Who is at fault?

Hurricane Katrina has wrecked havoc of unknown proportions to parts of the United States. The human suffering is unprecedented. Some people out there are saying that this disaster is a punishment by God to the residents of that area of the country. From a Christian perspective, can it be said that Hurricane Katrina was meted out by God as a punishment to the victims? The answer is a resounding NO!

During Jesus' time, a man was born blind. People asked Jesus "Whose fault is it that this man was born blind, himself or his parents?"

The questioners didn't even see the possibility of any other answer. Someone had to be "at fault". There had to be some sort of Divine Punishment for this tragedy. We are the same today. We desperately want to know that the victims of this natural disaster are somehow at fault in order to guarantee that we will not be next.

The fallacy in that thinking is this: The residents and visitors to Louisiana and Mississippi were no worse sinners than any of the rest of the country. We are no "better" than they were. We are all called to get out of ourselves and help them in any way we can.

Jesus' perspective shows how revolutionary He was. He said that the man was born blind not because of any sin of his or his parents'. He was born blind so he could be cured by Christ as a witness to all.

We are called to respond to such disasters by giving aid, not by judging. As Father Jim of Dappled Things says, reward and punishment are "what heaven, hell, and purgatory are for." They are not for us, here on Earth to meet out like we are God.

God causes it to rain on the just and the unjust alike.

Jesus, in Matthew, chapter 5, verse 45