We have all heard someone say, “You know, they got what they deserved.”? Sometimes this is meant as way of speaking of justice. The criminal gets caught and is sent to jail and so we think they got what they deserve. It is a common way to think and in way it does acknowledge justice; but at the same time, it can be said without mercy.
Sometimes as well, you hear the same phrase used when referring to someone’s relationship with God. It is not unusual to hear fundamentalist preachers say things like “They have obviously sinned and God is punishing them for it, or they didn’t have enough faith. Actually, this kind of thinking can creep into the mindset of many religious people. This as well, justice without any mercy?
In today’s Gospel, we hear the same thing. People were standing around and talking about some horrible incidents where people had suffered and died. We don’t know a lot about the two events mention by Jesus in today’s Gospel, but we think that those who died were thought to have been guilty of cooperating with the enemy, in this case Pilate, -and because of this, it was assumed that God had punished them for their unfaithfulness--for their sins. Jesus, for His part, knew that the people were thinking in their hearts, “These people in justice got what they deserved, that will teach them to cooperate with sinners like Pilate,.” With this attitude we discover that these people had no mercy.
These terrible events in the Gospel make us think of events in our own day. We’ve had so many terrible tragedies, tornados, so many terrorist attacks and violent shootings. So many are suffering, some from loneness, mental illness, bad marriages or horrible diseases such as cancer. These events rightly cause us to be distressed. We question God about all of this, how do I make sense of all of this? Some even believe that the sufferings they, or others, are experiencing are a punishment from God for not living the life they should. Now it is easy to accept when our enemies or bad people suffer, after all they deserve it, but what about when someone who is good and seemingly innocent suffers or is killed. Is God punishing them too? And another survives where another dies, does that mean the survivor was more righteous than the victim.
Jesus enters this conversation with his listeners in the Gospel and with us. Jesus does not steer around the issue but speaks directly to the people. His words are hard to hear, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners that all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did.”
Jesus repeats the same words when referring to the people of Siloam and ultimately to us. Jesus tells us that, “yes all suffering and death is the result of sin. He tells us plain truth- we are all sinners and suffering and death is, as matter of justice, a natural consequence of sin-not only death of the body, but death of the soul.
Jesus explains that when someone suffers however, it is not necessarily a direct result of his or her personal sin--After all, even the greatest of saints who were right with God still suffered and suffered greatly, even Jesus Himself suffered-but still Jesus says suffering is the result of sin in general. In Jesus case he suffered for our sins. In this we discover a great truth, while at the same time a great mystery. While God may in His infinite wisdom allow one to suffer in justice as a result of his or her own personal sin, at the same time, He may allow that same one or another in mercy to suffer for the sins of another. Ultimately, we can’t know what is the case, so we can’t judge one way or another.
This is all included in God mysterious plan of salvation. There are no pat answers. But like all the mysteries of our faith we can have some understanding. Suffering no matter what the cause is allowed as part of the care that God gives to each soul-it is a way of turning the soul back to God, if the soul lets it. It is like the gardener pruning the fig tree. The pruning hurts, but it causes the tree to produce much fruit. In this we discover that God’s Justice is also His Mercy; in God the two are united.
Not only can suffering purify and atone for sin in Justice, but in mercy, it can also bring the soul who is suffering closer to God. And the soul who is suffering can be used as well, in mercy, to bring others back to and closer to God. Just like Jesus’ own suffering and death was used by the Father to bring salvation to all of those who would accept it. So too our sufferings in this life and even our deaths, united to the cross of Christ-to Jesus’ own sufferings, our sufferings can be used to bring other souls back to God-this is the fruit the fig tree is asked to bear. And to offer one’s suffering for sinners, this, is the ultimate form of mercy.
But for all this to happen, we need to repent of our own sins in order to accept the fruits of Jesus’ own suffering. If we don’t repent, our sin blinds us and we can only see suffering and struggles as a punishment from a vengeful God. We then can see only the justice without the mercy (like those in today’s Gospel). Or the reverse, we can see mercy only as way of God letting us off the hook as regard to the punishment due to our sins, seeing only the mercy without the justice. Through our personal repentance and with God’s grace from prayer and the Sacraments, we can see that the suffering he allows in our lives is not so much a punishment for our sin, but is a way to show our love for Him and others. We can then see that our suffering can actually be a share in Jesus’ own great work of redemption, his own great work of the salvation of souls. We, through our sufferings, if united to the sufferings of Christ for the sake of His Body the church, we can help Jesus save souls; he can use our sufferings and struggles in this life to bring others His mercy, bring others to him, saving them from eternal damnation and saving them for an eternity with God for ever.
In the parable of the fig tree, Jesus tells that an owner desired to cut it down because it was not producing fruit. The gardener pleads with the owner of the tree to allow him to cultivate it for one more year. He’ll break up the dirt and fertilize the tree. The gardener is Jesus and He desires to come into our life and cultivate our hearts. Jesus desires to produce good fruit in our souls. He allows suffering to prune us if we allow it to. Again, He does not do this to hurt us but to give us a share in his own redemptive work so that we may atone for our sins and the sins of others and so come to love like Him. Yes, to love like Him—He who loved us to the end, unto death on the Cross. In this we discover while Mercy is free, it ain’t cheap.
Today, at this Holy Mass let us offer ourselves with Jesus to the Father. Let us lift up our hearts as an offering to Him in love. Let us unite our pains, sorrows and sufferings in this life with His suffering and death being re-presented, that is being made truly present, on this Holy Altar of sacrifice. Let us do this to make atonement for our sins, for the sins of the living and of the dead and the sins of the whole world. This is what it really means to participate in the Holy Mass; for it is the Holy Mass that makes it possible for us to unite our sufferings to Christ for the sake of His Body the Church.
Let us pray. Jesus I give you my heart and my soul, I offer to you all the sufferings of this life as an offering for my sins and for my failure to love you with all my being. Please turn my heart to you and fill it with your love, allow me to share in the Joy of Your resurrection at this Holy Communion so that I may become another you and lead others to You in my daily life, especially in & through sufferings you allow me to experience which are a share in your own passion and death, so that when the lent of this life is over, I and many others through me, may share in the Joys of that eternal Easter which is Heaven. Amen. Mary refuge of sinners pray for us. God Bless You!
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