Homily for 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

Homily for 22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A: Why Bad Things Happen to Good People
​Readings here: http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/090317.cfm

Why do bad things happen to good people?

Jesus says in the Gospel, “the Son of Man will come with his angels in his Father's glory, and then he will repay all according to his conduct.” According to his conduct. Does that mean that those who experience disaster, whether it be in the form of a flood, a family death, or a sickness deserve it? Did they do something evil? Is God punishing them?

Jesus is speaking about the final judgment; the repayment will come in the form of an eternal destiny – either heaven or hell. Perfect happiness or suffering that never ends. In the final judgment, bad things don’t happen to good people. Everyone goes where they deserve.
So what about now? Why do bad things happen to good people on earth?

This is a hard question, one that humanity has pondered and agonized over since the beginning. If there were an easy, satisfying answer, we would have found it by now. There is no easy, satisfying answer to why bad things happen to good people. But what about a hard, troubling answer?

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus references a tragedy that had just happened in his time when he was speaking to his disciples. A tower had fallen on 18 people, killing them. Jesus asks, “do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No.”
No. They were not worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem, but they were offenders. We are all offenders. St. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and, “the wages of sin is death.”

The hard, troubling answer to the question of why bad things happen to good people, is that there are no good people. Or, to be more precise, there are no people completely free of sin. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and, “the wages of sin is death.” As I was preparing for this homily, and I made this conclusion, it seemed to me very harsh. But as I continued my research, I learned that this is what we have to believe if we hold Jesus to be our savior.

The good news of the Gospel is that Jesus has saved us from our sins and offered us perfect happiness in eternal life; this makes no sense unless we are all sinners, unless we all deserve death. “All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and, “the wages of sin is death.” That is the sad truth that makes the Gospel such good news. But it’s also the sad truth that answers why bad things happen to, otherwise, good people. Once Adam and Eve ate the fruit, sin entered the world along with its train of suffering and death. And now no one, not even innocent children are exempt from the consequences of their actions. We are born with original sin; we sin; we suffer, and we die.

This answer is hard and troubling, and though it is true, it may not satisfy. It may leave us asking, why do some suffer more than others? I think of the victims of Hurricane Katrina whose lives were destroyed and who had to relocate to Houston in 2005; now their lives have been destroyed again by Hurricane Harvey. Haven’t they suffered enough? Or what about our loved ones who have suffered a painful illness or died an early death; they loved us, or provided for us, or gave us so much joy just by being alive – why are they taken from us before their time while others who have hurt us and hurt others seem never to be hurt themselves? Why do some suffer more than others? It’s not fair.

Scripture makes this question even more personal in Psalm 73:

    For I was envious of the arrogant,
      when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.
    For they have no pangs;
      their bodies are sound and sleek.
      they are not stricken like other men.
    Behold, these are the wicked;
      always at ease, they increase in riches.
    All in vain have I kept my heart clean
      and washed my hands in innocence.
    For all the day long I have been stricken,
      and chastened every morning.

The Psalmist complains that it is not fair. He has done his best to be a good person but has received suffering as his reward while the wicked, who do evil, live the good life, growing rich and suffering no pains.

Why, Lord? The Psalms show us that this is a fair question to ask. They show us that we can be honest with God, that we can pray to Him just as we are, with our emotions of anger, frustration, and sadness. Why do some suffer more than others? Why do my loved ones have to suffer like that? Why do I have to suffer like this?

Why? When the hard and true answer of the reality of sin does not satisfy, seek an answer in prayer, in prayer as honest as Psalm 73. The answer that satisfies may not come in the form of information, but it always comes in the form of compassion.

Compassion. Literally, it means to suffer with. We express it with the words, “I’m sorry.” We say it to mean, “I love you. It pains me to see you suffering. Let me be there for you.” This is the answer we long for when we are suffering, and this answer comes to us in prayer because that is where Jesus, our compassionate Lord, meets us. In the Gospel today, Peter didn’t want Jesus to suffer and die, but that is exactly what Jesus’ compassionate love demanded. Jesus saw us in our pain and in our suffering, and he was sorrowful. In prayer, He says to us, “I love you. It pains me to see you suffering. Let me be there for you.”

“Let me be there for you.” Jesus doesn’t give us a cross to see if we love him. He gives Himself a cross to show us that He loves us. “Let me be there for you.” On the cross and in the Eucharist, he says to us, “This is my body; this is my blood, which is for you.” He is saying, “Let me be there for you.” Hard and troubling times may continue, but if we pick up our cross and follow our compassionate Lord, our suffering can find a new meaning, one that satisfies, one he gives to us in the silence of prayer. “Let me be there for you.”