Big Questions

THIS WEEK’S GOSPEL: LUKE 13:1-9 (MESSAGE)

About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, “Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die.”

Then he told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’ “The gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’”

Not the easiest of lessons, huh?  Why do bad things happen to good people?  Why are there tragedies in life?  Why are some people burdened by life and others not? Why? Why? Why?

“Why?” has always been my question. It is a question that is rooted in struggle for justice, equality and fairness.  My mother reminds me that life isn’t fair.  But shouldn’t theology, shouldn’t God, be fair?  Is this what Jesus is saying?  Is he really telling us that life happens sometimes when we are praying and sometimes when we are just in the wrong place at the wrong time?  Is he saying that we are all the same?  Really?

So if we are all the same, then is Jesus reminding us that God’s love for us is the same – the good and the bad?  Is God’s mercy for us the same – the good and the bad?  Is God’s grace for us the same – the good and the bad?

Does this also mean that God gives us another year to turn our lives toward and to be embraced by that love, that mercy and that grace so that we (in whatever time we have) produce the fruit of justice, equality, fairness, mercy, grace and love? 

If these mirror any of your questions, then please join us this Sunday, March 3 at 9:45am in Christ Church for the third Sunday in Lent as we collect food for the Wellesley Food Pantry, share the Lord’s Supper and ask some really big questions.  See you in Church!