Day 99

Deuteronomy 33:1-29; Luke 13:1-21; Psalm 78:65-72; Proverbs 12:25

IN TODAY’S READING from Luke’s Gospel, we were given the opportunity to consider a couple of situations that had everyone talking. It’s a rare glimpse into how word of mouth made stories go viral in the first century. Two significant events had happened that were spectacular enough to spawn much conversation, and the deeper matters of the heart became a part of the equation.

The first was a surgical strike on specific Galilean Jews who were thought to be zealots or terrorists against Rome —and it all went down in the Temple complex in Jerusalem. That final fact certainly had everyone talking. If you were Roman, this would have been perceived as justice. To the Jews, it looked more like political assassination.

The second story was of a tragedy that happened at the Pool of Siloam —also in Jerusalem. A tower became unstable and fell, killing eighteen.

Both stories would have made the news today. The first one would have probably been an international story, while the second may have been more localized, but both stories reached Jesus, and He commented on them in a very interesting way:

“Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? . . . And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem?” (Luke 13:2, 4).

These are valid questions. People were obviously wondering if the tragedies had happened because of God’s judgment on the unfortunate ones. We behave similarly today. It’s not hard to find someone assuming God’s judgment any time tragedy strikes, from weather to war.

Was it God’s judgment of sin that caused these tragedies?

“Not at all!” Jesus said. “I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too” (Luke 13:3, 5).

Jesus answered the question, and in His beautiful way, He took the matter to its heart. Every tragedy that occurs is not God’s punitive judgment. Without the life of Jesus intertwined with our own, we are all heading toward similar fates, and, in many ways, we’re creating our own judgment —we’re choosing our destiny. Jesus’ invitation was that we repent. A word like repent has a lot of religious baggage heaped on it, but at its core, repentance is changing of one’s mind or inner person.

Jesus is our invitation to change our minds about who we think God really is. God isn’t a hot-tempered sovereign who flies into rages and knocks towers over to kill people. God looks like Jesus, and we’re invited to change our minds about Him —to repent. We can certainly continue to blame God for things He hasn’t done. We can keep God at an emotional arm’s length, believing that He is unpredictable at best. Or we can change our minds and trust Jesus on the narrow path that leads to life.

MEDITATION:

Indeed, he loves his people; all his holy ones are in his hands. They follow in his steps and accept his teaching.