March 7, 2010
Luke 13:1-9
“One More Year… Whew!”
Franklin Circle Christian Church
Allen V. Harris
 

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In November, the Communication and Information Minister for Indonesia, Tifatul Sembiring, declared at a prayer meeting that the earthquake which had hit the island nation the previous September was caused by too many television programs that destroyed morals. More than 1,000 people died in the Padang earthquake, which toppled hundreds of buildings in and around that city. Indonesia lies across a series of geological fault-lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. (1)

More recently, in January following the devastating earthquake in Haiti, the Rev. Pat Robertson blamed the earthquake, as well as the great poverty of that country, on voodoo rites that were supposedly conducted before a slave uprising against French colonists in 1791. Most sociologists and historians understand Haiti’s poverty is due to a tragic combination of decades of foreign occupation, multiple corrupt regimes, natural disasters, environmental devastation, and the scourge of HIV/AIDS. (2)

A CBS/New York Times poll in December of last year asked who was to blame for our economic crisis and recession. President Bush, the banks, politicians in general, and President Obama were all blamed. (3) In a breathtakingly sweeping article on our current unemployment crisis in the March 2010 issue of The Atlantic Monthly, writer Don Peck goes through the effects of this recession on Americans. Peck makes the case that deep joblessness, like the one we are in now, will have profound and lasting effects on us all in terms of our self-image and self-esteem, our mental health, and our tendency toward addictions and we must act now to reduce these effects. One of the most heart-wrenching descriptions in his article was the effect of deep, long-term unemployment on men and their families. As much as we want to imagine our society as completely gender equal, we still, on the whole, put the responsibility for bread-winning on men, and blame them, either implicitly or explicitly, when they cannot fulfill their “manly” responsibilities. And we men continue to hold ourselves up to a high standard of providing for our families, and blame ourselves when we can’t. (4)

“Who’s to blame?” Isn’t that the question that is on every mind following a disaster or tragedy? “Someone’s got to be responsible here!” Isn’t that what we start saying when times get tough? How quickly we move into CSI-mode, uncovering facts, tracking down leads, and nailing the “perp.” You! You are the cause of my misery and despair!

Jesus, never one to shy away from a challenge, takes this blame-game attitude head on. In Luke 13, our text for today, Jesus shines the spotlight on two current events, for his time, which caused some to seek to blame – one a tragedy wrought by human hands – Pilate slaughtering faithful Jews at worship – and the other a natural disaster of sorts – the collapse of the tower of Siloam. In both cases he ponders whether or not the victims were to blame because of their sinfulness. In both cases he unequivocally says, “No, I tell you!” Jesus nails shut the question of whether or not tragedies strike as the result of our sinfulness.

Jesus confronted this mindset elsewhere in the gospel of John when he was asked by his disciples upon seeing a man blind from birth, “Who sinned, Rabbi, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Like in our text today, Jesus will have nothing of this simplistic blame-game. “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” Jesus answered. (John 9:1-3)

But Jesus, never one to let a good argument rests, in each case takes his argument a step further. In John’s gospel, he ends by saying, “He was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.” In today’s texts, in both instances, he concludes, “No, I tell you,” with “but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.

In one completed sentence, Jesus both separates sin from tragedy AND reminds us there is always more to the story. No, neither this man nor his parents sinned, BUT every human being has the chance to find and proclaim God’s glory! No, a victim’s sin doesn’t give mad tyrants permission to slaughter them nor does it explain why a ton of bricks comes crashing down on them, BUT every human being still sins and has the call to repent for those sins.

Paul would say it eloquently in his letter to the Romans when he reminded us, “since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God they are now justified by his grace as a gift through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” (Romans 3:23-24) But let’s not get to that “grace” thing too quickly. I want to stay with blame and repentance for a moment.

Aside from the rantings of televangelists and bizarre communication bureaucrats, the tendency to want to find blame in difficult situations is a well-documented human condition. Now, let me be clear, finding blame is not the same as seeking responsibility. In almost every catastrophe and heartache, there are reasons why the events unfolded as they did, and most likely people who need to take responsibility for allowing the situation to get as bad as it did. There are reasons why Haiti had over 200,000 deaths in a 7.0 earthquake and Chile had only 800 deaths in an 8.8 magnitude earthquake. There are reasons why the economy tanked in 2008 and unemployment has reached 10%, or, if you count underemployment also, 17.4%, the highest figures since the 1930’s. In the same way, in today’s texts, there are people responsible for the atrocity that happened in the temple, from Pilate who gave the orders to the soldiers who did the killing. Likewise, we must ask, “Why was the tower of Siloam so unstable, and was there a way to prevent it from falling and killing citizens?”

