Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY
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If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)
It was not unusual in Jesus’ time for people to think that ordeals happened to people for a reason. Either they, or their progenitors had sinned and the accident or illness that happened to them was a punishment from God.
Even in our own days, we still hear of people who proclaim that an epidemic is hitting a particular group because of their alleged sins.
In my youth, religious leaders of various convictions proclaimed that AIDS was an expression of God’s wrath on the gay community.
In the early eighties, in Belgium, I was what was then called and AIDS buddy. I accompanied dying AIDS patients who had been abandoned by so-called friends and relatives. The idea was that they had had it come to them and were not worthy of compassion.
Nowadays, there are still people who accuse rape victims of having provoked the violence that happened to them. Can we keep ourselves from assigning blame to victims?
Does anyone ever deserve illness or trauma? Jesus’ response to that is a radical “No.” Jesus does not deny that victims of accidents, illnesses and disasters are also sinners. But they are not worse sinners than those who have escaped such evils. We are all sinners, you and I.
Instead of dwelling on assigning blame or guilt, Jesus is quick to turn to those who might do just that.
“No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”
Unless we repent, we will suffer ruin or destruction.
So, whether we suffer catastrophe or not, we are all subject to God’s judgment. No matter how blessed we are (or not) in our life circumstances, we are all subject to God’s weighing how well we are abiding by God’s commandments of Love.
None of us are dispensed from repentance. We all need to change our minds and hearts and turn again towards God. And not only in Lent.
The Greek word translated as repentance in our text is “metanoia.” Its literal meanings are “repentance, a change of mind, a change in the inner self.” The Hebrew equivalent often associated with "metanoia" is “shub.” It means "to turn back" or "to return," indicating a return to God and God’s ways.
In Lent particularly, the church encourages us to return to God’s ways. That requires a good bit of introspection to assess where we have strayed. Have we failed to love God or neighbor by our actions, thoughts or omissions? Have we been complicit of evil done in our name or thanks to our lack of opposition to it?
There are sins that are personal and there are sins that are systemic. We are often quick to identify our personal sins. I lied to a family member. I took was not mine to take. But it is trickier to identify how our actions contribute to oppressive systems.
For instance, how does my lifestyle contribute to greenhouse gas emissions? How does my abstaining from calling out sexist or racist comments contribute to those systems continuing to have strength in our society?
So it takes thinking time to identify how I am enmeshed in sinful systems. But identifying how we are involved helps to figure out ways to reduce or eliminate harm-giving in our life.
And prayer is required to ask how we can return to God who says “I am the way the truth and the life” (John 14:6). You can ask God’s help in figuring out how sin is active in your life.
Then, we can decide to turn back to God’s ways rather than our self-centered ways.
But fear not. God’s judgment won’t result in retaliation on either side of death. God’s judgment will result in deeper self-knowledge and God-knowledge on our behalf. We will see how immense God’s Love is. And we will see more clearly how we had fallen short from embodying and enacting that Love in our lives.
Now, should we wait until the final judgment to find out how we are doing? Can we undertake to gain some of that clarity in self-knowledge and God-knowledge this side of death? That is an enterprise fit for Lent and beyond. You know that procrastination is not our friend.
Our gospel passage today ends with a parable about repentance and how God holds back from final judgement and helps in our returning to God’s ways.
In our parable, the fig tree is not yet bearing fruit after three annual visits from the owner of the garden. I see God represented in both the owner and the gardener in this story. I see the owner as God the creator, the judge of all. And I see the gardener as God the advocate, the redeemer of all.
The owner of the garden is keenly aware of the fig tree’s failings to date. The gardener is aware that with help, the fig tree has potential. The owner lets himself be convinced to show leniency and holds back from sentencing the fig tree to harsher treatment. But we are left with a cliffhanger. Will the tree, with the loving care of the gardener, rise to the challenge of being fruitful in a year? No time for procrastination here either.
With this parable, Jesus leaves us warned of the urgency of repentance. The place and time for repentance is our life, here and now. There is no time to waste in returning to God and God’s ways.
Today, we need to humbly, honestly and realistically look at our own ways such as they are. We need to ask in prayer for God’s insight on how our ways differ from God’s ways. And we need to ask in prayer how we can reform our ways to concur with God’s ways. Ask God for fortitude and perseverance in that endeavor. God will come forth and help you.
And remember God’s nature is to pour grace upon grace on God’s creatures. God’s judgment cuts like a two-edged sword but God is helpful, and God is forgiving. God’s nature is love and mercy, which makes God’s judgment all the stronger. God knows that following God’s ways is often hard. But God is rooting for us.
As Isaiah wrote (Is 55:7b),
let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.
And I leave you with a pro tip on following God’s ways. As Jesus says in the gospel according to Matthew: … if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. (Matthew 6:14).
Give us loving hearts, o God, and help us to keep returning to your ways.
Amen.
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