Advent Study: Luke 13

 

(I've missed several days, but no one has noticed, so I'll just pick it back up from here. Luke 9-12 do have some good stuff, though. I hope you've been following along.) 

Luke 13 begins with some people questioning Jesus about Galileans killed by Pontius Pilate. Rather than speak out against Pilate's cruelty or say these people somehow deserved it, Jesus tells his listeners that we are all sinners and just as deserving of such a fate. Everyone needs to repent. Jesus tells a few more parables about the coming judgment and the need for repentance, stopping to heal a woman on the sabbath. His last teaching in this chapter is a lament over Jerusalem, and a warning about the destruction that is coming. 

The community overhearing these teachings of Jesus in Luke's Gospel, 60 years on, could understandably be struggling with why God allows good people to suffer. Even if you were the kindest, nicest, most faithful family in Jerusalem, when the Roman army came and laid siege, ultimately burning the place down, you'd suffer right alongside the worst sinners. In the same way today, I think many people are struggling with what it means to live a good, faithful life in a world in crisis. Those who will face the worst suffering due to environmental disasters, or the collapse of democracy in some areas, will not be suffering because they were worse sinners than anyone else. They will be--and many already are--simply in the wrong place at the wrong time, receiving the consequence of the whole world's complacency. Yet Jesus' warning is clear: don't think they will be suffering alone. "unless you repent, you will all perish as they did." 

I do not believe God simply presses a "wrath" button and creates wars, famines, or natural disasters to punish the wrong people. I don't believe the Bible teaches that. But I do believe, and see everyday, that God does give us enough freedom to suffer from the consequences of what we, not as individuals but as the whole world, are willing to tolerate. If you want to call that "God's wrath," fine. Just don't blame the victims. And don't assume those hurting now will be the only ones. It's time to have a serious talk with God, and ask how we can ease their suffering, and down the line, prevent our own.