Shaughnessy Heights United Church 18 March 2001

A.H.Harry Oussoren "Sin, Suffering, & God’s Grace"

Text: Luke 13:1-9

Prayer:

When you get right down to it, there is only one empirically verifiable doctrine in Christian faith. That is the doctrine of sin.

All the others: about creation, about redemption, about the future hope, about God – all the others require the leap of faith.

That doesn’t make them any less true, but it does mean that we don’t have positive evidence to substantiate them.

The doctrine of sin, on the other hand, is well attested. There is no shortage of evidence. We can start right with ourselves.

I won’t speak for you, but speaking for myself I acknowledge that sin is a very real aspect of my life – both sins of commission and omission.

I admit I am often tempted to rationalize my sin.

I do it, for example, when I say to myself:

well, it’s only natural to harbour a grudge, or

it’s okay to take short-cuts with the earth’s limited resources, or

it’s normal to live contentedly in luxury when our first world affluence is tied to poverty elsewhere.

The reality is that doing what comes naturally or normally has never been the ultimate human standard.

Humans who think and people of faith are committed to standards beyond the law of the jungle.

The higher standards are symbolized by words like

justice, respect, stewardship, integrity, truth, compassion and love.

But even with these higher standards, there is always the temptation to wipe our own slate clean. We find it easy to excuse ourselves.

Normally we have less trouble seeing the glaring sins of others.

That’s what Jesus addresses in this Gospel reading:

Disaster has struck.

The Roman Governor Pilate gave his armed soldiers licence to kill worshippers in Jerusalem. Who knows why? To teach the restless Jews a lesson? To assert Roman authority? To satisfy his blood urge?

To show his soldiers who is boss? Who knows!

Did the individual victims deserve their fate? Were neighbours and observers spouting religious clichés. Cliches about "probably they did something to deserve the sword" or

"If they had had more faith they might not have died."

Rubbish, says Jesus, there but for the grace of God go you.

And then there’s the tower that toppled near the pool of Siloam – eighteen people died there. We here in Vancouver might think of the Second Narrows bridge disaster in the 6os.

Was this an expression of God’s judgement on these people’s lives? Nonsense.

Ask instead: was the engineering properly done for the tower; were the right materials used or did somebody make some quick money at the expense of quality; who did the soil tests or was the owner trying to hide the fact that the soil was unstable? Who didn’t listen to the warnings about the cracks in the foundation? And who’s ego was being fed by the height of the tower?

We have our own towers that can kill.

In Africa hundreds of thousands of AIDS victims are threatened with awful death because of the impregnable patent legal fortresses we have constructed for global pharmaceutical firms.

Because of patent laws, the African governments providing less costly generic drugs for AIDS patients are being sued by patent holding pharma companies. The companies want to ban the cheaper generic drugs and force governments to buy the expensive patent drugs.

The money isn’t there.

So the towering commitment to the bottom line and investor return costs lives.

Think of our cars. We know for a fact that every year thousands die unnecessarily because of the pollution created by motor vehicles, and that on top of that, thousands are injured, maimed and killed in car accidents.

Do we really believe it is God’s will for these people to suffer and die like that? Or can we see that at bottom it is sin which drives these statistics? (pardon the pun!)

It is our human inclination to try distance ourselves from victims by blaming them. Have you walked along Hastings Street and asked yourself: I wonder what that beggar did to sink so low?

Or have you looked with disgust on a convict?

It is our natural inclination to place ourselves on a pedestal of righteousness – especially when things are going well for us.

Of course! I deserve this good health, this comfortable living, this mind-opening education, this joy in culture – after all, I worked hard for it.

Those people on the other hand, must have done something wrong, when I, on the other hand, – how shall I put it? – am so….good?

That’s the pride the Old Testament book of Job trashes. Job is a good man, and he knows his utter need of God.

But his advisors keep telling him he must have sinned and therefore deserves the loss of his family, animals, home, and health. Just confess it Job and admit you deserved to be punished.

But that is human projection about God.

We are the ones who want to get even.

When someone hurts us, we itch to strike back.

We’d like to think that God would too.

Don’t lay your trips on God, says Jesus. God is not to be bought by your presumed goodness.

Nor is God the one who lashes out to punish you everytime you do something wrong.

You are not to make a link to God when sin and suffering cross your path. //

So how do we respond in the face of tremendous suffering in the world?

Two observations:

First, be humble - humble enough to look first at how your actions may contribute to the suffering of others.

Maybe not directly, perhaps indirectly.

Does my reckless shopping contribute to poverty in the developing world?

Does my pressure for tax cuts result in children with special needs not getting proper help?

Does my desire for investment return result in the pharma companies suing the South African government and stopping drugs for AIDS patients?

When I use my car, am I making it harder for the asthmatic to breathe?

When we know others are suffering,

less self-righteousness, more humility, and a larger sense of shared responsibility is in order.

On Friday, there was a memorial service here for Neil Weatherston.

He worked for ICBC in a senior position. His vision was "zero tolerance" for serious injuries and deaths by motor vehicles.

The reason: he had seen the horrendous suffering of so many victims of vehicle accidents. He witnessed the toll on individuals and families.

Did he blame them? No, indeed.

Neil knew he had responsibility. And he was in a position to do something about roadway carnage.

Better drivers, safer cars, maintenance of roads, more active enforcement – all ways to get us home safely when we drive a car.

At the Men ‘n Muffins gathering yesterday, we talked about how investing substantially in children when they are young makes a huge difference as they get older. Over 20% of Canada’s children live well-below the poverty line. They’re the ones who are far more likely to wind up sick, difficult in school, likely to be jailed.

Do they deserve their poverty. What a question!

Have we as a congregation done all we can to help children get a good start?

Pride says we have nothing to do with their poverty – their parents, the system, fate, maybe God - should all be blamed.

Humility, however, acknowledges that we share responsibility – we have sinned. Jesus’ way of compassion and love says we can do something about it to make things right.

The second part of responding to suffering is create or seek the community you need to live more faithfully.

On our own we rationalize and justify ourselves.

So we need to find the soul-mates who can challenge our own half-truths and the rationalizations that prevent us from acting.

We need to be part of groups that support taking responsibility for what is happening in the world.

Is there any community better placed than the church to nurture informed awareness and positive support for sustainable living?

Imagine if all of us checked in with each other monthly to share learnings and report on efforts to end child poverty. We would save lives. What if we had car check ins to report on ways we’ve avoided using our car?

We need each other to support us in faithfulness.

We can learn from Alcoholics Anonymous about how to encourage each other to choose life-giving paths.

Humility and supportive community - that is the content of the word "repent".

In the company of Jesus, people turn away from self-righteousness and recognize their daily need both to be forgiven and to be supported on a more faithful way.

It’s like that Lenten prayer we keep saying and singing. We start with the recognition that we need God – we need to see more clearly, love more dearly, and together follow more nearly in Christ’s way.

In our life times, we will never reconcile fully sin and suffering, on the one hand, and God’s love and power on the other.

There will always be a dimension of unfathomable mystery to the suffering of our world. I find consolation that in the blameless Christ, God also suffered and died.

But the mystery need not blur the fact that much suffering is caused by human failure to care enough for each other.

Sin IS the one verifiable doctrine of the Christian community.

But in the Spirit of Christ,

we admit our part in the world’s disease and

we work together for that world where God’s unfailing love and God’s goodness will be experienced by all.

May it be so! AMEN