Yes, there are factors, and even people, that may be responsible for tragedies happening, or being worse than they would have been otherwise. There are probably even people who can and should be held accountable. But blame is not part of a healthy equation. Blame, in my humble estimation, is an attempt to deflect, defer, or deny one’s own responsibility, whether it be in a specific incident or in general. Jesus, realizing our tendency to blame, turns the question around to us. “But unless you repent…”

And we come to that pivotal word, “repent.” In Greek, metanoia, meaning, literally, to turn one’s thoughts to a different course, to change one’s mind, to have an “after thought,” or, as one commentator said, to “think after God’s thoughts.” Repentance is a spiritual discipline that is especially called for in the season of Lent. Along with prayer, Bible Study, and Almsgiving, practicing repentance is a discipline that must be nurtured and practices.

Now, one of the things that caught my mind this week was the realization that Jesus, in Luke 13, is talking to a crowd, perhaps some disciples, perhaps some of the folks who have been testing him incessantly, some scribes or Pharisees. Essentially they are arm-chair commentators on the tragedies that had recently happened in Jerusalem. They are standing still, in other words. The question that comes to my mind is, “Does one need to turn around, repent, if you are standing still?” Isn’t it the case that more often than not, we tend to reserve repentance for those who are actively doing something wrong? We think that repentance is necessary only for those who are doing evil, and not for me, as I stand or sit here comfortably watching on.

No. I think part of what Jesus’ reminder that “Unless you repent, you will perish just as they did,” is a call to those of us who are standing still watching. Because, repentance isn’t just about changing a direction of movement, but changing one’s mind. I like to think of it in terms of “facing the right direction.” Does one need to turn around if one is standing still? YES! For with God, it is the direction in which you are facing that matters the most, because the direction you are facing tells to whom you are listening and in whom you trust. Does one need to turn around if one is standing still? YES! because it is harder to play the blame-game if you are facing Jesus. There is too much rubber-necking on the road of life, and too many people gawking at other people’s misfortune (or our own) and getting caught up in finding fault, and not enough of us taking responsibility.

No, I am hardly to blame for the earthquakes in Indonesia, or Haiti, or Chile, nor am I to blame for the tower of Siloam falling, but I am responsible for making sure my government officials create and enforce good building codes and emergency evacuation procedures, for working with non-profit organizations in Cleveland to help eliminate poverty, and to make sure my own property is as safe as I can maintain it. No, I might not be to blame for the economic crisis of our country and world, nor for the high unemployment rate, but I am responsible for the employees over whom I am Head of Staff, and we together are responsible for doing what we can to create a healthy and welcoming safety net of services for those who are unemployed. And we must always turn our faces toward Jesus and look into his eyes and in them we will see where we need to let loose of the blame as well as for what we are responsible.

And turning around looking into Jesus’ eyes, changing our minds to be more in line with God’s thoughts, we will then hear the rest of Jesus story. For the brief parable of the unfruitful fig tree which Jesus tells in conjunction with the two tragedies is a somewhat humorous, but absolutely clear call to know that God, who does get frustrated with our constant blaming and our tedious recriminations, will, in the end, wait for us to be our best selves, to be fruitful, to fulfill our calling as children of God. God is not about blame, but about calling us to be the very best we can be, that which we were created to be. That’s grace!

The “gardener” convinces the “owner” that, given one more year, the fig tree can and will bear fruit. Sisters and brothers, we do not have enough time to sit around blaming one another and ourselves for the misfortunes that fall in life. There are too many and it does us no good. Instead, let us change our minds, face in a new direction, and begin to take responsibility for those things that ARE able to be changed, that are in our realm of authority, that for which we are responsible, so that, at least in our little corner of the world, justice and peace will flourish, and our tree will bear delicious fruit. May it be so!

Amen.

(1) Disasters 'caused by immorality'
A government minister has blamed Indonesia's recent string of natural disasters on people's immorality.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8384827.stm

(2) “Robertson again blaming the victims” By Carl Hiaasen
http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/01/16/1428515/robertson-again-blaming-the-victims.html , Posted on Sat, Jan. 16, 2010, chiaasen@MiamiHerald.com

(3) “Poll shows who Americans blame for unemployment”
December 21, 2009 by Bob Hill
http://www.businessbrief.com/poll-shows-who-americans-blame-for-unemployment/

(4)
“How a New Jobless Era Will Transform America” by Don Peck, March 2010, Atlantic Magazine
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2010/03/how-a-new-jobless-era-will-transform-america/7919/

 

Rev. Allen V. Harris
Franklin Circle Christian Church
www.FranklinCircleChurch.org


 

Copyright 2010 -- The Rev. Allen V. Harris

Franklin Circle Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

1688 Fulton Rd., Cleveland, OH 44113-3096