3rd Sunday of Lent c

In Luke’s gospel Jesus answers two stories that asks about responsibility.

Who’s responsible for the Roman Procurator Pilate killing innocent people

at some religious event. Who’s responsible for a building in Siloam

collapsing killing 18 people?

Was God punishing these people? No, Jesus answers. God doesn’t punish

people through the cruelty that comes from wars or from accidents like a

building collapse. We face tragedies like these because we are human

beings. God will get us through them.

Let me talk about two stories from our time similar to our gospel stories.

Last March a large container ship crashed into Francis Scott Key Bridge in

Baltimore, Md, destroying the bridge, killing 6 construction workers and

causing thousands of people and companies a loss of income. The tragedy

caused massive damage to our economy. Who’s responsible for that

accident?

Are the people who built the large container ship? The people and

agencies who monitor bridge safety? Businesses and labor unions who

want to keep our economy going no matter what? Is God responsible?

They say this case will be in courts for years. But is the responsibility out of

our hands? Have we not responsibility for how justice is done and how

government performs?

The story about the Roman Procurator Pilate killing innocent people is a

story about war and its consequences. St. Augustine said that of all the

creatures God created human beings are the most destructive. They go

beyond lions and tigers and other savage animals, who only seem to go so

far in the way they kill. Human beings are the most savage of God’s

creatures.

We see that in the way we are waging our wars. We’re now in an arms race

to create weapons of war that are more destructive than ever. A recent

article from the Vatican began: “We are creating more and more weaponsof destruction, and do you think they won’t be used?” More than ever we

need to find ways to control war and make peace.

The questions Jesus raises in the gospel are unsettling questions and his

answer may not altogether satisfy us. Tragedies are part of life, he says, so

we should repent. Repent means we face these questions and do all we

can to deal responsibly with them. Repentance involves more than facing

personal issues. Repentance also means facing public issues in our world

and doing something about them.

But remember we are not alone. Listen to the story of God speaking to

Moses in our first reading for today from the Book of Exodus. Moses is all

alone, caring for a flock of sheep in the desert and God tells him to back to

the imperfect world of Egypt. Go back to his people.

But the LORD said,

“I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt

and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers,

so I know well what they are suffering.

Therefore I have come down to rescue them

from the hands of the Egyptians

and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land,

a land flowing with milk and honey.”

We’re not facing a world where we can do nothing. God sent his Son,

Jesus Christ, into our world, our world of here and now. We ask him to be

with us and to lead us. We are not alone.