Jesus was holding his weekly press conference when the reporter for the Jerusalem Times put up her hand: “Jesus, did you hear about the Slaughter at the Synagogue? Some worshippers were offering sacrifices when Pilate’s troops came in and killed them for no reason. My question to you Jesus is simply this: “Why were those particular people killed and not anyone else?”
The reporter for the Indian Express piped up: “Jesus, you know about the earthquake that killed tens of thousands of people in Andhra Pradesh. Why were those people killed and not others? Was the Man Upstairs looking out for some and not the others?”
Reporters for the San Salvador Sentinel and the Seattle Morning Post also chimed in: “Yes, Jesus, why were these people chosen to be the victims? Was their time up?”
The Tokyo Telegram was up next. “Why did that U.S. submarine hit that fishing boat at that particular time? Why were only some people killed? Were they worse sinners than the rest?”
The New York Times reporter quickly jumped into the fray. “When that bomb was dropped accidentally in Kuwait, why were those 27 picked to die? Were the ones who were spared morally superior to the victims?”
Jesus was not totally taken aback by these questions. He’d heard similar sentiments before. When they were standing by the pool at Siloam, one of his own disciples pointed out to the blind man who was approaching them and asked: “Is it is his fault or his parents’ fault that he is blind?”
“It had to be her fault that she was raped. With that skimpy outfit she was wearing that day, she was asking for it.”
“He died of AIDS, eh? I’m not surprised. That’s God’s punishment on him for being a queer.”
“Serves them right for buying a house right on the fault line.”
So, he says: “Did you guys hear about the Tower of Doom that toppled and killed 18 construction workers the other day?”
“Did you forget about the plane crash that killed 18 people in Angola?”
“Didn’t you read about the car and semi that collided near Wolsley?”
“Did you stop by the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and spot the baby born with cystic fibrosis?”
“Have you been to the cancer ward lately?”
He goes on: “Are you trying to make a correlation between sin and tragedy? Are you implying that the victims were worse sinners than everyone around them? Are you trying to prove that God has this computer that matches every sinner with the appropriate tragedy and then zaps them?”
Have I got news for you! Those of you who believe that they had it coming, that they deserved their fate are dead wrong. You are not looking at these stories from the right angle. Your perspective is all perverted. Tell you what, rather than focus on the victims and speculate on why their lives ended the way they did, here is what you really need to do. You ought to take a good hard look at yourselves and where you’re at. Because, if you do not turn from your sins, you will all die as they did.”
Jesus’ response was met with icy stares and dead silence. There was no comebacker, no follow-up question. They’d asked him a question. He’d given them a straight answer. Not the answer they wanted to hear, mind you. They would’ve preferred him to prove that everyone of the victims deserved to die the way they did, that if you went back and analyzed their lives, their lifestyle, their parents’ lives and lifestyles, or even their grandparents and great grandparents, you would find the hand of God at work...so that what appears to mortal eyes as a tragedy is really part of God’s grand design for humankind. That’s what they wanted to hear.
But he told them what they needed to hear. That there was no rhyme or reason for those people to die at that time under those circumstances. It could’ve happened to anyone that was standing there. Some of them could’ve been at the temple offering sacrifices when Pilate’s troops opened fire. Some of them could’ve been at the construction site when the tower toppled. Any one of them could’ve given birth to a child with abnormal chromosomes. Any one of them could’ve been at the wheel of the vehicle that was involved in a collision or a passenger on an airplane that crashed or an innocent bystander on whom the bomb was dropped. The ground could’ve trembled where they lived and brought about great devastation. It had nothing to do with their spiritual standing, their moral make-up, their exemplary behaviour.
Jesus tells them and us: “When you read or hear or see these events happening, stop looking for reasons why something happened to others. Stop playing this sinister game called “Spot the sin.” Stop being a coroner performing moral post-mortems on every victim you can find. As he would say elsewhere: “Before you point out to your neighbour that she has a speck in her cornea, make sure you don’t have a two-by-four attached to your own retina!”
Ever notice that when you point one finger at another, there are three pointing back at you? That’s God’s way of saying: “Don’t fix the blame on others. Instead fix your own problems first.”
In other words, Jesus is saying: “Don’t put yourself up on a pedestal and put down “those poor people down there.” It could’ve been you that was caught up in the tragedy. When you hear news such as this, do something else instead.
Ask yourself: “Am I doing something right now, am I living in such a way that I too could be courting disaster?” And, if the answer is “Yes”, then quickly make a change. Repent. Turn from your sins. Treat every tragic event as an opportunity for you to reform yourself. Think of it as a SECOND CHANCE that God is giving you to get your life straightened out before you lead others astray, your mess cleaned up before you soil other lives, your two-by-four extracted before you bop someone else on the head with it.
