As I listened to the Gospel for today (Luke 13: 1 – 9), I was reminded of the question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?”.
That question quickly rises in response to events that seem unfair, unwarranted, or contrary to our perceptions about God’s love and goodness. Attempts to answer the question range from the simplistic to the profoundly theological, but unfortunately also include a lot of insensitive and unfounded nonsense!
One of the worst examples of such nonsense, which nevertheless thrives today, is the belief that bad things don’t happen to good people – if bad things happen to you, that can only be because you have offended God, and are now getting your just deserts! By the same perverse logic, if your life is going easily and you are enjoying good health and great wealth, that is a sure sign that your life bears God’s stamp of approval!
Such misguided thinking fails to take into account the fact that the One who lived amongst us without sin, died a horrible death on a Cross! It also ignores Jesus’ distinct bias towards those on the edges of society – what has popularly come to be known as “Jesus’ ‘preferential option for the poor’.
As we listen to this passage during Lent, perhaps we really need to be asking ourselves a different question, “Why is God so good to us?”.
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