Jesus, a Different View
A Sermon Preached at
Zephyr United Methodist Church
Early First United Methodist Church
March 11, 2007
Rev. Eddie Smart
Luke 13: 1-5
13:1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or 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? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."
Philip Yancy wrote the book The Jesus I Never Knew
Philip Yancy – Jesus = “Mr. Rogers”
There must be more to this Jesus.
Who would crucify Mr. Rogers or Captain Kangaroo.
Today’s text offers us a different view of Jesus.
Who can explain Jesus in today's gospel?
They come to Jesus with one instance:
How about those Galileans
whom Pilate put to the sword at the temple,
their throats slit before the very altar of God?
The implied question:
Why did they deserve such a fate?
Jesus, so sensitive to human need, says,
"I tell you unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
Jesus then trumps their instance of human initiated tragedy
with the remembrance of death that came due to natural disaster.
Again Jesus responds,
“I tell you unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
Two stories that cover the possibilities of human tragedy.
The Galileans were outsiders,
the Jerusalemites were insiders.
The Galileans were killed by the government,
among the millions of victims
of cruel and oppressive tyrants.
The Jerusalemites were killed by a natural disaster,
among the millions who have perished
in earthquakes, wind, and fire.
That just about covers tragedy, doesn't it
--human initiated and naturally caused disasters?
Why did this happen to them?
The implied question is often our question.
Why did this happen to me?
As interesting as we may find such a question,
let us note that Jesus has another question in mind.
Jesus refuses to answer their question.
The exam questions were:
(A) What did those poor Galileans do
to get slaughtered by Pilot?
(B) Why were those Jerusalemites in the wrong place
at the wrong time when the tower fell?
And to these perfectly good philosophical questions, Jesus responds,
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners
than all other Galileans, because they suffered thus?
I tell you, No;
unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
When asked, on another occasion,
about bad things happening to good people,
he responded,
"Well, God made his sun to shine
on the good and the bad;
his rain to fall on the just and the unjust." (Matthew 5:45)
That's all.
The good and the bad get both sun and rain.
That's all.
Elsewhere, the disciples asked,
"Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents,
that he was born blind?" (John 9:2)
Surely there must be some reason, some direct correlation
between sin and misfortune,
between bad people and bad luck.
NO! Jesus denies a correlation.
Still the idea persists:
There is a direct relation
between the sort of person I am
and the bad or good things
that come my way in life.
I am suffering --
what did I do wrong to deserve this?
Fred Craddock says that this passage reminds him
of Thornton Wilder's novel, The Bridge of San Luis Rey.
That story tells of a little village in South America.
Each day, the villagers made their way
across a bridge to go to the fields.
One day, without warning, the bridge snapped.
Six persons fell to their death.
There was a priest in the village who said,
"Aha! I will do research into these people's lives
and show why those six people
were on the bridge when it fell.
I will then prove beyond a doubt
that if you do bad things,
bad will happen to you
and if you do good things,
good will be done to you."
He studied every aspect of their lives
and came to a conclusion:
Those six people were no worse,
nor no better than anyone in the village.
God does allow the sun and the rain to fall
upon the good and the bad.
Jesus didn't give an answer when questioned
about those Galileans and Jerusalemites
because there isn't one.
When a Pilate swings a sword, the closest person gets cut.
When the earth heaves and a tower falls,
anyone underneath, good or bad, perishes.
When presented with two excellent examples
of life's unfairness, his reply is not
--well, these bad things happen,
mostly as a matter of luck,
and you must learn to live with them--
which is what I might have said.
Rather, Jesus says,
"Do you think that they were worse offenders than you?
I tell you, No;
but unless you repent you will all likewise perish."
REPENT – turn away from...– turn around – get right with God!
People, take note:
Jesus knows how our questions deter us from THE question.
THE question, it seems, is not about unfairness--
how can bad things happen to good people like us?
The Jesus question is not about justice.
What do I deserve?
THE question is--
how do WE stand before God?
They asked Jesus about life's fairness;
but he wouldn't answer.
He forced them to examine their own relationship with God.
After World War II, Bishop Hanns Lilje spoke to a group of young people about his imprisonment in a Gestapo prison during the war. He said that God had become very real to him in that prison.
When the time for questions came, a young man stood up and said, "We appreciate all that you went through, but why should that concern us now? We have so many other problems –– the rebuilding of Germany –– the solution of our social problems."
To which Bishop Lilje quietly replied, "I understand your concerns. But you should give some time to the question of God now, because the day will come when He will be very important."
Richard Donovan, SermonWriter, Resources for Lectionary Preaching, The Third Sunday in Lent, Year C, March 11, 2007
Why did this happen to me?
That is the question we like to ask.
Jesus is more interested in THE question:
How do we stand before God?
Probably, for no good reason.
Bad things happen to the good and the bad all the time.
Bishop Will Willimon put it in a very direct way:
The notion that only good things happen to good people
was put to rest when they hung Jesus on the cross.
He died on that cross
so that with our repentance could come
reconciliation with God.
How do we stand before God?