5×5×5 Bible Plan

Read: Luke 13
Meditation: Luke 13:2-5

“Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? … 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.”

Shift Your Focus… One of the sad realities of living in a world broken by sin is tragedy.  We witness it all the time, and sometimes we are personally touched by it.  An infant dies in her sleep, a teenager is killed when his car crashes; a mother looses her battle with cancer…a quarter of a million people are wiped out by a tsunami.

Out of these tragic events, like clockwork, we hear some shocked and grief-stricken person ask, “How could a good God allow such evil?”  Of course, they are searching for some sort of answer that will make sense out of the insensible.  They are trying to find some explanation other than the simple reality of living in a broken world where bad things happen to people—good people as well as bad people—and God gets the blame.

This is the equivalent to what Jesus was asked.  A group of innocent Galileans had been killed while they were worshiping.  Eighteen people left home one morning like every other day, but on this day a tower collapsed, killing them all.  How could a good God?  How do we make sense of this tragedy?

Did you notice Jesus’ answer?  He didn’t really give them the answer they wanted.  In a way, he brushed aside their question and went to the heart of the matter:  sin.  Sin kills.  It brings death.  And as long as there is life on Planet Earth, there will not only be these inexplicable tragedies, every person will die sooner or later.  So far, the death rate for human beings is hovering around 100%.

So what is the explanation?  There is really no explanation that will satisfy the “how could a good God?” question.  But there is an answer—Jesus said, “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

The answer to the tragedies that occur in this broken world and the antidote to the tragedy of human sin that brings death to every human being is eternal life.  Repentance trumps death, salvation neutralizes sin, and the cross has defeated the grave.

That’s how a good God has dealt with the tragedy of life in a world broken by sin.

“We want to reach the kingdom of God, but we don’t want to travel by way of death. And yet there stands Necessity saying: ‘This way, please.’ Do not hesitate, man, to go this way, when this is the way that God came to you.”  ~Augustine

Prayer… Father, thank you for the precious gift of salvation—and eternal life through Jesus Christ the Lord.