This is the third week of the Lenten season and in the Scripture we are about to look at we see how Jesus responded when He was confronted with the news of some untimely deaths. Some died at the hands of an evil man and others died because of a construction accident.
Now, you may have noticed on the sign in front of the church that asked the question, “What did Jesus say about, ‘Only the good die young?’” Years ago there was a sordid song by Billy Joel which despite having that title had nothing to do with the actual death of a young person.
Still, that phrase, “Only the good die young” makes you wonder about endless stream of news stories about death with many of the stories being about young people who have lost their lives. Perhaps a better question would be, “What did Jesus say about untimely, unnatural deaths?”
But before we read the Scripture we are reminded of the death of Greg Young, a young Houghton student a week ago and such tragedies boggle the mind.
As an introduction to why there is suffering and death in the world let’s take a look at this brief video before we read our main Scripture lesson - Show video
Luke 13:1-5
“Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
“Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’
“‘Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’
So, there you have it. Some people who were offering sacrifices at the temple in Jerusalem were killed purposefully by soldiers of Pilate and eighteen others died in a construction accident.
There was a concept at the time of Christ that misfortune was always the result of sinful living and therefore misfortune only fell upon sinful people.
We can see this attitude throughout the Bible, especially in the book of Job and in the Proverbs. Poor old Job has no idea why he is suffering and his friends keep telling him the same thing over and over. They say that it is obvious that Job has sin in his life otherwise the Lord would reward him instead of punishing him.
Just look at Job 8:3-4
“Does God pervert justice? Does the Almighty pervert what is right? When your children sinned against Him, He gave them over to the penalty of their sin.”
Whoa! That’s some tough talk. “Your kids sinned and God killed them!” That’s really what they thought! Don’t we have that same attitude sometimes?
So, what’s their remedy for Job’s situation?
It’s found in verses 5 and 6
“But if you will look to God and plead with the Almighty, if you are pure and upright, even now He will rouse Himself on your behalf and restore you to your rightful place.”
We also see this pattern of thinking in the 9th chapter of John where Jesus and His disciples encounter a man who was born blind
In verse 2 the disciples ask Jesus
“Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
Somehow, they can’t even see the absurdity of a certain aspect of their question. How could this man sin in a way that would cause him to be born blind? Did they believe that it was possible to sin before birth? Now, they believed that sin was disobeying the law of Moses or the thousands of laws they added on later. Perhaps it was just one of those questions that popped out of their mouth before their brain went into gear.
Either way, you can see how this line of thought was ingrained into their very way of thinking. It was almost like the modern version of the health and wealth gospel that is proclaimed by certain preachers today. They say, “If you are righteous you will be healthy and wealthy and honored by God and men. If you are sinful you will be sick and poor and despised by God and men.”
But how do we see that play out in the history of the Bible?
For the sake of discussion, let’s say that the men who were killed by Pilate’s soldiers in the temple were being punished for their sins. OK. Then why didn’t God punish Herod when he ordered the death of all the male infants in Bethlehem?
Now, if we embrace the idea that God directly punishes a person for their own sinfulness on earth with suffering and death, how do you explain the three thousand people who died in the 9/11 attack? Did all of the righteous people make it out of the buildings and only the unrepentant sinners died?
When Joseph Stalin ruled over the Soviet Union he was responsible for the deaths of 20 million of his own countrymen. Of these 20 million how many were unrepentant sinners and how many were believers who had placed their faith and trust in Jesus?
You see, it’s just not that simple! If it was that simple there would not be any flagrant sinners running around. A person would sin, they’d die and that would be the end of it, right? So, where does that leave us?
Suffering and death are the consequence of sin: your own sin, someone else’s sin or just the sinful human condition, but, it is, in the final analysis the result of sin in one form or another.
Yes, suffering and death can be the result of your own sin. A person driving way too fast for the road and traffic conditions can be injured or die in an accident. A person engaged in immoral sexual behavior may very well contract a disease which could result in their suffering or death. A smoker may very well suffer and die of lung cancer. We know this and it would be illogical to think of this as anything other than cause and effect. Suffering is a consequence of sin and it may be the result of your own sin.
But, suffering can death can also be the result of someone else’s sin. A person driving way too fast for the road and traffic conditions can injure or kill someone else in an accident. A person engaged in immoral sexual behavior may very well contract and bring home to their faithful spouse a disease which could result in their suffering or death. A family member of a smoker may very well suffer and die of lung cancer caused by second hand smoke. We know this and it would be illogical to think of this as anything other than cause and effect. Suffering is a consequence of sin and it may be the result of someone else’s sin.
Finally, suffering and death does indeed stem finally from the sinful human condition. This suffering and death entered the world and the human race when Adam and Eve sinned against the one and only “law” given to them by the Lord.
But, before we continue on, let’s refresh our minds with the Scripture we read before in Luke 13:1-5
“Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.
“Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’
“‘Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’
Now, what did Jesus mean by, “But unless you repent, you too will all perish?” He said it twice. Did He mean that they would all come to an untimely death? That none of them would die of old age and natural causes?
No, that is not the case. Jesus is speaking of the destiny that every person has with eternity. A time when we will know for certain the consequences of the choices we made while on earth.
Wouldn’t it be awful if God knew this and left us without some warning?
Wouldn’t it be awful if God knew this and left us without some way of escape.
Wouldn’t it be unfair? Totally unfair?
You would be able to hear the universe screaming right, “That’s not fair!!!!!” Well, many things are not fair! Life’s not fair! But the most unfair of all of the unfair things that have ever happened in the history of this universe is the unfairness of Christ dying for me and Christ dying for you!
Here we have the Son of God, the Creator of all things, the blameless, sinless God, coming to earth to warn us. Coming to earth to tell us to repent so that we can avoid the consequence of an eternity without God.
Coming to earth to provide the perfect sacrifice for our sins, not His sins but our sins, and making a way for us to have eternal life by placing our faith and trust in Him.
Let’s look at these unfair verses:
1 John 4:10
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.”
Now, that’s not fair! But it is out of this great love for us that Jesus warns us and calls us to repentance! What a gift! And, what do we need to do in return? Keep a bunch of rules? No, only two … Love God and love others!
How do we love God? - 1 John 5:3a says:
“In fact, this is love for God: to keep His commands.”
And, what are His commands?
Matthew 22:37-40 says
“Jesus replied: ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.
“And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”
2 John 1:6
“And this is love: that we walk in obedience to His commands. As you have heard from the beginning, His command is that you walk in love.”
Have you done that? Jesus is still shouting out a warning to all of us of, “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
2 Peter 3:9
“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
(Invitation to examine our hearts for unrepented sin and a time of prayer.)
