Sermon Sunday March 23, 2025
Rev. Norman A. Michaud
“We Feel Fortunate, Till We Don’t”
Isaiah 55: 1-9 &Luke 13:9-12
Jesus knew well Isaiah’s words. “All you who are thirsty, come to the water! . . . Come, without paying and without cost, drink wine and milk! Heed me, and you shall eat well, you shall delight in rich fare. . . . I will renew with you the everlasting covenant, the benefits assured to David” (Isa. 55:1-3). Isaiah’s appeal to his people in exile asks to find God near his people.
Isaiah also proclaimed the good news, for God answers him. “‘For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with deep compassion, I will bring you back. In a surge of anger, I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness, I will have compassion on you,’ says the Lord your Redeemer” (Isa. 54:7, 8)
This third Sunday of Lent, our brief scripture from Luke, is divided into three parts. First, Luke speaks of two events that may have been familiar to Jesus’ followers. However, no historical record corresponds to Pilate’s act of terror or the collapse of a wall in Jerusalem. That does not mean these events did not happen, but no historical record supports the claims that people tell Jesus in today’s passage.
Pilate’s mingling of the blood of Galileans with their sacrifices refers to the blood-letting of Galilean pilgrims in Jerusalem. The narrative does not provide a motive for Pilate slaughtering these people. Luke offers an ominous foreshadowing of the Roman Governor before his appearance in Jesus’ trial, as described in Luke 22:14-23:56. We know without a doubt that Pilate is capable of evil. We also learn that a random accident has killed 18 in Jerusalem. These stories remind me of our daily news cycle, which can cause fear and anxiety. Each day’s news fades into the next newscast: “If it bleeds, it leads.”
People perish. Oklahoma has suffered horrendous wildfires that even consumed the Governor’s home. Three months ago, 29 people lost their lives in the Palisade Fires in California. A ceasefire in Gaza began and collapsed. Plane crashes have made many reconsider the safety of flying. The war afflicting Ukrainians and Russians continues despite efforts to find justice and peace. We read stories daily about government firings and realignment of traditional government services. Our fears escalate, yet Jesus and the Prophets tells us, “Do not be afraid.” Our faith falters as we feel battered and bruised. Jesus continually proclaims, “Do not be afraid,” but how can we not be filled with fear and apprehension? Faith falters.
Such events lead us to reflect on how existence can prove perilous. Jesus implies that the victims did nothing wrong. He illustrates life as potentially savage and short, perhaps foretelling his coming passion. Jesus also suggests that we must not believe such tragedies are divine punishment. Sin, or turning away from God, does not make atrocities and accidents come. Suffering and death happen, and so do joy and abundance. Only the veil between our understanding and reconciliation prevents us from seeing joys and concerns as oneness with God, who provided love and mercy.
Life’s unexpected fragility reveals its urgency. Jesus calls upon us not to associate the tragedy with God’s realm. We should not mistake our good or bad fortune as evidence of God’s special blessing or a curse.
Jesus wants to talk about continually making amends. The need for repentance, or making amends, is universal and is shared by random victims and survivors who experience guilt. Survivors always ask, “Why not me?”
When Jesus says twice, “Unless you repent, you will all perish.” He does not promise that the godless will be struck down. He refers to death as the destruction of one’s soul. The soul is eternal; eternal life is about what we do and how we act. He emphasizes the suddenness with which this death comes. We should make amends without delay every day; otherwise, as a result of our dalliance, we risk suddenly regretting our delay. I am reminded of the redemption and restoration of Dickens’ Scrooge in his Christmas Carol. Scrooge showed his amends through his actions. His actions righted his grudges and wrongs.
It appears that Jesus relies on the memory of recent random acts of terror and random and disastrous events so that his followers can connect to the unpredictability of life. Questions regarding who deserves what for their turning from God or not is not a predictor of wealth or happiness. He does not promise freedom from calamity but urges us not to fall for false self-assurance. Life’s fragility demands urgency, and that urgency shows that life itself has carved out the opportunity for us to embrace God’s grace, as the following parable suggests.
Jesus’ short parable about a fig tree speaks of judgment but also second and third chances. I recall John the Baptist using similar language in Luke 3:9: “Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree, therefore, that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”
The parable reinforces ideas from the beginning of the passage. An unproductive tree may continue to live even without bearing fruit only because it has been given additional time to do what it is supposed to do. It will fail unless it begins to bear fruit, but help and patience persevere. The fruit may come or not; it is not the end of the tree or the story.
The role of the gardener offers a story of patience and mercy. The tree has not been left to its own devices. Everything possible is being done to help it become what it is meant to be. God does not leave people to their own resources but encourages them to turn to God, remain patient, and have faith that the arc of justice will bring about a kinder new world.
The parable’s power comes through the suspense it generates. How will second chances play out? How will the gardener’s efforts make the tree become all that it has the potential to be?
Tragedy and hardship have their ways of nudging people toward God, but these verses suggest that tragedy and hardship come so suddenly that they often mark the end, not the beginning, of our opportunities to live lives inclined toward God.
It bears repeating that Jesus does not explain the causes of violence that nature and human beings regularly inflict upon unsuspecting people. He does not blame victims. He does not attempt to defend
creation or the Creator when “why?” questions seem appropriate. We want answers. With the urgency of current events, Jesus does not provide solutions but asks us to keep ourselves just while we seek mercy and grace.
When confronted with catastrophes, people of faith raise questions that deserve discussion and drive us to express grief and mourn. Tragedies demand our attention. Such events shake us out of the complacencies we use to get through daily life and impress upon us better than words, the perils we all face. However, such tragedies may also lead many to distance themselves to protect us with rationalizations, judgments, and false assurances.
At the end of today’s reading, we see Jesus healing a woman afflicted by “a spirit” for 18 years. He says, “Woman, you are free from your ailment.” He does not cut her down like she has been an unproductive tree. He heals without judgment. His actions serve as an example of his teachings and illustrate his parable. God is God, and God loves and heals.
Do we build our lives upon those rationalizations that allow us to get through the day feeling blessed, safe, and able to presume we are more deserving than those who have suffered and perished? Or do we build our lives knowing God’s judgment is satisfied? Do we make them on the efforts that Christ, like the parable’s gardener, prepares us for that judgment by giving us years of second and third chances? God transforms us through grace and mercy, and both call us to be generous toward those still struggling under the oppression of poverty, want, and devastation of all kinds.
Amen