02-12-10

The Theology of Tragedy

                                                  Luke 13:1-17 (KJV)
¹ There were present at that season some that told him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
² And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things?
³ I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
⁴ Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?
⁵ I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.
⁶ He spoke also this parable; a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
⁷ Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and find none: cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
⁸ And he answering said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it:
⁹ And if it bear fruit, well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.

The day after the earthquake, Pat Robertson renowned TV evangelist and leader of the 700 club, said Haiti has been "cursed" because of what he called a "pact with the devil" in its history.

He further suggested that God had made a distinction between Haiti and the Dominican Republic their occupying neighbor on the same Island of Hispaniola, Robertson suggested that the quake was directed at the Haitians because of voodooist practices.  He believes the quake was God’s judgment and punishment on a non-Judeao Christian country.  

His comments were based on a Voodoo ritual carried out before a slave rebellion against the French colonists in 1804.  It is no surprise to me that a conservative right wing religious zealot like Pat Robertson would make such a comment about people of color by somehow blaming them for their own predicament, but I was very disappointed to hear a few African American pastors agree with him.  And just in case some of you believe likewise allow me to elaborate on why I disagree with Pat Robertson and my ill informed colleagues.

There are three immediate problems I have with Robertson’s comments, the first is that Robertson do not know or do not chose to know the history of these colonized slaves descendents and the island they occupy. 

Otherwise He would have known that the largest recorded earthquake in modern times on the island of Hispaniola was an 8.1-magnitude temblor that produced a tsunami in 1946 and it was indeed centered in the Dominican Republic.

Furthermore he has never been a slave or a descendant of slaves.  If so he would have known that all slaves of African descent brought with them their own form of indigenous religion, slaves had to adopt, when they could not get asset to real medicine they had to create their own cures.

To be for sure Haiti has some internal issues but the main problem with Haiti is not the evil within but the evil from without.  Haiti has been the object of capitalistic punishment since 1804 when they had the audacity to launched the world's first successful slave rebellion and gain their freedom and independence from France.

Since then Haiti has suffered Endemic instability, murderous dictators that have been in many cases handpicked by those who want to keep the Haitian people on their knees, more than 30 coups and a seemingly endless series of hurricanes and other natural disasters have claimed countless souls over Haiti's tumultuous 206-year history, leaving it to be the poorest country in the western hemisphere and utterly dependent on foreign aid by design. 

For sixty five years America has imposed an embargo on all its resources contributing to the poverty that caused the fatalities to be so high.  Three million people living in an area that should have no more than four hundred thousand.  In 1974 swine flu broke out in Haiti killing all the pigs in the rural farm areas and drove the farmers to Port Aur Prince seeking aide and assistance thereby forming all the shantytowns in and around Port A Prince.

Haiti doesn't have building codes and even if it did, people who make on average $2 a day can't afford to build something that can withstand earthquakes and hurricanes. Poverty is most often the reason for the tremendous devastation we see in Haiti.   Scientists have known about the seismic threat for a while but that doesn't help the Haitian government, which lacks the resources to quake-proof buildings and structures."Experts say this was not that huge of an earthquake, but it caused a lot of damage," they say. "It's the tragedy of a natural disaster superimposed on a poor country."

My third problem with Robertson’s comments is that he does not speak for God and neither do I for that matter but his word speaks for Himself.  And that’s precisely what I want to call your attention to here in this 13^th chapter of Luke. We have here references to two disasters that some people of Jesus’ day had interpreted as God’s judgment on innocent people.

First, there is the reference to the Galileans whom the vicious dictatorial Pilate had murdered in the middle of their sacrifices. Pilate had decided rightly that Jerusalem needed a new and improved water supply. He proposed to build it and, to finance it with Temple monies.

But at the very idea of spending Temple monies like that, the Jews were up in arms. When the mobs gathered, Pilate instructed his soldiers to mingle with them, wearing cloaks over their battle dress for disguise. They were instructed to carry swords under their cloaks. At a given signal they were to fall on the mob and disperse them. This was done, but the soldiers dealt with the mob with violence far beyond their instructions and a considerable number of people lost their lives.

The second tragedy was when one of the water towers fell and killed eighteen innocent bystanders. And it is from these two tragedies we glean our lesson for today.

The Jews rigidly connected sin and suffering together. Eliphaz had long ago said to Job, "Who is it that was innocent ever perished?" (Job 4:7). This was a cruel and a heartbreaking doctrine, as Job knew well. But Jesus utterly denies it here in these two tragedies. As we all know very well, it is often the greatest saints who have to suffer most.

I just want to lift up four things about the theology of Tragedy. What God says about it?

1)-Tragedy is a REALITY of the human PERDICAMENT. (v.2) ² And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things?

Jesus said to his disciples in John 14 that; “in this world you will have trouble but be of good cheer”…….  Trouble is a result of living in a fallen and corrupt world, but the good news is greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

 
2)- Tragedy is REASONABLY and divinely PREDICTABLE.

But Jesus went on to say that if his hearers did not repent they too would perish. He foresaw and foretold the destruction of Jerusalem, which happened in A.D. 70, He knew that if the Jews went on with their rebellions, their plotting, their political ambitions, they were simply going to commit national suicide; he knew that in the end Rome would step in and obliterate the nation; and that is precisely what happened.

3)- Tragedy causes us to devise a RESCUE and RECOVERY PLAN.

The parable tells us of the gospel of the second chance. A fig-tree normally takes three years to reach maturity. If it is not fruiting by that time it is not likely to fruit at all. But this fig-tree was given another chance.

It is always Jesus' way to give a man chance after chance. Peter and Mark and Paul would all gladly have witnessed to that. God is infinitely kind to the man who falls and rises again.

Along with all the horrors it wrought, Tuesday's earthquake brought a bitter irony to Haiti: The crumbled, chaotic country will soon have more physicians, medics and operating hospitals than ever in its tormented history.

4) – Tragedy PROMPTS us to REPENT.

But the parable also makes it quite clear that there is a final chance. If we refuse chance after chance, if God's appeal and challenge come again and again in vain, the day finally comes, not when God has shut us out, but when we by deliberate choice have shut ourselves out. God save us from that!