Podcast: 

homily20100307.mp3

4 Minutes Audio: 

4minute20100307.mp3

When the hurricane Katrina hit the East coast of America 
and almost destroyed New Orleans and the people of that City, 
the homeless and the hungry started to try to rebuild their lives.
There were some people in the US 
who maintained the City of New Orleans was nearly destroyed 
because it was an immoral City; 
they deserved what they got and 
they need to not rebuild that City to its former days. 

It is that mindset of judgment 
that Jesus hears in today’s gospel passage 
about the Galileans who were executed by Pilate.
Jesus answers the question about whether 
they were actually executed because of their sins, 
because they were more sinful than others.  
Jesus chastises them and corrects 
their understanding of how sin and punishment work.  
He assures them that the Galileans 
no more guilty than any other people who lived there.
He also gives another example of 18 people were killed 
when the Tower of Siloam fell on them. 

In ancient times, people thought that 
when some accident like that happened, 
then God’s disfavor had rested on them.  
In other words, that was a punishment for their sins.  
But Christ disavows that understanding of how God works.  
He said, they were no guiltier than anyone else, 
and he was trying to assure them of God’s love.  
He says, “Be careful.  
While God did not make these things happen, 
you never know the time or the hour 
when your death will be upon you.”  
He reminds them, 
“Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand.”  
He pushes them to understand 
there is urgency to living this reality out.  
For us now, it is urgency to live our discipleship. 
The interesting note here about 
expecting fruit of the fig tree after the three years
 and if it does not produce after three years they will cut it down.  
Some scholars maintain that the three years 
in the story of the fig tree 
was the symbolism of Jesus’ three years of public ministry 
and that the extra year given 
is the extra time given to all of us to repent 
and turn away from our own sinful ways and return to God
–we have all been given a reprieve, 
to hear the message and to live the message.

There are people even today who judge other people 
according to these disasters and accidents that happen
—we may not say it out loud that they deserved it 
but sometimes we think that God works in capricious ways.  
But it is not true.  
The Lord assures us that is not the way God works.  
There are things that happen that we will never understand, 
but it is not God punishes us in some strange way.  
In other words, the City of New Orleans 
was not nearly wiped out because of sins 
although there may be lots of sins going on 
but no more differently than 
in any other part of our country, or our world. 
There are sinners in all cities, 
and indeed most of us, if we are really honest, 
are sinners in one way, shape or form.

The gospel instead calls us to a sense of urgency to live out the gospel.  
In other words, we have to remind ourselves 
this life we live is not a dress rehearsal.  
This is the only chance we will get to live this day.  
We will never be able to go back and say, 
“Oh, I didn’t do that so well; 
let me just do that over.”  
No.  There is only once chance to live this day, this hour, this week.  
That is it.  We will never get another chance to do it.  
And so we must live it well.  
We must insure that we do everything we can to be the best Christian, 
and to be the best lover of humanity we can be.
As John of the Cross once said, 
“In the evening of our life, 
we will be judged not on how well we have lived, 
but on how well we have loved.”

We are called to find it in our hearts to love other people, 
to reach out to them in charity without a need for condition; 
without a need for them to understand what we do.  
We give to them out of charity and out of justice.  
And then we reach out to others in forgiveness.  
The greatest sign of love is to 
forgive others the mistakes they made.  
That is where the heart of our work is.  
It is to turn away from our own sinful ways 
and to work hard with a sense of urgency.  
That is not sort of an optional extra
—oh, and if you get out, on the way out today, 
if you get a chance, live the gospel, go ahead; 
if not, that’s fine!

It is not.  Instead it is up to us to really do it today.  
It is not enough that we come here to the table; 
it is not enough.  
This is a great start but this isn’t enough.  
We must go forth from here to really live the gospel, 
to become the ones who animate and bring it alive in our lives.  
That is what we will be judged on.  
Now look, we all have other places 
instead of being here on a Sunday morning 
so I admire and commend you for being here.  
That is not what I am saying.  
But what I am saying is that we must also live it 
in every part of our lives outside of here 
so that when we come here 
it becomes a credible witness to what we do out there.
And what we do out there becomes a credible witness 
to what we say and pray in here.  
They need to match. 
When they do not, this causes a contradiction 
that leads to a false witness.  
That is where we have to challenge ourselves.

It doesn’t mean we will always get it right.  
But it means we always try.  
So today, we celebrate that here.  
We do not know all of God’s ways 
nor are we called to judge others according to God’s ways.  
But we are called to live with a sense of urgency, 
a sense of now-ness that we must live this gospel 
and to love well today because in the end, 
we do not know the day or the hour 
which will be our last.
So with a great urgency we must live and love well.