Unless you repent

There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, "Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish." - Luke 13.1-5

We see it all the time. A man-made or natural disaster strikes somewhere and some Christians jump on the bandwagon and try to claim that this was the wrath of God being poured out because the people there deserved it. They say that God did this to them for this or that sin.

This is what happened here. Some folks referred to two different disasters. Some Galileans had been slaughtered by Pilate. The people said ‘are these people worse sinners because they suffered so?’ Jesus responded ‘I tell you, no, but unless you repent you also will perish.’ ‘Okay, how about the 18 guys who died on the building site when the tower being built at Siloam collapsed and killed them?’ ‘No, but if you don’t repent you will perish as well.’

Sure, Jesus is stressing the importance of repentance. That is clear, everyone must repent or face God’s wrath.

But I also see something else. People are far too quick to look at other people’s sin while ignoring their own. It is easy for us to say that the hurricane wiped out New Orleans because of its wickedness. People say 9/11 happened because of America’s sin. Some sad the Stephen’s Day tsunami struck because the people there we mostly Buddhists (or whatever the story was). This happens all the time.

I think part of what God is saying here is that we all need to think about our own sins and not be so worried about other’s sins. In fact Jesus actually answered their questions in this passage with the word ‘no.’ They didn’t suffer because they are worse sinners than anyone else.

Jesus answered the two questions with the exact same answer. Both times he drove the questioners back to the same point – deal with your own sin or you are going to be in trouble as well.

We need to be careful that we don’t get distracted by situations like this. The debate is not about other people’s sin, but our own. We don’t need to worry so much about why things happen to others, but more about keeping our hearts right with God.