heart attack because she had an affair; in other words she was being punished by her husband's death. Or, I read about a woman whose daughter had a brain tumor. She was convinced it was because God wanted her to give up smoking and she had not done so. "It's my punishment," she said. Once again, I think that's a wrong answer to the way question.
That brings us then to the third answer, that there is some Divine purpose or reason to explain why a negative event occurred. This one is more difficult to discuss. I can only respond to it on a very personal level. When my 16-year-old brother was killed in a bicycle-car accident I remember people saying that, "God needed him", or that, "It was his time", or that, "God had a purpose in allowing him to die." Even at the tender age of 14 I could not imagine a God who would purposely allow such suffering in my life, and especially in my parents' life.
Although some positive things occurred in the midst of that tragedy, I never felt that his death occurred for a purpose, so that particular events could be set into motion. That's where I'm coming from, I'll be honest. While some people are comforted by the idea that there is a purpose or a reason for everything, I am not. And, I do not think that explanation fits very well with the fact we have been given free will. So, to me, that's also not a good answer to the "why" question.
That brings us then to the last answer that I suggested. Why do negative things happen? It's because we live in an imperfect world filled with imperfect people, and often we have to deal with the bad choices of others or the randomness of life. But, in the midst of it all, God is with us working in ways that we cannot fully understand.
And that's the challenge, isn't it? If I say that bad things happen because of something I or someone else did, then - at least in theory - I or someone else can have more faith, or sin less, or pray more, or do whatever is needed to prevent it from happening again. I am in control.
Similarly, if I say there's a Divine reason or a purpose for everything, then all I have to do is figure out what it is. Not only will I feel better but maybe I can even keep fulfilling that purpose to avoid further difficulty. Or, I can blame God for doing that which I cannot understand and have a perfectly legitimate reason to drift away. Once again, I'm in control.
But, if bad things happen because of life's imperfect state, then there's nothing I can do to keep the plane from flying into the building or the illness from attacking my loved one. All I can do is put my life in God's hands, ask for strength, and pray for the ability to see the amazing ways God can work in the midst of this imperfect world. One day, when Jesus returns, this world will be what God intended it to be. Until then, we wait and we trust.
So, when the people came to Jesus about the massacre in the temple and the falling tower, what they wanted to know was, why did it happen? Jesus tells them that it was not because the people involved were any worse than anyone else. They had not done anything to deserve death. This was not God's judgment - it was just one of those things.
Then Jesus goes on to answer the second unspoken question, "What can we do?" In the text his answer sounds harsh, he says, "Repent or you will perish just as they did." I've given that some thought and I've done some reading on this passage.
It seems that what Jesus is saying is that the thing you can do in the midst of this imperfect world is work on your relationship with God. If you need to change the direction of your life, then do it, because when suffering comes - as surely it does even to people of faith - then it is our sense of God's power and presence in our lives, and the promise of eternal life, that will really help.
Knowing that God grants us the ability to live in this imperfect world filled with imperfect people, and not only the ability to live here but also to bear fruit - that is make a difference - is perhaps the best way to deal with the "whys" of our existence. There are no perfect answers to why so much suffering occurs, but there is the promise of a life filled with the presence of Jesus.
As Henri Nouwen reminded us, "The Gospel is not a palliative to escape the pain of life, but the way to transform suffering into the birth pangs of something new."
May we let go of the "whys", put our lives in God's hands, and watch for the birth of renewed, forceful, yet accepting faith that changes us and the world.
AMEN