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Scripture Reflection, March 7, 2010: The 'Blame Game'

Scripture Readings:
Exodus 3: 1-8
Psalm 103
First Corinthians 10: 1-12
Luke 13: 1-9

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In reflecting on the gospel passage from Luke for this Sunday, I could not help but think of the statement made by a popular televangelist after the devastating earthquake in Haiti. He suggested that the people of Haiti had brought this disaster upon themselves because of their sinfulness. In a particular way, he adduced the revolt of Haitian slaves against the French in the early nineteenth century. His was an expression of the theology of retribution – the idea that suffering is the result of punishment by God for the personal or corporate sins of the victims of suffering. Pastoral ministers sometimes encounter this idea when they visit people who are ill and hear them ask, “What did I do to bring on this affliction?” Similar statements were made after 9/11 and hurricane Katrina.

In this Sunday’s gospel, Jesus is talking about two events that have been “in the news.” Some Jews from Galilee got on the wrong side of Pontius Pilate and were murdered by that ruthless governor, apparently in the midst of a ritual action of sacrifice. And a tower – probably a tower atop a city wall in Jerusalem -- suddenly collapsed, killing eighteen people. Jesus knows that some folks are concluding that these people must have deserved what happened to them; they must have been “greater sinners” than everyone else. Jesus tries to nip that thinking in the bud by stressing that everyone needs to recognize his or her own need for conversion. His words are strong: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” Here, and in the famous story of the man born blind in the gospel of John (chapter 9), Jesus challenges simplistic thinking that automatically connects personal suffering with the sinfulness of the victim.

It seems that it is a human trait to want to find simple explanations for situations of suffering and deprivation. I must confess that I sometimes hear myself doing the same thing. We can walk through an impoverished area of the city and assume that the people “must want to live this way.” We see a homeless person and immediately think that he or she must want to live on the street. We seem to have a natural (or unnatural!) inclination to blame people for their own suffering or misfortune. It is true that sometimes individuals or groups of people act in such a way that they bring suffering upon themselves. People need to take personal responsibility for their lives. But the simple equation – personal suffering = personal sin – just does not suffice to explain the mysterious tragedies of life. The “blame game” is a simple strategy that does not do justice to the complexity and the mysteriousness of life.

The local tragedies about which Jesus speaks in the gospel take us back to the first reading from Exodus. There we accompany Moses as he encounters the “remarkable sight” of the burning bush and receives his own vocation. As he experiences God addressing him, he asks to know God’s name. In ancient cultures, knowledge of a person’s name meant that one had a certain power over that person. But the name he is given is suffused with mystery: “I am who am.” There have been a number of interpretations of this divine name given by biblical scholars, but in fact the name is virtually untranslatable. Moses cannot gain any power over God and, as he will find out, no human name or image of God can capture or exhaust the mystery of God.

These Scripture readings invite us to recognize that as people of faith we dwell within mystery. Tragedies like earthquakes and tsunamis, and other causes of untimely deaths, move us into the realm of mystery. We want straightforward explanations for such events, but such answers are often not available. We yearn for the answer to the question of “why”: Why did this happen to those people (or to me)? So often, this question of why simply cannot be answered in this life, even by the most astute theologian. The urgency and pain expressed in the question of why is the great wound of human history – a wound that can only be healed by God. And so we are left standing before the mystery of suffering and the mystery of God, invited to trust that God hears our cries and will be faithful to us.

Even though the question of “why” is often left unanswered, this Sunday’s Scriptures give us a glimpse into the answer to another important question – the question of “where”. Where is God to be found in the midst of human suffering? When God reveals himself to Moses, he immediately communicates his intimate knowledge of the affliction endured by the people of Israel. “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.” God is with the people who are oppressed and suffering, right in their midst and on the move to bring them redemption and life. Something similar is suggested by the parable told by Jesus in the second part of the gospel passage. The fig tree that has borne no fruit in three years is given another chance. The gardener convinces the owner to allow him to tend this tree with special care in the coming year in order that it may bear fruit. This story reflects the patience and compassion of God who walks with sinners, continually inviting them to turn to him.

As we continue our Lenten journey, I believe that these Scripture readings call us to be people of trust and of compassion. We are invited to renew our trust in God’s fidelity in our lives, even at those times when it is difficult to feel God’s presence in the midst of the darkness of suffering. The clarion call to conversion issued by Jesus reminds us that strengthening our friendship with God in the “ordinary” times of life enables that relationship to endure through the more difficult times. These Scriptures also call us to imitate our God in his compassion for people who are suffering. We are summoned to be people who, like God, hear the cries of the suffering and walk with them through the darkness toward the light of God’s faithful love.

Fr. Robin Ryan, cp

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