The Wilderness of Control

Luke 13:1-9 

February 28, 2016

Lent 3

We’re obviously missing part of this conversation.

We don’t really know too much about these

“Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.”

that they were telling Jesus about.

Canyonlands, Photo, Paul Siebert

What it seems to be is that some Galileans,

who would be Jewish were killed by Pilate –

We know historically that Pilate was a really nasty guy.

The passion stories almost paint a sympathetic picture of him,

but he was one of the cruelest of the time.

And people were often killed for punishment then.

But Pilate did these people even worse, either they were killed

in the pagan temple where the sacrifices were done

or they were killed and then their blood was put on the altar

after the sacrifice.

So their punishment was death,

public humiliation, religious insult

AND  insult to their families and heritage.

So some people were telling Jesus about these Galileans

and Jesus could tell that they thought that

because these people were killed in such a horrible

and insulting way and their families were so insulted

that God must be punishing them because they

must have been terrible sinners – not Pilate.

They don’t put the blame on Pilate for his actions,

it was God’s doing, and it was the Galilean’s fault,

because, you know what else is God supposed to do?

And that was pretty much how people understood things then. If someone had a bad fate,

they were poor, or sick or unfortunate

or they had tragedy or accidents in their families in their lives

it was assumed that God was unhappy with them

It’s a stubborn element in our understanding of God

It has prevailed in the Christian church

throughout it’s existence.

And lots of people still subscribe to it.

The prosperity gospel says, pray hard enough and God will

give you riches and comforts.

And if you don’t’ get those things,

your faith just wasn’t strong enough.

I think I’ve heard Pat Robertson do it with

every disaster that’s happened in the last 10 years:

There’s an earthquake in Haiti?

Haitians must have been worshiping the devil.

Hurricane in New Orleans?  It’s because of the vices there.

9-11 Terrorist attacks?-

New York supports feminism and homosexuality.

God must punish sinners, so tragedies must be punishments

and anyone we see having a bad time must be a terrible sinner.

We understand and know the mind of God

we can even pre-determine it if we think hard enough.

Why not just get rid of those hopeless sinners before

they contaminate us and before

God has to even be bothered with it. See where it leads?

Even if we aren’t Pat Robertson,

we still sometimes use that way of thinking:

when illness or calamity hits us, we wonder

“What have I done to deserve this?”

And then we look at other people’s misfortune too

And then we say things like

“There but for the Grace of God go I.”

And “I thank God for my blessings”

Basically, this theology does one thing:

It gives us all a sense of control.

God has to punish, what else could God do?

And we get to control God.

It’s all in our hands:

1. Our actions to control what God does.

2. We control the image and will of God

3. We control the behavior of others with fear of what God will do to them.

Human beings are not willing to let God lead.

We need to run the ship.

Control is something most of us struggle with

in our lives, in our relationships with friends,

parents, spouses, co-workers, children.

When do I need to take control and when do I let it go?

How much is enough?

It’s also a struggle with our relationship with God.

We are reluctant to let God be in control.

We are reluctant to put our trust in God

God’s timing, God’s methods,

we are reluctant to trust God’s love for us

and God’s forgiveness of us.

Even though we read and hear over and over that this is God’s way.

• ·    Do you feel in control of your life?
• ·    Are events in control?
• ·    Some people say “God’s in control”. What does that mean when things go wrong?

  

To be clear, I don’t think God makes every bad and horrible

thing in this world happen.

Every bad thing isn’t a punishment

that is not the God I know.

That’s not the God that Jesus tells us about in this parable.

The God that Jesus knows does not write humanity off

because of their mistakes.

Basically, Jesus says to the people

who are accusing those Galileans:

“if that’s the God you’re selling,

then you will be living by that too,

and you better be afraid because you’re a sinner too.”

But here is the God that Jesus knows:

A God who does not cut at the root when we

do bad and even horrible things.

That gardener says, “Let’s see how this goes for one more year.”

God the gardener knows that punishment

and control don’t bear fruit,

patience and forgiveness and nurturing bears fruit.

Richard Rohr the same great theologian I quoted last week said:

“The opposite of faith is not doubt. The opposite of faith is control.”

The God I know from the cross of Jesus

doesn’t make bad things happen,

but God can certainly use bad things to

make good and great things come to life.

That is the God that we can trust with our whole lives.