God is About Life

"There were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down (Luke 13:1-9).”

Life can be downright brutal. People get sick. People are cut down by crime or war. People suffer disease and violence. People hurt. We see it around us. It happens to those we love. And we ourselves do suffer hardship, suffering, and loss. Sometimes when something bad happens we look for a reason because maybe, just maybe, if we can find a reason to someone else’s suffering then we may find ourselves strangely comforted by the fact that we have not made the mistakes or choices that they themselves may have made. If we can find a reason their suffering then maybe we can keep suffering at bay where our own lives are concerned. On some level we feel the need to know that if people bring their own suffering upon themselves then we can try to live in such a way that we do not bring it upon ourselves or upon our family. We cast our faith upon cause and effect.

Those who come to Jesus are asking for an answer to why Pontius Pilate was able to kill their fellow Galileans or why eighteen people were killed when a tower fell upon them crushing them. On some level they need to know that there was reason for their deaths and they are even willing to believe that God has punished them by their being murdered and killed. Jesus who believes and reveals the mercy and compassion God refuses to make God responsible for such horrific events. Jesus has proclaimed ‘The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor (Luke 4:18-19).’ Pilate is responsible for his own cruelty and faulty construction is responsible for the Tower of Siloam collapsing. Not God.

Jesus speaks plainly and to the point. He says everybody dies, but not everybody lives. Jesus is not concerned about death. He is concerned about life for God is the God of the Living. Jesus shifts the focus to proclaiming that faith and trust in God is not dependent upon whether or not we are to receive a measurable benefit. Jesus knows that living into the Kingdom of God does indeed have a cost and it will cost him his very life. For Jesus, trusting in God allows the Kingdom of God to enter the world so the poor and downtrodden can experience “Life,” the life that only God can give.

Those who are to follow Jesus are to reveal the Kingdom of God no matter what may come and what may go. They are to proclaim the love, mercy, compassion, and tenderness of God in the best of times and in the worst of times. They are to preach the Gospel when greeted in fellowship and hospitality or when surrounded by violence and hostility. What will come will come.

We, who are the Church, Christ’s Body in the here and now, are to proclaim the goodness and love of God in all circumstances not only when life is easy, or when it goes our way, or when nothing bad happens to us or to those whom we love. We are to proclaim God’s Kingdom in the midst of life as it is. Not as we want it to be, or imagine it to be, nor think it should be, but in the very midst of it as it is. We are to proclaim “Life” in the midst of life-The Reverend Adrian A. Amaya.