Reading: Luke 13:1-5
There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, “Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”
In today’s reading, we see two circumstances that Jesus uses to help us understand our human condition.
Some of those who were listening to Him tell Him about some Galileans that had been sentenced to death by Pilate, and the Lord reminds them of another episode where eighteen people were crushed to death by a falling tower. The former had died because of Pilate’s wickedness. Many thought then that such illnesses or deaths were the direct result of some sin.
What about the men who had had the accident? What sin did they have in their lives that would make them deserve that death?
Jesus’s phrase resounds twice: if you don’t repent, you are going to die in the same way they did.
The death of these people, both those who were executed and those who had the accident, was not caused by some particular sin. The truth that Jesus confronts us with in this passage is that all of us are dead, if we do not repent and believe in Him.
Spiritually dead. Separated from God, condemned, completely lost. None of us escapes that condition, as Paul reminds us. We are all sinners. Paul also tells us that the result of sin is death. We do not have a solution for this. Or do we?
What does Jesus tell us? If we repent, if we return to Him, our fate can be different.
The only one who has the power to change our fate (death) is Jesus. That is the wonder of the Gospel, when we see the defeat of sin and death in the cross and resurrection of our Lord.
MEDITATE: Let this be our confidence! Through Him we live, through Him we have been liberated from the consequence of our wickedness. God bless you!
Translation By:Emily Stader
