The Love of Grace
Posted on Mar 24, 2019 by David Whetter
Today, we begin with the age-old question of why do bad things happen, or more precisely, why do bad things happen to good people? Why? We always want to know the why, and, of course, in Jesus’ day, the assumption was if something bad happened to you then you weren’t living right. You had done something wrong, or maybe your parents had done something wrong, that caused God to be angry with you, and, therefore, God caused something bad to happen to you. Actually, this notion is still alive and well today. We hear it all the time. “I don’t know what I did to deserve this…," or, "Why would God let this happen to me?". We always want to blame bad things that happen to us as God’s actions toward us.
But today we hear Jesus completely reject such a notion. Now, we know nothing about these “Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1). This story appears nowhere else, and, so, except for the fact that we know Pilate was ruthless and we wouldn’t put it past him to do such a thing, we know nothing else about it. But when told of the tragic story, Jesus immediately says, you think these people were killed because they were terrible sinners, worse than others? Obviously, it was a rhetorical question, because Jesus wasted no time in allowing them to answer. Immediately he said, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did” (13:3). Unless you repent, that is change how you are living and start living as God intended, you shall suffer similar a similar fate. And to emphasize his point he gives another example that again we don’t know anything about, but it apparently was a tragic accident. “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” (13:4-5).
The point Jesus is trying to make here is this, stop blaming God for what happens, or doesn’t happen, in your life. Your actions, your choices, your decisions will determine what happens to you. Now, this doesn’t mean that if you do everything right that nothing bad will happen to you; no, life happens and, sometimes, bad things happen. Sometimes bad people do bad things. Sometimes accidents happen, and sometimes we happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. God doesn’t sit on God’s magical throne and watch for us to mess up and then zap us, and, I will argue, God doesn’t sit on that same throne and say,” Oh, look how good David is being, I am going to zap him with some good luck today.” No, life happens, but if we want to know how to live better lives, so that we can live as God intended in healthy community with peaceful and meaningful relationships that bring about long and prosperous life, then we are challenged to repent and turn to the ways God has provided. As God told the people when God gave them the law, “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the LORD your God that I am commanding you today; and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn from the way that I am commanding you today, to follow other gods that you have not known” (Deut. 11:26-28). Later in the book of Deuteronomy, Moses will say, God’s word is no idle matter, “indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess” (32:47).
God’s word, or, as most of call it, God’s law, is not about “do’s and don’ts.” It isn’t about God giving us a checklist of things that will get us in trouble or cause us to receive some “earned” rewards. No, God’s word is intended to offer us a healthy way to live and offer us a way to bring about life, not take life from ourselves, or others. God’s law is about love. The other night a group of us were meeting to have our monthly conversation about our bible readings. As we talked about all the laws and commands of the Book of Leviticus I made the statement that Leviticus is about love. Now, if you have read Leviticus you might find that to be a shocking statement, and actually one person in our gathering said, “What!”. But I honestly see and hear in the laws and rules of Leviticus a God that loves her children so much that she provides ways for us to stay in relationship not only with her, but with each other. And I see and hear a God that says I know you will mess up at times, but don’t worry, I love you and I will be here for you when you turn back to me. I see and hear a God that has already blessed us with all we need and a God who will allow nothing to separate us from that love.
Which brings us to the end of our story today. To emphasize God’s love for us, Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. The vineyard owner is unhappy because he expected the tree should be bearing fruit. It had been long enough and the tree was mature enough to be bearing figs. But it wasn’t! So, the vineyard owner decided that the gardener should cut it down and start over, but the gardener steps in and says, hey, give me some more time. Let me cultivate the soil around it and let me give it some manure, fertilizer. I bet with just a little TLC it will be just fine. Let’s wait and see what happens.
Like that fig tree, there are times in our lives when we cease bearing the fruit we have been created to bear, even though we know how to bear that fruit and we have been given what we need to bear that fruit. There are times when we cease bearing the love, joy, peace, patience, and the list goes on, and what we hear today is at times like that, we are challenged to use the word of God, or, more bluntly, God’s manure, to nourish our lives and the lives of others, so that we might live more prosperous and joyous lives.
Bill Maher is a comedian and political commentator that often uses humor to deliver serious and meaningful political commentary. Now, he is a self-proclaimed agnostic who takes religions to task often. Although I agree with him at times that religion is often the problem with God’s people, he usually is a bit over the top for me. But, I was watching his show one night about a year ago and he was offering a scathing commentary on how we Christians love to use the Ten Commandments as a weapon to condemn others, and he said, and I am paragraphing now, The Ten Commandments are a bunch of “BS.” I was furious, and I thought he has no idea what he is talking about. Now, I thought about that show this week as I prayed with this text, and you know what, Bill Maher is right, God’s word is manure. It is the exact manure we need to live healthy and whole lives if only we would turn back to those ways.
God loves us so much that instead of using her law to condemn us, this law is designed to nurture us and provide us a means by which to live the lives God intended. Brothers and sisters, we are already blessed; salvation is already ours, and our God walks with us every day, offering us the nourishment we need to love as he loves.
Do we deserve this love? Absolutely not, for we continue to live lives that do not bear fruit. But the love of God’s grace is so big that our God continues to nourish us with love and grace so that we just might come to realize that we are loved so much that we want to share that love with the world.
When Jesus waked this earth he showed us how to love like this. He bore the fruit of love, patience, kindness, joy, peace, and so much more. It wasn’t always easy, and, yet, he did it. And today, we heard Paul say, imitate in the ways of God. It's not about earning God’s love and mercy; we can't earn something that is already given to us. No, it is about living into the promise that has been given, and to do that, we are challenged today to imitate Christ and to share the love of grace in this world.
As we continue our 40-day journey to the cross, may we experience God’s love daily. May we come to know that God’s law is truly a gift of love, and may we let God’s law nourish us and fill us with that love, so that as we dwell in the love of Christ, we might realize that love can flow from us into this broken world. Amen.