A reflection on Luke 21:5–11 for Tuesday of the 34th Week in Ordinary Time.
In today’s gospel, Jesus speaks about wars and earthquakes. His listeners want the details of when the destruction he describes will happen and what signs will announce it. He warns them about people claiming special knowledge. They will hear that the time has come. He tells them not to follow those people.
We should remember that warning whenever a catastrophe becomes somebody’s religious sales pitch. Fear grabs attention. A confident speaker can arrange events into a story that sounds certain. The people suffering through those events become less important than the religious message. We can imagine a divine purpose where none exists.
I believe God acts in human history. But that does not give me access to God’s reasons for every death or ruined home. Saying “God has a plan” over someone else’s wreckage can ask them to accept an explanation I would struggle to bear myself. Do we think that God actively killed those people as part of His plan? Or are accidents and disasters just a part of our world?
A person buried beneath rubble is precious to God. Feeding people and finding them shelter belong to the work of the Church. Jesus himself suffered a violent death, but violence is not always redemptive.God loves, but we should be agents of that love instead of wondering if a catastrophe served some purpose.
Still, the question remains: Why did this happen? Scripture allows us to ask it. The psalms contain prayers from people who feel abandoned and want God to answer. Consider Psalm 13: “How long, LORD? Will you utterly forget me? How long will you hide your face from me?” I can pray without providing an answer on God’s behalf.
Jesus gives his disciples no permission to turn each disaster into a timetable. We would be better off caring for the victims than trying to decipher reasons we can’t understand.
Reflection Questions:
- What can Christian faith honestly say about God amid catastrophe?
- Where might practical help be needed more urgently than a religious explanation?
- What is the danger in seeing God’s hand in disasters?