Tragedy And Judgment

Luke 13:1-9

When we see or hear about a person that had a tragic accident or illness, what’s the first thing that comes to our mind?  For some people, the first thing that they think is “what did they do in their life to deserve this punishment?” Many people equate tragedies with God’s punishment or some sort of negative cosmic karma, and good things with God’s pleasure.  In today’s Scripture from the Gospel of Luke we read what Jesus had to say about this matter. Let’s take a look and see what we can learn today.

Jesus was with His disciples and some people told Him about a current news item at the time.  Pontius Pilate, the Roman appointed governor of Judea, had some Galileans executed while they were in Jerusalem (vs. 1).  There is no further reference to this incident in either Scripture or other historical records. The occupying Roman army would frequently execute people for infractions of the law, so this was not unusual. They also mentioned another incident that had recently happened, that of the collapse of the tower of Siloam, killing 18 people (vs. 4).  The disciples questioned why these events happened. The Galileans had gone to Jerusalem to worship God and offer sacrifices, and for some unmentioned reason, they were executed. Then a tragic accident happens, killing a number of people.

As is common among many people, the disciples must have started to speculate what these people must have done or not done for God to allow this to happen. The disciples had asked the same thing when they had come across a man who had been born blind, and they questioned who had sinned to allow this to happen (John 9:1-3).  It has been the assumption for ages, that bad things only happen when someone has grievously sinned. Jesus immediately set that thinking straight by saying this is not always the case (vs. 2-3).  Sometimes a person’s sinful or wrong behavior will bring about a tragic event.  A person gets drunk and then drives, causing a tragic accident. A hot temper can cause a fight with bad results.  A gambler can gamble away his finances and lose his house. However Jesus says here that tragedies happen, and we should never judge and say that the people were sinners and getting God’s judgment. Victims of tragedies are not necessarily recipients of divine judgment.

Jesus proceeds to give His listeners, and us today, a warning (vs. 3, 5).  We need to be focussing on our own souls. Accidents happen. Death can come unexpectedly to anyone.  Are we ready to meet God at any moment? It can happen. No one is guaranteed tomorrow, or even the next hour.  Jesus said we all need to repent and be prepared for eternity. We are not guaranteed time to prepare for death, thinking that death won’t happen until some time after age 90, so we can wait and take care of our souls then.  Now is the time for repentance.  This is a dangerous world, where tragedies occur without warning. We need to always be ready to meet God.

Jesus then tells His listeners a parable, which at first glance seems to be a change of subject (vs. 6-9).  However it does have a connection to what He was telling the disciples. Jesus talks about an unfruitful tree and how the owner wished to have it cut down.  The gardener says to wait, as he will give it special attention, and then if it doesn’t produce fruit, it can be cut down. In the Old Testament a fruitful tree was often used as a symbol of godly living (Psalm 1:3; Jeremiah 17:7-8).  While we are here on earth, our life is to be fruitful to God. Believers are to be bearing much fruit. Jesus showed what happens to the other kind of tree - a worthless life which produces nothing of value for God’s kingdom. God will not tolerate forever those who do nothing for Him.

Our passage today is not necessarily a soft and comforting one.  Not everything that Jesus said and taught was warm and fuzzy. Sometimes His lessons were strong ones.  Time here on earth is not guaranteed and tragedies happen every day. Are you ready to meet the Lord? Jesus tells us to repent and turn to Him. Do not wait another day to do that. Jesus also tells His followers to be sure that we are making our lives count for Him. He wants us all to be a fruitful tree, bearing fruit for His kingdom.