Lent 3
Last Sunday’s Epistle gave us that wonderful comfort and reminder: But our citizenship is in heaven. We are eagerly waiting for a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ. Heaven is our true home. Come the Last Day, that’s where we Christians will be soul and body for all eternity with all the holy angels beholding the holy and glorious Triune God. That means that we can live with a sense of detachment from the things of this world. In a small way, when we “give up something for Lent” that is a detachment; we are recognizing that that doesn’t give us true fulfillment and joy. The more that we can live in a detached manner from the things of the world, the better. Then they do not become our goal, our focus; instead, heaven is and all things have to serve that goal. When the things of the earth become our focus and goal, when we are attached to the things of the world, then everything must ultimately serve that. But what do we know about the things of this world, of this life? They are only for the here and now; they will not endure; like heaven and earth they will pass away; they will never satisfy because they are earthly but God created us for the heavenly and eternal. Only the heavenly and eternal, in particular God, will truly satisfy.
That means that, yes, we can and should enjoy all the gifts and blessings that God has given us. We should recognize them as good things from God by which He wants to show us His grace and kindness. We should thank the Lord for them. But we live detached from them: like a tourist enjoys the beautiful scenery, makes use of the hotel’s amenities, enjoys all that the area offers but then goes home–he doesn’t get involved in local politics, for example–so also the Christian. We enjoy all the Lord gives us and blesses us with during our life, but our true home and focus is heaven, the eternal.
Today’s epistle, though, deals with another aspect of this–pointing to the Israelites in the wilderness who had experienced great and mighty blessings from the Lord, but they eventually fell away from faith in and love of the Lord and were punished by the Lord to lead them to repentance. St. Paul writes here: Now these things took place as examples to warn us not to desire evil things the way they did….All these things that were happening to them had meaning as examples, and they were written down to warn us. And what are we warned about? So let him who thinks he stands be careful he does not fall. No testing has overtaken you except ordinary testing. So another part of life on this earth is times of trial, testing. And what is the promise here? God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when He tests you, He will bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it.
Today’s Gospel also has this theme of trial and of suffering. What happens/ what are we to do when they do come? Here again is where it is healthy that we have some sort of detachment from even something as seemingly central and vital like ease/ lack of suffering/ health. Job had that detachment, when suffering the loss of everything said [1.21]: The LOrd gave, and the LOrd has taken away; blessed be the name of the LOrd. May we always have the same faith and attitude as did Job, even in the face of great loss. May we have faith, pray, and observe events with calm.
In today’s Gospel we read of several horrible incidents. At that time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Evidently, Pilate was fearing a riot or insurrection and sent in soldiers to kill some Galileans who were offering their sacrifices in the temple. A terrible atrocity! And then Jesus tells of another tragedy: Or those 18 who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them… Again, a horrible tragedy! In both those cases, there’s always the question: why? Why do these bad things happen? Why are there innocent people suffering and being killed?
In response to the news of the Galileans being killed by Pilate, Jesus says: Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? Certainly the thought among some was and still is–those who were killed or who suffer must have been really bad. For example, when the disciples saw a blind man, they asked Jesus [Jn.9.2]: Rabbi, who sinned, this man, or his parents that he was born blind? And perhaps a common, modern and personal question which is the same thing: what did I do to deserve this…? So what was Jesus’ answer to those who told Him about the Galileans? Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? I tell you, no… Or those 18 who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them–do you think that they were worse sinners than all the people living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no. These sufferings and tragedies are part and parcel of life in this sinful world. Remember: we are sinners living in a sinful world. These horrible things happen to others and they happen to us and they happen to large numbers of people at the same time. So what are we to do? –Have faith, pray and observe the events with calm.
The thing to remember is that these bad things happen, and we ourselves suffer/ endure various trials, not by just random dumb luck. What happens is by God’s allowance. There’s nothing that happens that God is unable to do anything about. That’s what it means when we say that God is almighty. It is not that the devil can work all sorts of evil and God is unable to do anything about it–because then that is saying that the devil is equal to God. And, it is not that God is unwilling to do anything–because then it is a denial of God’s love and grace of us; then it makes God into some sort of tyrant doing what He wills for no rhyme or reason.
