Why do bad things sometimes happen to good people? If people suffer and become victims of a crime, or experience a natural tragedy, does this mean God is punishing them for their sins? Does it mean that God does not love them?
In the case of the two tragedies Jesus mentions in our Gospel, Jesus asks, are the people who suffered like this, worse sinners than all the other people who did not suffer these tragedies.
Did God judge them because of their excessive sin? Is God giving back to people what they deserved? Unfortunately, there are people even in our modern world, who still think suffering is a just desert for sins. The victims must have done something bad to deserve this.
While some personal sins can be the direct cause of our suffering, this would not normally be the case if someone is the victim of a crime, or suffers in some natural disaster, or tragic mishap.
Are people who suffer worse sinners than us? What does our faith teach us? The reality is we are all sinners. As St. Paul reminds us, “For there is no distinction; all have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God (Romans 3:22b-23). The just punishment for each one of us is not merely suffering and death, but eternal death. We deserve the just punishment of eternal separation from God.
Apart from God’s mercy, we all deserve punishment for our sins. None of us wants to face God’s justice in this way. We should not desire God’s strict justice, but his mercy. As our psalm refrain reminds us, “The Lord is kind and merciful.” In mercy, Jesus says two times in response, “By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:3, 5).
Jesus answers with an emphatic, no! By no means are people who suffer worse sinners than those who do not. Then Jesus adds a very important word “but.” Religious people who blame the victim, and show no mercy, are liable to a much greater punishment. Jesus says, “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:3, 5).
The first step in our own conversion is to cooperate with the Holy Spirit and to become aware of our own sinfulness, so that we can repent. We must begin in humility and become aware of our brokenness. We must become childlike and docile to the prompting of the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:21).
Ironically the closer we come to God, the more aware of our brokenness we become. St. John reminds us in his first letter, “If we say, ‘We are without sin,’ we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us” (1 John 1:8). If a person thinks they have arrived at perfection, and they look down on others in sinful contempt, they are deceived! The truth is not in them!
St. John Paul II has reminded us; Jesus' primary mission in his earthly life was to reveal the love and mercy of the Father to a broken humanity. To offer them hope, and to call them to repentance. Jesus did this both in his words and in his actions.
The most profound revelation of this truth was Jesus’ sacrifice of love on the cross. Jesus came to suffer and die for our sins and to join himself to our human sufferings to bring meaning to our sufferings. God’s mercy is available to everyone, but it requires our cooperation to bear the fruit of mercy in our life.
The idea that sinners are cut off from receiving God’s mercy is completely false. In fact, Jesus’ priority was not towards the righteous, but to reach out to sinners. Jesus reminds, “I have not come to call the righteous to repentance but sinners” (Luke 5:32, cf. Rom 5:8). Because of God’s mercy, God rejects no one for being a sinner. However, God does require our response or our cooperation with his offer of grace.
On the other hand, to reject this mercy is a fearful thing. A mixed up person might believe they must first make themselves acceptable to God, through their own effort. In effect, to earn their own salvation.
Jesus does call us to become aware of our sins, and to confess our sins with contrition, then to repent and follow him. While requiring this response, grace is a gift from God.
This is completely different from thinking that I can earn my way to God through my own good works. As if we could create a ladder constructed by our unaided good works that would reach up to heaven.
St. Paul reminds us, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast” (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Apart from God’s grace and mercy, we cannot be saved. We do not earn our way to heaven by our good works (CCC 2092). Our good works are instead the fruit of our conversion and of a changed life moved interiorly by the Spirit. Each of us should see fruit in our life. If we cannot point to this fruition our life, there is a problem. Yet when we see fruit in our life, is the result and not the means of our salvation.
The completely wrong-headed notion that we can save ourselves by good works, is at the very heart of what Jesus confronts in our Gospel. Those who think they are saving themselves by their own works become self-righteous. They look down on others as sinners, often in hypocrisy. Because they have become proud of their own good works, they focus on the rules, and they want justice, but are unwilling to offer mercy to others.
Jesus' strongest condemnations in the Gospels are against those who fail to show mercy, and against their hypocrisy (Luke 6:39-45). Jesus says, “Be merciful, just as [also] your Father is merciful. Stop judging and you will not be judged. Stop condemning and you will not be condemned. Forgive and you will be forgiven” (Luke 6:36–37).
In Matthew’s Gospel Jesus makes an even stronger statement. Echoing the words of the Our Father prayer, “Forgive us our transgressions as we forgive those who transgress against us,” Jesus warns, “But if you do not forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your transgressions” (Matthew 6:15).
We end with Jesus’ parable of the Barren Fig Tree. This parable is a call to examine our hearts. First, we should note that the “gardener” is patient and merciful. Even though the fig tree is currently barren, he holds out hope. Yet, this mercy has a time limit. If the fig tree continues to fail to cooperate, it will eventually be “cut down” (13:9).
During this season of Lent, Jesus asks us to be truly honest and vulnerable. Is our life bearing the fruit of Jesus’ mercy and love? Is our tree barren or fruitful? Do we understand that we are not saving ourselves by our own good works, but instead that we are all sinners, utterly dependent on God’s mercy?
Have we surrendered our life to Jesus, and made him the center of our life? This is the meaning of being Jesus' disciple and the essence of our ongoing conversion. If we have done this, what can we give him in thanks for this great gift of his love?
THIRD SUNDAY OF LENT YEAR C
First Reading: Exodus 3:1–8a, 13–15; Psalm
103:1–4, 6–8, 11; Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10:1–6, 10–1; Gospel: Luke
13:1–9
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