Third Sunday of Lent: A Practical Look at Judgement Ideology

I remember shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, Louisiana in 2004, a number of anti-gay organizations began writing that New Orleans experienced the horrific storm because of the Cities acceptance of homosexuality. Because New Orleans holds the yearly gay party Southern Decadence, God sent a massive hurricane that broke the levees and thousands of people were killed, with homes and businesses destroyed. I guarantee you that if a natural disaster hits Washington, DC all of the fundamentalists will say that the newly passed marriage equality law will be to blame. The tsunami that hit Hawaii happened because they almost passed civil unions.

Even though Jesus preached peace, love and reconciliation, many Christians are more apt to suggest the Old Testament idea that God strikes and destroys lands because God is angry and wants to wipe us out. In other words, many Christians still have the age old idea that God is the mighty parent that punishes God's people with the worst crisis because of our sins. This weekend in the Human Rights Campaign's Out in Scripture, the commentators talk a little bit about the early days of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

"The experience of HIV/AIDS in the LGBT community provides a poignant contemporary example. In the early years, when the disease wreaked havoc on communities of gay men, religious fundamentalists claimed that AIDS was God’s gift to rid the world of the evil of homosexuality. The cloud of that judgment theology was oppressive and death-dealing to the self-esteem and spiritual well-being of many LGBT people. Yet we know that HIV/AIDS was and is no more God’s judgment against homosexuality for gay people than it is God’s judgment against heterosexuality for the straight people who are infected and affected by it. Yet the stigmatization of HIV/AIDS and its link with this judgment theology was so prevalent that it kept the United States government from even mentioning the word "AIDS" until well past the time that the disease should have been aggressively fought and compassionately treated."

Today's Gospel of Luke 13:1-9 is a conversation with Jesus about the idea that those who die in certain ways are enduring God's horrible judgment. Jesus cleverly reminds people that no one is really better than anyone else. Jesus replied:

"Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will perish just as they did." (Luke 13:2-5).

The commentators from Out in Scripture continue to give some good understanding to this Gospel.

In Luke 13:1-9, Jesus grapples with judgment theology. He hears a report that the tyrant Pontius Pilate has slaughtered a group of Galileans, mingling their own blood with their sacrifices (verses 1-2). We do not know the historical origin of this report. If it actually happened, the details are lost to us. In any case, Jesus further alludes to another occasion when 18 perished when a tower fell upon them (verse 4). To modern readers these tragedies seem random. Pilate, like all tyrants, had a penchant for killing. Many ancient buildings were weak due to human corruption or simply poor engineering. "Things happen," we tend to say. Yet advocates of judgment theology desire a theological reason for everything, especially anything unfortunate or tragic. They also insist on answering the question, "Whose fault is it when innocent people suffer and die?" Being able to blame particular human actions or failings tends to tidy up the messiness of life. It also keeps God (and often, the rest of us) far removed from human suffering.

Jesus turns the tragic accounts of the slaughtered Galileans and the fallen tower into an opportunity to undermine judgment theology. When misfortune strikes our neighbors, it’s natural to wonder why we escape while others do not. Survival’s guilt is a phenomenon with which we have grown distressingly familiar. It may not be flattering to know this about ourselves, but this impulse also tempts us to congratulate ourselves for our own well-being. Are we fortunate? Virtuous? Blessed? In Luke’s story Jesus turns away from such individualistic explanations. Those who have died were no worse than any others. Their fate, according to Jesus, may not have been their own fault, yet those who fail to repent — to turn toward life abundant — bring judgment upon themselves (verse 5).

The repentance that Jesus has in mind transcends personal moral weaknesses. Rather, Jesus, the bearer of peace, calls all people to repent — to turn away from a culture of violence, retribution and scapegoating. Jesus calls those in his company to discern the times. Pockets of resistance subverted the Roman occupation of Galilee and Judea. The path of violent resistance eventually led to a great disaster, the Jewish Revolt of 66-70 C.E. Such violence, even violence in the name of liberation, begets greater violence. Those who pursue violence, unless they repent, bring destruction upon themselves and upon others.

In the midst of this grave warning, Jesus also injects a word of hope. He weaves a story about a man who has planted a vineyard (verses 6-9). Finding no fruit on a fig tree for three years, he orders the gardener to cut it down. The gardener resists, suggesting that the landowner wait one more year for the fig tree to bear fruit. Thanks to God for God’s patience with us and with our judgment-oriented society!

In Luke, Jesus refuses judgment theology. Instead, Jesus calls people to turn from violence and exploitation.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people seek full inclusion in society and the Church. We come with a message of love, compassion and unbelievable fortitude. In spite of amazing bias that still exists within the Christian church, we still seek God's loving embrace as we struggle to see ourselves through God's eyes. We seek God's Holy Spirit that we may love others as Christ has loved us. We are blessed by God's grace that has empowered us to love in a new and different way. We are called to see past the judgment and exploitation of anti-LGBT rhetoric. Through God's generosity our gift of being LGBT allows us to love and be loved as people of Faith, and share with others the graciousness and goodness of God. Episcopal Bishop Chane's Statement giving permission for the Priests in the Diocese of Washington, DC to preside at Civil Marriage Ceremonies, deserves to be reprinted, even if I used it yesterday.

"Through the grace of Holy Baptism, there are no second class members of the Body of Christ, " Chane said. "We are of equal value in the eyes of God, and any one of us may be called by the Holy Spirit into holy relationships as well as Holy Orders."

Let us not look to the negative judgment and exploitation of the religious right to help determine our relationship with God. Instead let the knowledge of God's unconditional and all-inclusive love so that "the peace of God which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:7).

Almighty God, you know that we have no power within ourselves to help ourselves: Keep us both outwardly in our bodies and inwardly in our souls, that we may be defended from all adversities which may happen to the body, and from all evil thoughts which may assault and hurt the soul; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, on God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Collect for the Third Sunday of Lent, BCP, 218).