Luke 13:1-17 (NIV)

First, let me introduce myself. My name is Judith, and I’ve lived a lot longer than most of the people who were born at the same time I was. I was just a girl when my mother first heard about Jesus. We went to see him, and it wasn’t long before we joined his band of followers. Because I wasn’t very old, not even marrying age yet, there was a lot he said that I didn’t understand at the time. It’s been 40 years, but my memories are vivid, and time has a way of bringing things into focus. I have to admit, I understand a lot of what he said much better now.

Perhaps what I understand best now is what Jesus tried to teach us about God. First, he taught us by example. After Jesus left us, if we wanted to know what God was like, what God might do, how God might think, all we had to do was ask what Jesus would have done, what he might have thought.

And, of course, we remembered what he said. Sometimes he didn’t give direct answers, but told us stories, to make us think, to make us see things in different ways. Other times, he was very blunt. I remember the time when my uncle and some other men were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. Now my uncle was a good man, kind, generous, and fun to be with. He helped my mother a lot after my father died.

When the word came that the tower had fallen and killed people, we didn’t know yet who had been killed.

Someone said, “They must have been wicked people, and God was punishing them.”

That was the way a lot of people understood God at the time. They thought that when bad things happened to people, it was God getting even for things they had done.

But Jesus said that wasn’t it at all.  “Those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no!” 

Jesus said they weren’t any worse than anyone else. Even the Galileans that Pilate killed weren’t bad people. “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no!” 

I didn’t understand what he said after that, though, until just recently. He said that unless we all turned our lives around, we would all die like that.

Well, just a month ago, that was what happened. … We didn’t all die like that, obviously, or I wouldn’t be talking with you now. But a lot of us did. Either people starved or the Roman soldiers killed them or walls fell on them when the Romans destroyed the city. It was terrible. Some of us escaped, but thousands of people were killed. It was bad enough that the Roman soldiers tore down the wall around the city, but they also tore down the Temple! Stone by stone! They didn’t leave even a post standing.

Some people believed that it was God punishing the people of Jerusalem for not believing in Jesus. But a lot of Christians died, too. And that’s when I remembered what Jesus said about the people killed by Pilate and by the tower. And I understood what he meant, that we had to turn our lives around.

You see, Jesus didn’t live by the same rules everyone else did. We thought when somebody did something bad to us, we had to get even. There were a couple of obnoxious older boys in our town. Whenever Jesus was around, they were charming and helpful. But if nobody was looking, they would tease me and pull my hair and throw rocks at me. Well, you know that I wanted to get back at them! And, of course, the one time I tried, … the only good thing that came out of that was that after Jesus talked with me, he talked with them. After that, they left me alone. Sometimes they were even nice to me.

The fact is that, after we all grew up, I even married one of them. One time when our kids were fighting, my husband sat them down and told them what Jesus had told him. That if we live our lives by “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” we’ll always be fighting with someone. Getting even just continues the cycle. And everyone loses. Nobody ever wins.

We saw that when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem. From long before Jesus, Israelites fought Romans and Romans fought Israelites, and Israelites retaliated and the Romans retaliated, and the Israelites killed more Romans, until finally the Romans completely destroyed the city. Who won? Actually, nobody. And I think that’s what Jesus meant, that if we can’t learn to get along with others, even those we don’t like, we just continue the cycle of creating pain and getting hurt in return. That’s what Jesus meant by turning our lives around, that we have to learn to help each other, even those who are different.

Jesus was always patient. Like he was with me when he caught me throwing mud at those boys. He didn’t yell at me or even raise his hand at me. Instead, he sat me on his lap and explained that getting even doesn’t work. He said I should be patient with those boys, because someday they would grow up. I should give them time, and they would learn to behave better.

I thought about the parable he told about the fig tree. It didn’t bear fruit, but the gardener said to give it more time, and it would. It just needed time to grow up, like those boys.

Jesus was always helping people. Sometimes I felt sorry for him, because helping people got him into trouble. I remember one time when we saw this little old lady. Well, anyway, I thought she was a little old lady, because she was all bent over. She couldn’t stand up straight. She couldn’t see things the way we did. She couldn’t even look me straight in the eye without getting a crick in her neck. I remember thinking how terrible that would be.

They said she had a demon who crippled her like that. And, because I didn’t know any better, I wondered what terrible thing she might have done for God to send such a demon on her. See, even after my uncle was killed, and even after Jesus talked to me about being patient, I still thought that was how God acted. It’s a hard thing to unlearn.

But Jesus called her over. “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.”

Then he touched her. He was so gentle. I knew, even as young as I was, that however much Jesus loved her, so did God. Jesus felt her suffering, her pain, her disgrace. But so much love flowed through him when he touched her that she was able to stand up straight! It was like taking something old and brittle and making it soft and strong again. Even her face became young again. I think she wasn’t really so old after all. I think it was the pain and disgrace she felt that had made her old.

She began to dance and to praise God. She grabbed my hands, and we danced around like she was a little girl, too! It was a wonderful moment, sharing her joy like that.

And then … you know how there is always somebody who can’t see the good in something? Well, this time it was Joshua, the leader of the synagogue. Being the leader of the synagogue gave him power and prestige, but it didn’t make him a happy man. I often wondered what had made him so miserable.

He used to chase me out of the synagogue when I tried to go in with the boys. I wanted to learn to read the Torah, too, but he would pick up a stick and swat at me, trying to hit me. And sometimes he did! At first I wanted to get even with him, but then I remembered what Jesus said about getting even. I talked to Jesus about him one time, and he told me that Joshua had had a very difficult life.

I said, “Maybe he needs to turn his life around, too.”

Jesus just nodded sadly.

Anyway, there this woman and I were dancing, and people around us were smiling and laughing, and here comes Joshua, yelling and screaming. “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.”

Now I wouldn’t say that Jesus answered him angrily, but there was certainly pain and frustration in Jesus’ voice when he responded. “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie your ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?”

Now please don’t tell on me, because I was, after all, only a child. I knew better, but because I was standing behind Jesus, I stuck my tongue out at him. At Joshua, not at Jesus.

Poor Joshua. He never did understand what Jesus was trying to do. He never got the message that until we can learn to work together, we just keep fighting each other. Until we can see each other through God’s eyes, through eyes of love, … Of course, I don’t always live that out, either. Guess I don’t know anyone who does, anyone other than Jesus. I keep trying, and so do a lot of other people, but somehow, we always fall short.

For consideration:

1) How does this story follow its Scripture?

2) How does this story expand its Scripture for you?

3) What is the message of this story?

4) How does the message apply to us today?

Specific questions

5) If justice is “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth,” which is better, justice or mercy?

6) Why didn’t power and prestige make Joshua happy?

7) Why is it so hard not to blame the victim of a bad event?

8) Why is it so hard not to want to get even with someone who hurts us?