There is no cause and
effect between sin and a tragic death but if you don’t repent you’ll
suffer a tragic death. It seems as if Jesus’ answer to why bad things happen to
otherwise good people raises more questions but maybe that is the point. Jesus
challenges the need for a reason for why bad things happen because for us even
a bad reason is more comforting than no reason at all. But then we have been
curious from creation and like the first humans not willing to live with God
knowing something we don’t even if it means getting kicked out of the garden.
And so we keep trying to put the puzzle together even though a good number of
the pieces are missing. Jesus would have us live into God’s answer to Job’s
why? “I’m not telling, but trust me anyway.” The answer that wants us to live
with the question is like a fig tree that has had enough time to get busy doing
what fig trees are meant to do but has not. Cutting it down to make room for
another is the correct answer to three years of wasted waiting. But the
gardener wants the owner to live with the question, “will it produce?” in another
year with a little bit of tender care and while we would rush to the yes or no
end of the parable I think as with most parables we are supposed to live with
the question, which, of course, is God’s answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment