The Runner

March 23, 2025

Ven. John Motis

Several years ago, I told a story about a runner, I imagined that he was me, on his morning run in New York City. He was up very early, laced his shoes and slowly found his way out the door. His run started quite slowly, his legs were heavy, he was still sore from his long run on Saturday. His training course carried him through Central Park. The feeling of fall is in the air. The New York Marathon is now 8 weeks away on November 3. As he continued along the course, he pushed the pace, his breathing was labored, uncomfortable. He was focused on his training schedule, thinking about the finish time required that he might qualify for the Boston Marathon in the spring. Would this finally be the year that he could qualify? He finished the run, grabbed a quick shower and a bite to eat, then off to work in the North Tower of the World Trade Center.  The date: September 11, 2001.

What’s the first thing you think of when you hear of falling towers and people dying. I think for many of us, our minds jump right to 9/11. Why us? Why here? Why now? All questions that certainly filled people’s minds and troubled the hearts of many of us who stood in shock and horror as we watched the events unfold that day.

I also think about all the people that went to work that day with dreams for the future, they had plans for the evening, or the weekend ahead.

You may also remember news shows, hearing preachers that suggested that this might be evidence of God’s judgement on America for our sins. The media jumped all over them because it didn’t fit the journalists’ world view. It was for Geo-political reasons instead.

A couple years after 9/11 a terrible earthquake hits Iran. The death toll was nearly 10 times the number killed in the Twin Towers attack, something like 35,000 dead not counting the injured. I’m sure that there were people who believe God was judging Iran. However, I don’t think they can explain why he hit relatively innocent people in Bam instead of the leadership in Tehran. What do you think? Was God judging Iran?

Or, is it an opportunity for us to minister to the Iranians who have been taught to hate and fear Americans?

How about the 2010 Earthquake in Haiti killing 300,000. 2011 Tsunami in Japan killing 20,000. 2005 Hurricane Katrina killing 1,800 in New Orleans. The Hamas-led militant group launched a surprise attack in the Gaza Strip killing 815 and taking 251 hostages. February 2025 DC plane and helicopter crash; all 67 people including the pilots were killed.  

In all of these horrific events were they: Acts of Evil? Acts of God/Nature? Accident? Or are they judgement for sin?

If it’s Judgement, where do we stand?

Judgement: That was the assumption and the question on the minds of the people listening to Jesus. They wanted to know about the Galileans who had been massacred by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate while visiting the temple, and the people who had been killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them. What had they done to deserve punishment? God surely was punishing them for something. Maybe they hoped that it was judgement for some terrible sin that they themselves, good people listening to Jesus, couldn’t possibly be guilty of, so they were safe.  Before they were able to even ask another questions Jesus spoke:

Jesus asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way that they were worse sinners than all other Galileans”? “No, I tell you; you are no better than they are, and, unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” Did you hear that? Jesus said “no” they were not better off.

Jews and Christians have always questioned God, these questions date back to Abraham and Moses and David. When something goes wrong, something tragic or terrible, two questions are asked. “Why?” Why, LORD, where are you? Why do you stand so far off? Are you hiding in times of trouble? Do you care? In the Psalms: “Why do you hide your face? Why do you forget our affliction and oppression?” “Why do the wicked renounce God, and say in their hearts, ‘You will not call us to account’?”

Jesus doesn’t give them the confirmation that they were looking for. He doesn’t sever the connection between sin and calamity. He severs the connection between calamity and punishment. (God doesn’t punish us through calamity.)  “Do you think they were worse sinners than all the others? No. No worse than you.” That, at least, should be good news, right?

I think sort of. But probably not the comfort that they were looking for, was it?

Jesus’ next statement does catch me. “But unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” We don’t really know what Jesus means by “as they did.”  Does he mean they, as in “we” will be struck dead by sudden calamity, or whether we will be separated from God, or whether we will just die at some unknown future point while still stuck in our sin? We don’t really know.

In other words, there is no better time than right now, “to get yourself right with God!”

He doesn’t remove the sense of impeding judgement, in fact, scripture promises it. Why, because God cares about how we live our lives and treat each other, and he will hold us accountable. He doesn’t prescribe what impending judgment amounts to. Probably a good thing as well, otherwise we might want to prescribe His judgement on others. Don’t we all make ourselves feel better when we compare ourselves to someone who is worse than us?

