Homily for the Third
Sunday in Lent 23 March 2025
Episcopal Parish
of All Saints - Ashmont, Dorchester, Massachusetts
The Rev’d John R. Clarke, Interim Rector
“The Lord has not
dealt with us according to our sins.” Psalm
103:10
A visit to the morgue. Our guides? The
Simpsons’ astronomically wealthy Montgomery Burns and his personal assistant,
Smithers.
Wandering among the cadavers, Mr. Burns oozes,
“Ah, nothing lifts my spirits like shopping.
Let’s see, Smithers. I’ll take his liver … a case of Adam’s apples … and
that motorcyclist’s mustache.”
“Oh,” Smithers
gushes, “the money you’ve contributed to anti-helmet laws has really paid off,
sir.”
“Well,” Mr. Burns
sniffs, “young people are my future.”
A body parts shopping spree. Funny? Yes.
Far-fetched? Not if you’ve ever spoken to futurist Paul Saffo.
Saffo, who bills himself as a “technology
forecaster,” believes that in the future, the super-rich — rich enough to grow
their own replacement organs — may evolve into a
separate species altogether from the rest of us.
With a future like that out-of-reach for the
likes of you and me, you have to ask, “Is life fair?” Or, more to the point
(because … church!), “Is God fair?”
That’s the question critics put to Jesus as they
file late-breaking news about a bloody massacre: True to form, Roman Governor
Pontius Pilate has slaughtered key political opponents of his ― a cabal of
Galilean rebels ― as they were worshiping in the
Temple. “Their own blood mingled with the blood of their sacrifices!” the critics
charge. “Jesus, do you think this sacrilege is right?”
Of course, it’s a trap. They’re trying to get
Jesus to come down on the side of the rebels vs. the Roman occupiers, trying to
get Jesus to say,“It was wrong for the Romans to do that.” An answer like that
would put Jesus squarely in the sights of the authorities.
But, Jesus deflects by reframing the question,
basically asking, “What do you think is fair?”
That is, Jesus challenges a view of justice wildly
popular in his time and, sadly, still alive-and-kicking in ours. It’s called “retributive
justice.” It goes like this: “Bad things don’t happen to good people. If the
Galilean rebels met up with tragedy ― if they were
massacred — even by the perfidious Romans — they must have done something
morally reprehensible to deserve it.”
Or updated to just about any natural disaster
you can imagine: Hurricanes? Tornadoes? Earthquake and fire? To the conspiracy du
jour set, they’re God’s punishment for letting trans persons use the bathrooms
of their gender choice. Yep, if you’re not keen on science, you can always blame
the LGBTQs when your house slips into the ocean.
Now, if that’s your take on justice, you have
to conclude two things (for sure) about God: God makes bad things happen to bad
people … only! And good things happen to good people … only! Why? Because God
is keeping score.
But, Jesus counters, “That ... just … isn’t …
true. Because if fairness — justice — is a matter of getting what you deserve,
what about people who happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time? Take those
18 people killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed awhile back.” (It must have
been a horrific disaster.) “Can you honestly say,” Jesus presses, “each of them
did something bad to deserve that kind of death? ... because, in one way or
another, you’re all guilty of something ... and you’re all still standing. Pure
survival isn’t a measure of how good you are!”
That’s because, Jesus points out, God has nothing
to do with the arbitrary nature of life, a take Jesus files elsewhere under Meteorology
101. “Rain? Sun? Good people? Bad people? Weather — just like being in the
wrong place at the wrong time — happens. ‘Stuff’ happens.”
And in one stroke, Jesus sounds the death
knell of retributive justice.
But what does he replace it with?
For that, we have to look beyond this episode
to the trajectory of Jesus’ ministry, which echoes the question raised by the
prophet Micah: “What does the Lord require? Do justice, love kindness, walk
humbly with your God.”
Put another way, Jesus frames justice as fair
treatment. To the delight of Good News-loving and Good News-needing people
everywhere, it’s the “equity” part of DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion).
Meaning: It’s not about what we deserve as good or bad people, but what we
and each of our neighbors are owed as persons created in God’s image.
So, if you’re down on diversity, equity, and
inclusion — especially equity — Jesus would like a word.
Now, if you take away retributive justice — an
eye-for-an-eye — does that mean fair treatment is soft on crime? Does that mean
people aren’t held accountable? No. Fair treatment means also providing, in
criminal situations, redress to the victim … because, what is the victim owed? Redress,
justice.
It also means preventing a perp from
victimizing others — by incarceration, if need be — because all those others out
in the community — the rest of us — are owed life, liberty, and the
pursuit of happiness.
So, the way Jesus lives it, in God’s book, everyone
is owed fair treatment … from playground to mall … from church to City Hall ...
border to border ... sea to sea. That’s God’s agenda. And consequently, the
agenda Jesus gives us to complete.
For example …
Are we treating everyone fairly when we give
whopping tax cuts to multi-billionaires and robber barons, while struggling
families and seniors face the prospect of life-endangering cuts to Social
Security and Medicaid?
Are we treating everyone fairly when some of
our neighbors’ votes get counted … while others’ don’t?
Are we treating everyone fairly when ours is
the only industrialized nation in the world without a system of affordable
universal healthcare? I mean, FWIW Jesus provided healthcare free of charge.
Are we treating everyone fairly when some of
our immigrant neighbors are arrested, jailed, and deported without benefit of
due process?
Bottomline: If God’s justice requires treating
everyone fairly, given the dire straits so many of our neighbors find
themselves in, it means this Lent and beyond, expanding our sense and
our practice of fairness.
If that’s the case — and it is — as followers
of Jesus, the burden is now upon each of us to be all the more fair
... all the more kind ... all the more just ... just
like Jesus.
Amen.
