New Zealand. Ethiopia. Mozambique. Cancer. Cystic fibrosis. Dementia. Why do people suffer in such ways? Are they being punished for something? Or is life completely random and there’s no meaning to anything? Is God not watching over them? When early death (or deaths) impacts our lives, we struggle with these questions. What is the meaning of all of it? What’s the point?
And so we have the readings for today. Now before I get into what I think the readings *do* say, I want to be clear about what they do *not* say. First off, 1 Corinthians, is *not* saying that untimely death is God testing us. While Paul does say that people experience testing, this testing does not come from God. This is a testing that comes from the world, and from the circumstances that people happen to go through in their lives because Paul thinks we’re in the “ends of the ages,” when terrible things happen. In no way is Paul saying here that God sends death or suffering or illness to test us. God helps us to get through these terrible things; God does not send them.
The second thing that the readings do *not* say is that unnatural death is a punishment for some sin or another. In fact, in the Gospel reading, Jesus outright rejects that line of thought. “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?” These Galileans, faithful Jews who had gone to the Temple in Jerusalem, were slaughtered by Pontius Pilate’s soldiers as they worshipped. Were they being punished by God because somehow they committed some terrible hidden sin that only God could see? “No, I tell you.” Jesus says absolutely not. “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.” Jesus is very clear. And I’m very emphatic about this, because sometimes I have heard people who are struck by something awful say, “Well, I guess God is testing me.” Or, “I don’t know what I did to deserve this suffering.” Or even, “Pastor, why do you think God is punishing me this way?” No, I tell you. No, no, no. God is not a twisted, sadistic deity up in the sky who enjoys seeing us suffer for what we’ve done. God does not test or punish us with suffering as payback for our sins.
So why *do* these things happen? Why *do* we suffer these untimely deaths? Well, first, why they happen, and why we suffer when they happen, are two very different questions. And there are many thoughts as to why these things happen, but one of them is that they happen because God created us with the freedom to make choices about how we live our lives. God refuses to control our every step and movement and decision because God has chosen us to be God’s children, not God’s slaves. God incorporated freedom, and randomness, into the world because these are the only ways that we can learn and grow. And so we have random weather events that become natural disasters. We have DNA that replicates with mistakes, causing cancer.
But we also have human-caused tragedies, which happen because we’re all connected with one another, and the choices that we make affect others and vice versa. In the Gospel reading, the Galileans suffered a horrible death because Pontius Pilate made the choice to kill them. The people standing by the tower of Siloam them died because the ones who built the tower didn’t take the proper time and care to build a tower that wouldn’t fall. In our situations, Boeing chose to charge for the upgrade to their MAX 8s, and airlines chose not to pay for it. The hundreds of people who died weren’t being punished for those choices - it was a consequence of other people making those choices. The fifty Muslims who died in New Zealand weren’t being punished by God for their religion. They were the victims of the choice of an anti-immigration, white supremacist - a modern-day Pontius Pilate. So, *why* these things happen is because these are the consequences of God’s commitments to each of us having the freedom to decide how to live in this world.
But the question of why do we *suffer* in these times is different. Some people are able to accept death, even tragic death, and find some way to make peace with it, while others struggle and are overwhelmed. Here’s where we turn to the story of the fig tree. Most people see the fig tree as a metaphor for ourselves - that if we go for several years without producing fruit then we’re going to be cut down, suffer an early death. This interpretation sees the landowner as God, and Jesus as the gardener.
But there’s another way of understanding this story, and these characters, if we look below the surface. When we do, we see that the landowner clearly knows that fig trees produce figs, but he doesn’t seem to know that fruit trees need care. They need proper watering, and proper fertilizing. The landowner doesn’t seem to know this, but the gardener does. And so he appeals for more time for the fig tree so he can do these things.
When it comes to looking at our lives or the lives of those around us, and judging the productiveness or value or meaning of a life, which we do when someone dies an untimely death, we are far more likely to act like the landowner. We are quick to judge the productiveness of our lives, and when we see a lack, we suffer. The biggest regret that people express when they’re dying is that they didn’t spend enough time doing what was meaningful and they didn’t live out their purpose in life. It’s not about the amount of time spent, but how that time was spent.
But God created us so that what gives our lives meaning and purpose is not success - not awards received or ladders climbed or money made. What gives meaning and purpose to our live is love. Loving others and receiving love, these moments of love are the fruit that we are supposed to bear.
Love is something you can do at any age. Young or old. If you have loved others and been loved in return, your life is full, no matter how short or long your life. On the other hand, if we’ve never loved or been loved a day in our life, we could live to be 110, and we would still feel that our death comes too soon. We would still cry out when the landowner comes with an ax to cut us down. We would still feel that our life has been a waste of soil.
The waste of a life without love is what causes us to suffer. This waste is what Jesus calls his listeners to repent of - the waste of living lives that are not oriented towards God, towards love. Repenting means turning away from something, and turning to a new path. Jesus tells his listeners to turn away from living lives that are anything other than love, otherwise we will suffer when our death comes, not because God’s punishing us but because that’s the consequence of living lives without love. Jesus calls us to turn away from all the other things in our lives that suck up our time and to turn to believing that the purpose of our lives, long or short, is to bear love.
If you fear that your life has been a waste because you haven’t loved or if you fear that your death might come too soon and you will suffer, it’s not too late. You have access to love always, and right now. You see, in the story of the fig tree, the gardener responds to the landowner who wants to cut down the fig tree by saying, Wait. Wait one more year. I will care for the tree - I will show it love, and then we will see what happens. Our gardener is God. God is the one who cares for us and shows us love and nurtures us until we bear the fruit we are designed to bear - until we love others in return. So, in truth, our reality is that there really is no wasted life or suffering from untimely death because God has loved us and continues to love us. That is enough. Whether we live three years, or 40 years, or 75 years, when those years are filled with love for one another, and more importantly with God’s love for us, we do not suffer when death comes because we have already lived lives worth living - we have borne the fruit of God’s love for us. Thanks be to God. Amen.
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