He goes on to tell them a story, a parable to illustrate this point. Bear in mind that this story takes place in the barren, rocky, terrain of Palestine, where arable land is at a premium... which means that if you plant a fig tree and it is not producing figs it is taking up precious space that could be filled with a productive tree, maybe another fig tree or a tree of a different variety. The landlord is all set to take a chainsaw to the tree, but the gardener intervenes: “Please sir, can I have one more year to do something to make this tree productive? I’ll dig around its roots, aerate it better, and put in some fertilizer rich in nitrogen. Would you please give this tree a SECOND CHANCE? If at the end of the year it still doesn’t show any improvement, I’ll gladly chop it down for you myself.”
Jesus leaves the parable open-ended. He does not indicate whether the landowner gave in to the request...and if he did, whether the fig tree was fruitful and was spared, whether the gardener carried through with his promises or not, whether it failed to produce and was cut down or whether it failed to produce and the gardener pleaded once more and got an extension on his project. He does this purposely, I believe, to let us know that God keeps on giving us these extra opportunities to make our lives fruitful, but what we do with those chances is up to us. And when that SECOND CHANCE turns out to be the final chance is not something we know in advance. The tree always faces the danger of being out of the picture, either by being cut down or by rotting at the roots or by being destroyed when the next tornado blows through town. We never know. So, he says the best that you can do is to be thankful that you have another kick
at the cat, another go at the goal and do what you need to do.
I would suspect that virtually everyone in here can give at least one example from your life that illustrates a SECOND CHANCE that God has given you. Perhaps, you came this close to being killed in an accident.
Perhaps, your previous relationship ended in failure, but you’ve found yourself a soul-mate now.
Perhaps, you were headed down a destructive path with an addiction or two, when God stopped you cold in your tracks and helped you get straightened out.
Perhaps, found a way to make your life truly count.
Perhaps the crowd you hung around with was dragging you down, and now you’ve made some new friends. Perhaps the church was headed for a slow decline, and has been given another shot at renewal.
I am sure you are grateful for these opportunities. But, I believe that the reason you are in church today is because you needed to hear this message again. Because you and I both know that right now there are other changes you need to make that you’ve been putting off. How many more SECOND CHANCES do you have left? When are you going to do something about it?
Several years ago the Peanuts comic strip had Lucy and Charlie Brown practicing football. Lucy would hold the ball for Charlie’s placekicking and then Charlie would kick the ball. But every time Lucy had ever held the ball for Charlie, he would approach the ball and kick with all his might. At the precise moment of the point of no return, Lucy would pick up the ball and Charlie would kick and his momentum unchecked by the ball, which was not there to kick, would cause him to fall flat on his back. This strip opened with Lucy holding the ball, but Charlie Brown would not kick the ball. Lucy begged him to kick the ball. But Charlie Brown said, "Every time I try to kick the ball you remove it and I fall on my back." They went back and forth for the longest time and finally Lucy broke down in tears and admitted, "Charlie Brown I have been so terrible to you over the years, picking up the football like I have. I have played so many cruel tricks on you, but I’ve seen the error of my ways! I’ve seen the hurt look in your eyes when I’ve deceived you. I’ve been wrong, so wrong. Won’t you give a poor penitent girl another chance?" Charlie Brown was moved by her display of grief and responded to her, "Of course, I’ll give you another chance." He stepped back as she held the ball, and he ran. At the last moment, Lucy picked up the ball and Charlie Brown fell flat on his back. Lucy’s last words were, "Recognizing your faults and actually changing your ways are two different things, Charlie Brown!"
Are you going to change your ways as of today?
We live in a world where death is a constant companion, a world where people die for no reason. We live in a world where vicious people, be they criminals who hide in darkness, or the oppressive powers of the state, strike out at random. We live in a world where storms sweep in from nowhere, where towers fall down on the innocent as well as the guilty, where earthquakes strike without warning and shadows appear on X-rays. Life is a gift, and can be taken away at any time. Life is not our right. None of us knows how much time we have.
You and I have been given a SECOND CHANCE...
To slow down the pace, to stop and smell the roses while we are still able;
to work on that communication problem with our kids, to shorten that distance that’s been growing in some vital relationship,
to give up the habit that’s robbing us of our health, to repent and get back into a right relationship with God.
The time to repent, the time to turn our life around, the time to do what we know we need to do, is now.
The time to say “I love you” is now.
The time to say “I’m sorry,” is now.
The time to say “I forgive you” is now.
The time to say “I need you” is now.
The time to do that thing you have always wanted to do, always meant to do, know you ought to do, is now.
And the time to give your life to Christ, the time to begin really living for Jesus, the time to bear fruit, is now. Because, you may not have another SECOND CHANCE.
