That God’s Works Might be Revealed

 I return today from a pilgrimage to Haiti.  A group of American Episcopalians has been visiting the church in Haiti since last Tuesday.  The Presiding Bishop was with us for part of the trip including a memorial service on the occasion of the third anniversary of the earthquake last Saturday.  Much progress has been made here.  The country is recovering.  The people remain resilient in the face of the unimaginable suffering that descended upon them three years ago.  There are many bright energetic young people here, some Haitians who have returned home following the earthquake to help rebuild their country.  As always, Haiti is filled with inspiring people living out inspiring stories.  Hope is amazingly pervasive.  As I have told many people, it is impossible to come to Haiti without meeting Jesus in the people here. 

The January 12, 2010 earthquake is one of those events that, like the Kennedy assassination and 9/11, I can remember vividly where I was and what I was doing when I heard what had happened.  I have been remembering those days while I have been in Haiti.  In particular I have found myself remembering some of the religious commentary immediately after the earthquake, in light of what has happened in Haiti since. 

I have found myself thinking about what Pat Robertson of all people said.  His interpretation was that the death toll of over 300,000 in Haiti, the devastation of the earthquake, and the intractable poverty of this hemisphere’s poorest country were the result of a pact with the devil.  This is what Pat Robertson, former presidential candidate, evangelical minister, and host of the “700 Club” said:  “They were under the heel of the French, you know Napoleon the third and whatever. And they got together and swore a pact to the devil. They said, ‘We will serve you if you will get us free from the prince.’  True story.  And so the devil said, ‘Ok it’s a deal.’  And they kicked the French out. The Haitians revolted and got something themselves free.  But ever since they have been cursed by one thing after another.” 

Now, frankly, it would be laughable if it were not for the facts that (1) so many people suffered so horribly and still do, (2) so many people believe this kind of ignorance masquerading as biblical and invest millions of dollars every year in it, and (3) it is such a distortion, blasphemy really, of God, who is love, and the Gospel of Christ, who is love incarnate.

Once Jesus was walking along and “he saw a man blind from birth.”  His disciples asked a question, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”  The disciples, you see, had been watching the “700 Club.”  It is a very old tendency, seeing human suffering as God’s punishment for human transgressions.  It is a coward’s way of looking at the world, an utter denial of the response God would hope for, the sort of response so evident in the Haitian people themselves.

Jesus did not think this way.  He replied, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned; he was born blind so that God’s works might be revealed in him.”  It isn’t about sin at all.  It isn’t about the devil at all.  It is about the opportunity to love.  It is about the opportunity to reveal God’s works in the world.  It is about the opportunity presented by human suffering to show forth the compassion of God.  Jesus went on.  “We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day; night is coming when no one can work.”  (See John 9:1-4.) 

I don’t think for a minute that God inflicts suffering for any purpose.  I think God may allow suffering, either as the consequence of our choices or because for some mysterious reason that is how things work with nature.  I do not put much stock in pacts with the devil either.  For one thing, I don’t think the devil can ever, ever defeat God, God’s love, God’s purposes, God’s people, or God’s church. 

What I do think is that “who sinned” is simply the wrong question to ask.  Pacts with the devil are simply not terribly interesting from God’s point of view.  What does matter is what we do about suffering and need when we find it. 

That is ultimately why we have been in Haiti this week.  We have been here to see God’s works revealed.  And we have been here to see how we might fit into the continuing revelation of God’s unfolding dream for humanity, not least in Haiti.  What suffering and need present is not a question of fault; it is a question of opportunity to do something about it. 

The opportunity before us is the very same one Jesus placed before the disciples, “that God’s works might be revealed.”  What has happened in Haiti doesn’t really say anything at all about God.  But what we do about it does.  God’s work is now in our hands.  Whether the works of God will be revealed is up to us.

Peace,
+Stacy