The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him today and what came to my heart and mind in Luke 13:2,
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?"
Here is the comment Jesus made when he was told of Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate. Jesus also related his comment to another report of eighteen who were killed when a tower in Siloam had collapsed.
Why did Jesus respond in this way? If I may be permitted to speculate a bit, I suspect Jesus was addressing some faulty thinking that continues even today. That faulty thinking is that I can determine or control my fate by being a do-gooder. The thinking would be, since something bad happened to these Galileans, they must have been more sinful. If I make certain choices, then I can manipulate my future by calling for God's control of things through the choices I make. Bad things should happen to bad people and good things should happen to good people. Hence, Jesus asks the question. He doesn't leave the answer to them, however, and goes on to say, "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Luke 13:3.
Even a casual reading of Job and Foxe's Book of Martyrs should disabuse ourselves of the notion that bad things only happen to bad people and good things only happen to good people. Yet many feel if they make certain choices, they quite possibly can effect certain outcomes for themselves. While that may seem to happen at times, it is simply faulty thinking. Nevertheless, the pursuit goes on and many put in the effort as a result of faulty thinking. When good things come to us, we need simply express our thankfulness to our gracious God's expression of love to us.
What does Jesus mean, unless we repent we will perish? Does it mean we can avoid physical death if we repent? No, he is speaking of a more profound death. Eternal death in the judgment of God following our physical death and later resurrection. "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books… The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15. This is the death Jesus was speaking of. He used an account of physical death to relate truth about eternal death. Jesus taught that, opposed to eternal death in the judgment of God, we can have eternal life if we repent, turn our hearts to him, embrace him in trust and faith.
Faulty thinking leads us into thinking we have control over things we can't control. Jesus said those who suffered untimely and violent deaths were not worse sinners. We all exist on the wrong side of the threshold of God's judgment as we are all sinners. And, although we can make some choices that can impact our health, life expectancy and other things (we can commit suicide, smoke, etc… I am reminded of "we reap what we sow".) we can't manipulate God over how long we might live or what we may experience with our health, etc. Some of the very best athletes on the best of diets get cancer or die in a car accident and it may not have anything to do with God's judgment. We simply cannot control our fate, and to think so is simply faulty thinking. Yet, the wheeling and dealing with God through do-gooder effort continues.
We do, however, have one very important determination we can make. "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." The most important determination of all is determining our destination after physical death: eternal life or eternal death? Eternity in God's kingdom, sharing in his glories and pleasures, or suffering miserably in a fiery lake of burning sulfur? That we do have a choice over and can determine and that was the point Jesus made in a very insightful observation he caught folks in.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way?"
Here is the comment Jesus made when he was told of Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate. Jesus also related his comment to another report of eighteen who were killed when a tower in Siloam had collapsed.
Why did Jesus respond in this way? If I may be permitted to speculate a bit, I suspect Jesus was addressing some faulty thinking that continues even today. That faulty thinking is that I can determine or control my fate by being a do-gooder. The thinking would be, since something bad happened to these Galileans, they must have been more sinful. If I make certain choices, then I can manipulate my future by calling for God's control of things through the choices I make. Bad things should happen to bad people and good things should happen to good people. Hence, Jesus asks the question. He doesn't leave the answer to them, however, and goes on to say, "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Luke 13:3.
Even a casual reading of Job and Foxe's Book of Martyrs should disabuse ourselves of the notion that bad things only happen to bad people and good things only happen to good people. Yet many feel if they make certain choices, they quite possibly can effect certain outcomes for themselves. While that may seem to happen at times, it is simply faulty thinking. Nevertheless, the pursuit goes on and many put in the effort as a result of faulty thinking. When good things come to us, we need simply express our thankfulness to our gracious God's expression of love to us.
What does Jesus mean, unless we repent we will perish? Does it mean we can avoid physical death if we repent? No, he is speaking of a more profound death. Eternal death in the judgment of God following our physical death and later resurrection. "And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books… The lake of fire is the second death. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire." Revelation 20:12-15. This is the death Jesus was speaking of. He used an account of physical death to relate truth about eternal death. Jesus taught that, opposed to eternal death in the judgment of God, we can have eternal life if we repent, turn our hearts to him, embrace him in trust and faith.
Faulty thinking leads us into thinking we have control over things we can't control. Jesus said those who suffered untimely and violent deaths were not worse sinners. We all exist on the wrong side of the threshold of God's judgment as we are all sinners. And, although we can make some choices that can impact our health, life expectancy and other things (we can commit suicide, smoke, etc… I am reminded of "we reap what we sow".) we can't manipulate God over how long we might live or what we may experience with our health, etc. Some of the very best athletes on the best of diets get cancer or die in a car accident and it may not have anything to do with God's judgment. We simply cannot control our fate, and to think so is simply faulty thinking. Yet, the wheeling and dealing with God through do-gooder effort continues.
We do, however, have one very important determination we can make. "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." The most important determination of all is determining our destination after physical death: eternal life or eternal death? Eternity in God's kingdom, sharing in his glories and pleasures, or suffering miserably in a fiery lake of burning sulfur? That we do have a choice over and can determine and that was the point Jesus made in a very insightful observation he caught folks in.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just reply and let me know.
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