Job 4:7; Luke 13:1-5  1/15/2020 "Haiti - What we are to Think and Do"

Children's sermon: Girl falls.  What questions do we ask?  "Are you hurt?"  "How can I help?"  To ask, "Why did you fall?  Why did you get hurt?" is not so helpful because it doesn't matter- and doesn't help her or us.  For the people of Haiti the best question is not "Why?" But, "How can I help?"

We have all read about the Haiti earthquake.   It is on every news station. They have buried in a mass grave 7,000 and some have said 50,000 people have died.  That’s like everyone within a fifteen mile radius of Chapin dying.  Many more are injured, left homeless.  The head of the U.N. there is probably dead.  The archbishop is dead.  The presidential palace is in ruins.  This was the poorest country in the western hemisphere.  They had three major hurricanes hit them last year.  What do we think about this disaster or other disasters?  I have heard all kinds of explanations of this earthquake- some only scientific, some reaching too far.   I want to read a passage in which Jesus responds to two kinds of disasters- one man-made and one natural.  [Read Luke 13:1-5]
           When disasters hit, some don’t like to think at all.  Some get really, really angry- at God, at governments, at relief agencies, at anyone.  In our passage in Luke people were angry too.  But it was a different day among the religious people in Jesus’ time. 
         In our day- we blame God, and people get off scott free.  In Jesus day they blamed people and God got off scott free.  In truth the blaming game is not the game Jesus sought to play, and it’s a dangerous one for us as well.  But let’s look at two extremes we should avoid, and things Jesus tells us we should learn from man-made and natural disasters.
         First there are those who blame human beings.   They would say you reap what you sow, so if something bad happens to you, you deserve it.   Job’s friends had this kind of attitude.  Eliphaz said this in Job 4:7, 8: when he said, “Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished?  Where were the upright ever destroyed?  As I have observed, those who plow evil  and those who sow trouble will reap it.”  There are people who say this about those in Haiti, or anyone else experiencing trouble.   Ironically, they also said it (and some still say it) about Jesus- who was mocked, spit on, called names, and suffered.  Yet who doubts the innocence of Jesus? 
Pat Robertson, said  something along these lines about Haiti.  He said, "Something happened a long time ago in Haiti, and people might not want to talk about it," Robertson said on his Christian Broadcasting Network show. "They were under the heel of the French . . . and they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, 'We will serve you if you'll get us free from the French.' "True story. And the devil said, 'OK, it's a deal,' " Robertson said. "Ever since, they have been cursed by one thing after another."  Now I agree that no one needs to swear a pact with the devil, and maybe there were some doing a similar thing in Haiti today with their voodoo.  But there also is a strong Christian presence there so that now 20-30% are Protestant and non-voodoo.   I would be very slow to judge or condemn a whole people- though certainly Sodom and Gomorrah are examples of a whole population being judged.   Jesus said that the people who were worshiping at the temple whom Pilate killed were no more innocent or evil than anyone else.  He also said those  on whom the tower fell (similar to an earthquake) were no more innocent or guilty.  John Calvin said of this passage, that it is helpful for it points out a "Natural disease to judge others harshly while we slumber in our sin."  Some in Jesus day wanted to blame others for the catastrophes and sadness around them as if they deserved them.  Jesus did not blame them nor did he blame God nor did he say God wasn't at work in this.  Rather Jesus was concerned that we think not about the "whys" of the problem but about taking the opportunity for health and safety and turn to God (repent).  Ours is not to reason why.  As it is asking too much to ask why did God do this, it is also asking too much to ask why did God not do that.  Rather, a better question is- since we have it easy, what do we do with our easiness?  We may talk about a recession here, but I am sure 99% of those in Haiti would say that life in America is economically easier than in Haiti.  We are still blessed.  What do we do with our blessing? 
       Second, there are those who blame God.  There was an article in the New York Times this week that said, “If God exists, he’s really got it in for Haiti.”  Jesus in this passage did not lay the blame for the tower’s falling at God’s feet.  Nor did he say God was to take the blame when Pilate killed the worshippers in the temple.   You know the Bible doesn’t explain why God allows suffering.   Sometimes we can see God at work much later on, but usually in the midst of pain we don’t see any rationale whatsoever.   What the Bible does say is that God can use the worst and work through it- like he did on the cross.  Jesus did not blame God here, but he also did not say God had nothing to do with it. As some said.
       Third- there is a new group that has arisen that says God doesn’t have anything to do with anything.  God only goes around blessing, and God looks the other way when evil happens.  God only creates, God didn’t put earthquakes into the plan of things.  God becomes a nothing – who really can do no good and do no evil.   Or, perhaps God is limited in what He can do according to how WE judge what is good and what is evil.  I have read one writer who said that while God knows a lot, God doesn’t know if we will choose bad or good.  But this forgets that the Bible prophesies a lot of bad choices- like Judah choosing to forsake God- and then going into exile; Or Judas betraying the messiah.  God knows both good and bad.  He also knows about whether there will be earthquakes or storms.   Some try to absolve God by saying he doesn’t know or do anything- but in that process they are taking away from God’s glory, and making God a know-nothing, and a do-nothing.  God is not dead.  God is not asleep.  God is not dumb. Nor is He a toothless dog.  Nor is He someone who doesn’t care.  God is love, and He shows His ability to love through His people and also by showing He knows.  Christians have historically believed God is not surprised, but has prophesied the future and is able to incorporate the worst into a tapestry of praise.
            One sign of God’s caring is the response of His people.  Christians come out of the woodwork to volunteer , to give, and to pray for those strangers they have never met in Haiti.  The Salvation Army is sending 1.25 million meals to Haiti.  The American Bible Society has sent clean water filters- providing 50,000 with clean water each day and also provide 50,000 copies of the Bible.  Church World Service, through whom we work,  is sending thousands of tents, blankets and food kits there , water purification systems, and is especially targeting helping children.
WHAT WE CAN LEARN-
1) Be slow to judge-  Danny Glover said that the earthquake had to do with Global Warming- I still don’t get even the beginning of that rationale. 
2) Watch out for our own problems- Anytime there is a disaster, we can be grateful that it did not happen to us, and also as Christ said to come to God.   Maybe some of you remember Hurricane Floyd= that threatened SC 10 years after Hugo in 1999.  It was not wrong to be grateful that it did not hit SC- for we had all kinds of problems trying to get out of the way of that storm.
3) Pray- Prayer never hurts.  God filters away the wrong-headed prayers, our job is to send them up to Him. 
4) Seek to help- Wherever there is a need from a neighbor, Christians give. 
      Jack and Cat did not think much of church people, and in fact didn’t have much to do with them at all.  But as he watched the mission teams pour into Kopperston to help with flood rebuilding.  So Jack and Kat began to fix the groups some good ole’ West Virginia beans and cornbread, and began developing relationships with them.  A group fixed Jack and Cat’s roof.  Cat felt like God was calling her to go to church and so she goes.  A seed was planted in the midst of their tragedy by those who chose to live out their faith.  What was important to Jack was not that the flood happened.  Whether we understand floods or not, they still happen.  What was important to Jack was that someone cared enough to help- and they were motivated not by lack of faith, but by their faith.