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‘MAN-MADE’ & NOT ‘MAN-MADE’ DISASTERS
“There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, ‘Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” (Lk 13:1-5)
I’m thinking of this Gospel-passage today, which deals with one man-made (or man-intended) and another, not man-made or man-intended disaster, which brought sudden death onto the victims. The first was Pilate’s massacre of people on the temple mount, and the second was the collapse of a tower in Siloam, which killed 18 people. It reminds me of two current disasters, also bringing sudden death to their victims, – the man-made and man-intended war against Ukraine and the wildfires in Los Angeles County. The latter are perhaps partly man-made, but certainly not man-intended. Just like the tower in Siloam was man-made, but certainly not with the intention of it collapsing and killing people.
Our Lord makes two points here. First, He warns against assuming that the victims of these sudden and senseless tragedies had been judged for their sins. We are all sinners, and to assume that victims of such tragedies are somehow worse than the rest of us and hence deserved to die, is wrong. His second point is that all of us need to repent, meaning, change our focus, because we don’t know exactly when or how we will die. If we are not mindful of this fact and not attentive to our own “repentance,” preferring to judge others instead (as do those who thought that the victims of Pilate or of the collapse of the tower), we will “likewise perish,” says the Lord, – in the sense that our death will catch us unprepared for it. But if we are always in repentance-mode; always focusing and re-focusing on our path of salvation and our journey to new life in God’s kingdom, death will not find us unprepared, however or whenever it happens.
It is natural, when tragedy strikes, to ask why. And when it is both man-made and man-intended, when it is a crime, it is important to bring to justice the criminal(s) responsible. But it is not our place or our right to blame the victims, or to usurp God’s judgment over them, because He alone is the Judge of our sins. So, let me read the headlines about sudden deaths as a warning to repent, as a call to self-examination, rather than as an occasion to judge the victims. All our lives are essentially a house of cards, which can collapse at any moment, for man-made or not man-made reasons. Help us, save us, have mercy on us, and keep us, O God, by Your grace.
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One of themes raised yesterday in the homily was precisely that of repentance: "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand." (Matt. 4:17) The need for repentance pervades the Gospels within a seemingly endless amount of situations. As Christians, we are called to endlessly seek that "change of mind" that brings us closer to Christ and the Kingdom of Heaven. I just the passage that Sister Vassa brings to our attention the other day. I believe that her distinction between "man made" disasters and not "man made" disasters is very helpful.