We are left with a certain amount of ambiguity about precisely what Jesus means. He helps us out here with His parable. I think we can relate, the scene should be a familiar one for landowners and for anyone who has tried a vegetable garden. Certainly, for the citrus growers in our crowd. Sooner or later, there comes a time to make a decision; when do you uproot the plants or trees that are not bearing fruit?

So, upon finding a fig tree that is alive and well yet bears no fruit, a landowner instructs his gardener to get rid of the tree. The gardener protests, asking for one more year. He will tend the tree by loosening the soil and spreading manure around it. Maybe, another nutritional spray.  If it doesn’t respond, the gardener agrees, then yes, cut it down.

It's common to assume that the landowner is God, and the gardener is Jesus. What we don’t see anywhere in the Gospel of Luke is an angry God that needs to be placated by a merciful Jesus. What we do see is Jesus as a father who scans the horizon waiting for his wayward son to come home. Or as a woman who after sweeping her house all night looking for a lost coin throws a party costing even more to celebrate that she found it.  We see a God who is willing to loosen the soil around us and even spreading manure in the hope that we may bear fruit. Why? Because He wants the best for us.

This is the Good News.

So, why do bad things happen to good, and sometimes not-so-good, people? Jesus doesn’t say and neither can we. Sometimes misfortune is a result of our own actions, and sometimes it is just a tragedy. Jesus, Son of the all-loving God isn’t beneath using such occasions to invite us to wake up – or in this case turn around (repent!) so that we might look differently; at our life and world.

 And then there are those who were raised to believe that a loving God would not let this kind of thing happen if he were also in control of everything. They are the ones who are totally lost and bewildered when tragedy strikes. When innocent people suffer.

Then the question: is it that God is not all powerful, or is it that he doesn’t really love us?

 Is He neither able nor willing? Then why call him God?

When Evil and bad things happen in the world, many people are quick to blame God, and they question within themselves, if God is just and holy, good and righteous, then how do evil and suffering exist? Isn’t this the question many of us deal with? It’s the question many people wrestle with, Christians and non-Christians.

We do not have to live for very long to realize that many bad things happen to ordinary, decent, “good” people. There are several easy responses. One is philosophical, the paradox of a good God allowing evil. Another is to decide that there is no God and that everything is random and meaningless. A third is to focus on blame and punishment.

I believe each of these responses is a way of avoiding our responsibility to God.  There is no upside to denying God. Philosophical and theological speculation does have its place. We are called to understand, and most importantly to trust. We are allowed to argue with God, and we are encouraged to seek wisdom and understanding. In our society retribution has its place. We rely on laws and the state to punish evil and to protect the innocent.  

These are all short term and human responses. That isn’t enough if it’s all we do, we’re in trouble. God calls us to see and engage the world around us in the light of His eternity.

The difficult response, but the one God calls us to, is to take each of these incidents as signs from God reminding us that life is temporary, but that God is eternal. While we don’t much like reminders of judgement. Especially for those who do not want to live their lives with their eyes on eternity.

We live in a world of politics and economics, of medicine and money and jobs and all kinds of things to occupy our energy and attention. But if we let ourselves be guided by the Holy Spirit, we can navigate through all these tangled priorities and read the signs that God has given us. God gives us lots of warnings. If we keep our eyes open, we will see the sign saying, “Last exit before toll.”

I believe we live in a world that is not the way it’s supposed to be. Scriptures affirm that God created a good world. But that world has been broken by human sin. You and I each contribute to the evil in the world, if God were to put a stop to all evil right now, that would mean putting a stop to us. However, God seems to have other purposes for us. I believe that the gift of each day is our opportunity to be salt and light in our world. To be agents of grace in this broken and fallen world.

We should never forget; it is not true that God does nothing about evil. The central Christian story revolves around the fact that God did do something about evil. He sent Jesus. This is what Christianity offers that no other worldview or religion can provide. We do not have a God who is unaffected by the suffering in the world; rather He actively entered into the experience of it. Jesus wept at Lazarus’ tomb. He felt tremendous agony in the garden, he was hurt by the betrayal of a friend and was finally put to death in the most cruel, manner imaginable. Jesus is not aloof from our pain.

As Christians, we can hold out hope, knowing that Jesus’ death and resurrection set in motion God’s plan to redeem the world and make all things new. We can take comfort in knowing that even if we do not have all the answers, we have a God who shared in our suffering and knows what it feels like to hurt.

For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. Indeed, rarely will anyone die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person someone might actually dare to die. But God proves His love for us in that while we still were sinners Christ died for us. Much more surely then, now that we have been justified by his blood, will be saved through him from the wrath of God. Romans 5:6-9

AMEN