If I was mean to my sister my grandmother would say, “God will get you for that.” We like to think that there is some kind of cosmic balance — so much goodness gets you so much reward; so much badness gets you punished. But such thinking is more Zeus on Mt Olympus throwing thunderbolts than it is Biblical. In fact, the Bible wrestles with why there isn’t “karma.” Why do the wicked prosper? asks the Psalmist. Why do the innocent suffer? asks Job. Commenting on a political situation in his time Jesus said, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means!” The Biblical conclusion: “God’s ways are not our ways.”
