Christ Church

Eureka California
Third Sunday of Lent
Isaiah 55:1-9, Psalm 63:1-8, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13,
Luke 13:1-9
March 7, 2010
The Rev. Ron W. Griffin
“ Oh No! All Right!”

Almighty God, you know that we have no power in ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us
both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all
adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault
and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the
Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Psalm 63:1-8 Page 670, BCP

Deus, Deus meus

1
O God, you are my God; eagerly I seek you; *
my soul thirsts for you, my flesh faints for you,
as in a barren and dry land where there is no water.
2
Therefore I have gazed upon you in your holy place, *
that I might behold your power and your glory.
3
For your loving-kindness is better than life itself; *
my lips shall give you praise.
4
So will I bless you as long as I live *
and lift up my hands in your Name.
5
My soul is content, as with marrow and fatness, *
and my mouth praises you with joyful lips,
6
When I remember you upon my bed, *
and meditate on you in the night watches.
7
 For you have been my helper, *
and under the shadow of your wings I will rejoice.
8
My soul clings to you; *
your right hand holds me fast.

Luke 13:1-9

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.'"

Good Morning.
Back in 2001, I hadn’t been a priest very long. I was still feeling the warmth of
ordination. It felt good, I felt good. I had answered a call to serve; I was affirmed by the
congregation, and by the community. One day I got a call form the clinic ER in
Breckenridge. The receptionist was a parishioner and hoped I could come immediately.
As she explained the Roman priest couldn’t be reached so I got the call. Any priest
would work and was better than no priest I guess the nurses thought.She went on to tell me
a newborn had died, it seemed the tragic mystery of SIDS, the mother distraught was
unwilling to let go of her child.
As I drove over, the drive lasting 2 minutes, my mind was flooded with all sorts of
thoughts the anxiety of what could and would I do. Would I say the right words, act the
right way, do the right thing? When I walked in, several nurses and the receptionist told
me this young mother was from Latin America, spoke no English.
I spoke no Spanish, I wasn’t a Roman Priest, and I was new to the priesthood. I
sure hadn’t studied this scenario in seminary. Beginning to feel weak in the knees,
dehydrated, my mouth turning to cotton, I stepped into the curtained room.
As broken phrases were exchanged in English and Spanish, my anxiety was
trumped by her horror.
 The “baby wasn’t baptized,” she said in fear soaked Spanish! She had not been to
confession, so had not been to mass in a while. “Life was hard here.” She had come into
the room where her baby was sleeping and found her not breathing and “she hadn’t been
baptized.” So in the midst of all the peering eyes and in my anxiety I skipped from active
and reflective listening and concentrated on remedial theology instead.
"I don’t believe God is like that," I said. "The God I know wouldn’t do something
to punish you or the baby forever."

The problem with my response was that it was confusing to this young woman and
her worldview. Especially her understanding of baptism which had been shaped long
before this day. Her misery was intense, focused; her loss was real. She knew she was to
blame, for the eternity of her child. She preferred a punishing God to a missing or
unpredictable one. 1

I may have had words meant for comfort and to reconcile my view of a loving God,
but in that moment she was only able to tightly hold on to the lifeless body of her child and
punish herself. Her baby had died and there was a reason. She was willing to be the reason.

In our gospel today Jesus responds to a question on the nature of God and our
relationship to God, as those with Jesus told him about the Galileans; Jews from Galilee
whose blood Pilate the Roman governor had mingled with their sacrifices.
Luke continues through the words of Jesus detailing a natural or man made tragedy;
a structure falls on some folks and they are killed. The suggestion is those who died,
someway some how deserved or were being punished for what they got.

"Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse
sinners than all other Galileans, and do you think that they were worse offenders than all
the others who were living near the tower?

It was a common understanding that those who experienced pain and were afflicted
with tragedy were being punished, by God. I’ve heard all my life from family, the faith
filled and the faith less when life unravels, “Well, its cause you haven’t been living right.”
Tragedy thumps on the door of our life and we begin to look back and wonder what
we did… wrong. We dissect the deeds, the relationships, the diets, the beliefs. We hunt for
some cause to explain what has and what is happening in hopes that we can stop causing it
to get a handle on or control over the chaos of our lives. If we can put what happens in this
kind of either or container “if there’s a demonstrable effect, there must be an explainable
cause.” It is a tempting equation and it does give us answers to and I suppose it can calm
even some unsettling feelings of being out of control.
(1) It gives us a answer to “why bad things happen to good people”: they don’t.
“Bad things only happen to bad people.”
(2) It punishes sinner’s right out in the open as a warning to everyone.
1
Home By Another Way, Barbara Brown Taylor, Life Giving Fear, Crowley Publications, p.71.
 (3) God obeys the laws of physics. For every action, there is an opposite and equal
reaction. 2

But Jesus won’t go there. It was one of those strongly held beliefs of the culture
then, and suspect is still considered today, sounds right, but isn’t right. Jesus responds to
their container of common sense and doesn’t confirm their logic. "No, I tell you" as he
answers his own question, "but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did."

Ever heard the idiom, One hand giveth, the other taketh away. If it ever comes up
in a Trivia pursuit game it is not scripture.

Jesus gives us this good news and says, there is no connection between the
suffering and the sin. Alright! But he also taketh away when he says “But unless you
repent or turn around, you are going to lose some blood too. Oh no!

As I look at this scripture and Jesus response, I don’t think this is meant to aid
reason but to disarm it. 3 I am hopeful also that understanding this beginning of the gospel
will open up the parable for us as well.
Jesus takes this moment, this thin and open space as they consider the tragedy of
others to ask them what is behind their fear. He acknowledges the fragility of life and
recognizing the closeness between this world and the next. Don’t worry about Pilate and
all the other things that can come crashing down on your heads, he tells them. Terrible
things happen, and you are not always to blame.

But that dry and dehydrated place in you has opened up a holy space. So don’t be
in such a rush to get away. Look around while you are there. Pay attention to what you
feel. It may uncomfortable to stay there and it may hurt to see, but it is not the kind of hurt
that leads to death. It is the kind that leads to life. Jesus hopes in getting their attention they
will recognize their dehydration of spirit, that life may be feeling dry as cotton.

Depending on what you want from God, this may not sound like good news today. I doubt
that it would have sounded like good news to the mother in the ER. But fortunately, I was
able to muster up enough courage, to stop talking and reach to her, and ask by actions if
she would let a non Roman priest hold and pray for her child.

I am learning we cannot make life safe nor God tame or controlled by our created
containers. Oh no! But that is the Good news. Alright! When we recognize we are
dehydrated in Spirit and are thirsty for God, God is there saying come drink, to live.

2
Home By Another Way, Barbara Brown Taylor, Life Giving Fear, Crowley Publications, p.71.
3
Home By Another Way, Barbara Brown Taylor, Life Giving Fear, Crowley Publications, p.71.