Causes and effects

Every day we look at things happening around us and try to figure out why they occurred.

We live and learn by observing causes and effects. Detectives try to find a criminal — the cause of a crime — by evaluating what has happened — the effects of the crime. Working backwards from effect to cause is very important for science and medicine. It’s also the work of historians.

Sometimes specific sins we commit cause bad effects in our lives. But often when we experience sickness, suffering and tragedy in our lives, we cannot see the direct cause, so we start to ask, “Did I do something to deserve this?” Should we search our hearts and try to find some hidden sin to repent of, some cause within ourselves that we are unaware of?

We find this logic at work in Luke 13:1-3. Some folks told Jesus about a group of Galilean Jews whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. This was a heinous crime committed by Pontius Pilate, the governor of Judea. Not only did he kill those Galileans, but then he committed sacrilege. Pilate violated every Old Testament holiness code by sending his troops into the temple area to murder Galilean Jews while they were slaughtering their lambs for the Passover meal. During that holy feast which the Lord had instituted, the blood of those murdered Jews was mixed with the blood of the sacrificed Passover lambs.

The people who presented this scenario to Jesus apparently thought the Galileans deserved what happened to them. The conventional wisdom of the time said that trouble in life is God’s punishment for sin, while tranquility is a sign of God’s blessing. But as is so often the case, conventional wisdom is wrong. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?  I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

With these few words, Jesus shows that His Father doesn’t dole out suffering to His children according to their degree of sinfulness. What Jesus teaches us through this example is that when we experience inexplicable tragedy in our lives, we should not look for a direct cause in what we have done. When our children, our parents or we are afflicted, we should not look inside ourselves asking “Why?” Rather, we should repent and trust in the Lord. Tragedies and suffering serve as calls for us to repent of all our sin first of all, but most of all for us to find in Jesus our only hope in the midst of a world full of trouble.

Jesus calls not for speculation, but for contrition and faith. He calls for all of you to repent lest you perish. If God were to give each of us what we really deserve for our sins, then the suffering each of us has experienced would be infinitely greater. The Christian response to tragedy is, “Thank God that Jesus perished on behalf of me and all, so that I might not perish eternally.”

When it comes to life in God’s Kingdom, conventional wisdom is foolishness, especially when we are suffering. And here is the reason all of our wisdom is foolishness: the cross of Jesus Christ. Think about it. If you had been there when they crucified our Lord, you would have said, “This is senseless. This is tragic. This innocent man is being executed like a common criminal.” It doesn’t make sense to human reason. So, the cross of Christ displays our inability to judge outward appearances correctly. We see Christ killed, condemned, and suffering the punishments of hell, but God sees payment for the sin of the whole world on that cross.

It doesn’t make sense to sinful human reason. The only way we can know that we are saved by Jesus’ work on the cross is by God revealing that truth to us in His Word. That’s why St. Paul wrote, “We preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those whom God has called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ (is) the power of God and the wisdom of God. For the foolishness of God is wiser than man's wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than man's strength,” 1 Corinthians 1:23-25.

In other words, whatever image your mind comes up with about God, throw it out and look to the cross, where God’s love is truly revealed. Whatever ideas you come up with about God on your own, toss them out and be taught by what He tells you in His Word, in the message of Christ crucified. And whenever you believers in Christ think that suffering in your life is God’s wrath against you, cast that thought out of your mind and believe this: God will never be cruel to Christians because He has revealed His goodness and love for them through Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. Amen.