God is not the source of evil, wickedness. God does not cause people’s wills to be or to produce evil. He will allow/ permit evil but He doesn't cause it. Divine providence works through evil but is not responsible for it. So what does that mean? Also Luther points out: The good and gracious will of God is done even without our prayer… God’s will is always being done so that the evil that He does allow–like Pilate’s slaughter of the Galileans and the tower falling and killing 18 people at the wrong place and time–has to serve His good and gracious purposes for us. Whatever we are suffering–no matter how wretched; whatever evil God has allowed to come upon us, is part of His good and gracious will toward us. We don’t see that–everything seems to be screaming the contrary–but this is what faith knows and believes.
In the midst of our sufferings and trials, we dare never in an accusing way say: Why, God? We dare never criticize God’s ways–after all we know Him as our dear, loving, gracious heavenly Father–so how can He act any differently? All that we can do at times of sorrow, trial or suffering is to meditate on God’s wisdom and how much greater it is than ours and also to meditate on God’s grace and mercy so that in faith we stand before Him in adoration and praise for His marvelous wisdom that we cannot fathom. To say that God is almighty and gracious is to believe that in every detail–even the sin, wretchedness, evil, ugliness and suffering –in the world and in our own lives is taking the right course. That’s faith! Yes, we would certainly do it differently, but God sees and knows the “big picture”, we just know a miniscule part of it. In all the events going on, and that we are experiencing, we, by faith, know all is being controlled by the expert hand of an all wise and powerful and gracious God. So have faith, pray and observe the events calmly.
The hurts, sufferings, trials that we and others endure, do not in any way deny God’s goodness. Instead, He uses them in the interest of His grace and mercy to save us. Again, we must remember that we are sinners. Even though we are baptized, we still have that old sinful nature in us. If we didn’t have any sufferings and trials, wouldn’t we be wild–like an unpruned tree or plant that doesn’t produce what it should? But through our sufferings and trials isn’t God doing something wonderful? –He is keeping us close to Him. Don’t our trials and sufferings remind us of God and keep our focus on Him? If we didn’t suffer and have trials, wouldn’t our sinful nature lead us soon and easily to forget about God? Our sufferings are a way that God trains us for righteousness and prepares us for eternity with Him in heaven in holiness. In fact, to redeem our sufferings, the sufferings in our lives, Jesus embraced suffering on the cross. That means that our suffering is not senseless–as the world thinks–but through His suffering Jesus brought life and every heavenly blessing into the world. And now, through the very things we suffer, God is striving to give us great spiritual good.
And on top of that, precisely in suffering or trial don’t we get to test what St. Paul writes in today’s epistle: God is faithful. He will not allow you to be tested beyond your ability, but when He tests you, He will also bring about the outcome that you are able to bear it? In other words, in trial God shows His faithfulness to us and we get to prove our faithfulness to Him–our faith gets exercised. So have faith, pray and observe the events calmly.
Notice Jesus’ answer both when He asks if those slaughtered Galileans were worse sinners than other Galileans and whether those 18 that the tower fell on were worse than the other people of Jerusalem: I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too. The main lesson of these and all catastrophes and the lesson God wants us to learn in our sufferings is: repentance. These things are to remind us of the frailty of our own lives and that an eternity in either heaven or hell awaits us. Repentance is the only escape from an even worse fate of being slaughtered by Pilate or crushed by a falling tower or by…
All of us need repentance–and this holy season of Lent is a marvelous reminder and opportunity for that. And the wonderful thing? God gives us time to repent:
Jesus told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any. So he said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil?’ But the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down.’”
Let each of us see him/herself as that fig tree. God comes to us in patience and in hope looking for fruit–the fruit of faith, that is a life of faith and good works. Look at how richly God has blessed us–He has placed us in a Christian congregation where we can hear His word and receive His sacrament. He works on us, even through our sufferings and trials, to keep us close to Him and to purify our faith. Where is the fruit of faith–faith and good works, the fight against sin, the striving for holiness, the striving for the faith and to keep faith number one in life?
Let us be warned against carelessness and indifference to faith: for three years now I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. But let God’s grace and patient love, entice and win us wholly. Lent is the time, especially, to look at our hearts and life. Is the fruit that God is looking for there? If it isn’t, let us make use of the time to repent. Let us hear and take comfort in Jesus’ word: leave it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it, that is, let us hold to Jesus’ work and words of forgiveness; let us let Him dig around us and fertilize us by being in church, hearing His word, receiving His holy sacrament where He comes to us and unites bodily with us. He will work that new life in us. INJ