Streams of Mercy

Yesterday we read from Luke’s gospel the troubling story about the fall of the tower of Siloam and the murder of those gathered to worship by Pilate - words that raise the eternal question of WHY such things happen.

I told the story of a little girl learning to pray: “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name.” Every time she would start to pray this prayer, “Our Father who art in heaven,” a need would come to mind, and she would have a question for God: “Our Father who art in heaven … why did so many people die in the tornadoes? … Our Father who art in heaven … why did that man shoot those homeless people? … Our Father who art in heaven, why are the Ukranian people under attack, with so much suffering in their land? … Our Father who art in heaven, why are there so many starving people in African? … Our Father who art in heaven … why did my brother die? … Our Father who art in heaven … why did my Daddy lose his job?” … Perhaps from time to time, many of us feel like this little girl – “Our Father who art in heaven … why, why why?”

Today’s scripture reminds us that the same question was asked of Jesus centuries ago. Pilate had murdered some Galileans as they worshipped. Why did they die? Were they greater sinners than others? And in the case of those 18 people killed when the tower of Siloam fell – were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem?

In both cases, Jesus denies there is any connection between their deaths and their sins. What the issue is, Jesus is saying, is not WHY one dies, but HOW one lives. Towers fall and floods and earthquakes and famine are reality; the Pilates of every age will kill innocents in every generation; and there just aren’t enough answers for our “whys?” The bottom line is our call to live fully and well the time that is ours.

At this point, Jesus tells the story of the fig tree that took up space in the vineyard for three years and bore no fruit. The owner wanted to cut it down, but the gardener intervened – “Let’s wait a year, and let me work with it … maybe it will begin to grow and have good fruit.” The owner gave the tree another year.

The parable of the fig tree is a message of God’s grace, and at the same time a word about doing more than just taking up space in God’s vineyard. Time has a way of slipping by, and none of us knows our length of days. Our call during Lent is to look at our lives, and to reflect on our living prayerfully, knowing that God is at work in our lives and through our life experiences to help us grow and bear fruit, so that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Elizabeth