The Problem of Evil: Homily for Sunday, January 5, 2025

The word epiphany means manifestation. There is no area of human existence that needs the manifestation of God than the problem and challenges of evil. Readings for today.

Table of Contents

The Problem of Evil

In 1899 Willard Duncan Vandiver, a senator from Missouri, in citing the need for evidence, said this: “”I am from Missouri. You have got to show me.” While there may be other, such as miners from Missouri who were mining in Leadville, Colorado and needed a lot of instruction to learn mining practices, or for the need for legislators who got free train passes to show the conductors they were who they said they were. “You’ve got to show me.”

The solemnity of the Epiphany that we celebrate today is God’s attempt to show us that Jesus, who is God, is in fact who he says he is. And this manifestation is not just for the “in crowd” of Jewish believers. It is for all people everywhere.

Saint Thomas Aquinas cites two significant challenges to believing in God. The first, and most difficult, is the problem of evil. The second is the belief by humans that we will come to know everything there is to know. In other words, natural science will be able to explain every experience we have without God.

As for the second reason, that humans will come to know everything there is to know, I think we have seen time and again how this is not true. Every time human hubris arrives at a point where it thinks it knows everything, some surprising turn of events proves humans wrong.

But the first problem, the problem of evil, is a significant struggle. Peter Kreeft, a Boston College professor, says this: “The problem can be stated very simply: If God is so good, why is his world so bad? If an all-good, all-wise, all-loving, all-just, and all-powerful God is running the show, why does he seem to be doing such a miserable job of it? Why do bad things happen to good people?”

And I suspect each one of us has had to deal with significant evil in their lives or in their experience. It is all around us. Just this week we saw an American citizen drive a truck into a crowd of people on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

When evil occurs at the hands of others, it can be easier to see a logical explanation. Human beings make bad choices. But what about things that seem so random? Kreeft suggests the real question is not why do bad things happen to good people, but rather why do good things happen to bad people.

I think the challenge of evil is that when it strikes us, or others, it seems so random. When we consider those killed on Bourbon Street, they were doing what untold numbers of people had done before on New Year’s Eve, and at other times.

When we consider the tremendous impact of processed food on our bodies, it is not a surprise we deal with illness. Even when we consider natural disasters, we must consider the choices we made.

To cite New Orleans again, there are those scientists who suggest that the damage from hurricanes is somewhat connected to the development of swamp lands to take away what might be called the hurricane speed bump. It turns out that swamps weaken hurricanes.

The second problem is that we experience evil so deeply. It cuts to the core of our soul. If the evil is significant, it can cause us to question everything about ourselves and the world and about God too.

And so, during this entire Christmas season, we have been focused on the beginning of the solution to evil. Because identifying the problem is not enough. What we really seek amid evil is a solution. And God provides that solution.

Because we believe there is always a connection between our sins and the evil in the world, God’s solution must be spiritual as well. That is not to suggest that we are always responsible for the evil we experience, far from it. Let me say that again. That is not to say we are always responsible for the evil we experience.

When God created human beings, God chose to create us for ultimate fulfillment in a deep relationship. We were meant for something beautiful, something loving, something eternal. We were created for original justice (where all is right with the world and with each other) and original holiness (where all is right with our God).

But, when we chose to sin, the original justice and the original holiness was destroyed. All our relationships were broken – our relationship with God, with each other, and with creation.

But what we need to realize is that the beautiful manger scenes are not the end of the story, but the beginning. Once we sinned, God knew of the ultimate solution.

In the Epiphany, we see the manifestation of God. Jesus is revealed to the world as the Son of God. But the solution is the cross. God takes on our sinfulness, paying the price for our sin, healing our brokenness in forgiving our sins.

And while we still experience evil in this world even after the cross, we do not do so alone. We don’t believe in a mechanical god who creates us and then leaves us on our own.

No. We believe in a God who humbles himself to become one of us. We believe in a God who takes on all our sin (even though he did not sin). We believe in a God who does not offer just a short term solution to evil.

No. We believe in an all-loving God who does all he can to save us. Not as robots without free will, which would prevent evil, but as human beings who can become the persons God created them to be and to live with God, free from sin, forever.

On the friar, you can listen to our homilies (based on the readings of the day) and reflections. You can also ask us to pray for you or to pray for others. You can subscribe to our website to be informed whenever we publish an update.