The season of Lent is a time for repentance. Repentance means taking action here and now to be in conformity with God’s will and making a clear stand against whatever evil one may have fallen for. The gospel reading (Luke 13:1-9) underlines God’s transcendent love for us sinners whose conversion He awaits.
Personal tragedy as warning, not karma
There is a common belief that tragedy befalls people because of some guilt they have, while good fortune is a proof of integrity; that it is some sort of karma that people have to suffer as punishment for their sinful choices, unavoidably like the payment of debts. Thus, people told Jesus about the Galileans ordered by Pilate to be butchered even as they were sacrificing, and Jesus immediately challenged the people’s presumption: “Do you think…they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?” Jesus even offered another instance of tragedy in the case of the 18 people on whom the tower of Siloam fell: “Do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!” Jesus twice contradicted the popular but misguided thinking.
Jesus is unequivocally rejecting the thinking that victims of evil or accidents are simply paying for their sins; He is also debunking the unspoken presumption that people who escape suffering must have found divine approval and are morally better than the miserable victims of tragedies. Such karmic interpretation about sin and punishment is pre-Christian, and in its present-day “new age” cause-and-effect simplification would reduce human and salvation history into a mechanistic godlessness. It is incompatible with Jesus Christ’s good news of the merciful God.
The God of mercy and compassion
Jesus is here presenting to the people a glimpse into the mystery of God who does not operate along the line of sin and punishment but on the basis of His love for us, His sinful people. The God of Jesus Christ does not wish the death of a sinner but that the sinner should repent and live. And God does not bless us human beings only because of some good we may have done but because of His love for us. And that is why the above-mentioned personal tragedies are seen by Jesus, not as proofs of inescapable divine wrathful justice, but as somber warnings, God’s gift of mercy, to those who are still alive and can do something to better their situation. Twice Jesus points out: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” Not that if they do not repent some punishment preordained would rain down on them, but that the absence of repentance on the part of sinful human beings would mean ultimate unhappiness to them who are destined to enjoy the fullness of eternal life.
In addition, the parable Jesus also narrated to the people highlights the fact that God has put us in this world to enable us to grow into His life of love, abundant with fruits of goodness and holiness. Life is a gift given to us by the Creator. Coming from God who is love, we are destined for the fullness of His life of love. We are not shaped or determined by some inexorable law of karma or any system of sin and punishment by which we wistfully hope to govern ourselves without God, or at least “less stupidly” than God. Sin and evil in the world can only be truly remedied according to God’s way. God is merciful and compassionate to us sinners, willing to wait for our transformation and maturation, warning us to act now before it is all too late. Cutting down, or murdering, an unprofitable tree or person, simply illustrates human frustration and inadequacy.
Alálaong bagá, in the face of our human weaknesses and failures, God wishes still that we be given chance to bear fruit. In contrast to the human sense of justice, easily vindictive and focused on what punishment be effective against a perceived evil, divine justice is on the proper and merciful extension of charity for the ultimate good of the sinner. In Christ’s teaching, we conquer evil in us and around us by God’s love and mercy.
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