For more thoughts on the same subject, see my friend and colleague Kurt’s sermon based on the same texts, and our Bishop’s recent reflections.
This Sunday’s lessons drop us right into the middle of one of the biggest and stickiest questions for people of faith. Why do bad things happen to good people? For that matter, why do bad things happen to ordinary people, neither particularly good nor particularly bad?
Paul, writing to the church in Corinth, thinks he has it figured out. Bad things happened to the Israelites because they worshiped false gods – indulged in immoral behaviors – and complained when things weren’t going well. And if we act the same way, we should expect the same outcome – sudden and violent death.
Jesus, speaking in Luke’s Gospel, complicates this a bit. Those Galileans murdered by Pilate’s men? They weren’t worse sinners than any other average Galilean. And those people crushed when that tower fell – remember that? – they weren’t worse sinners than anybody else living in Jerusalem in these days. The victims of sudden and violent death aren’t especially evil or sinful. They are likely to be just like everybody else.
But then, what explanation can we find? Why do bad things happen to ordinary people? Why do bad things happen at all? And how can we believe in a good and loving God, when the world is so full of suffering?
The bad news is, there’s no tidy answer. The good news is that struggling with this question can lead us deeper into faith, and give us a clearer vision of God’s nature – and God’s love.



