Why do bad things happen to good people? Or even why do bad
things happen to people? Someone might say, ‘maybe they deserved it,’ ‘Karma
caught up to them.’ Someone else might ask, ‘What about that young couple, that
are youth pastors, and the mom and baby she was carrying contracting HIV from a
blood transfusion?’ Why them? People might think maybe there was something we didn’t know and God
caught up with them. Jesus answered this question.
Luke [13:1] Now there were some present at that time
who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their
sacrifices. [2] Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were
worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? [3]I
tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. [4] 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? [5] I tell you, no!
But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
[6] Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree,
planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find
any. [7] So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three
years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found
any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'[8] “‘Sir,' the man
replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and
fertilize it. [9] If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it
down.'”
From Jesus’ answer in v.2 you can surmise the question being
asked. Did these people commit some sin
that God’s judgment had them died in such an unholy way? Jesus said No! God
didn’t judge them by having Pilate capture and kill those people in a pagan ceremony.
In his answer, their deaths wasn’t a result of God’s direct judgment, as the
people thought. He then gave another example of people dying in an incident
that involved a building collapsing. His answer was still the same. No! God didn’t
collapse that building on them in judgment. Or supernaturally lead them into it
because He knew the exact moment it would fall. There deaths were a result of a Fallen world. Jesus didn't believe in karma. No need to read more into it then that.
Whether by the hands of people directly or an accident of
circumstance we are all sinner before God. No one is in better standing before God
than any other person in their community or even the planet. Dying in this life
is not a matter of God’s judgment however, it is because we live in a fallen,
broken world. Prone to decay. People are evil. Because of this reality, don’t
hesitated to get ready.
Jesus wanted them to redirect their thinking about these
matters. We should be concerned about the judgment that is to come. A judgement
that has eternal ramifications. That’s the perishing you need to be concerned
with. He was saying in effect, change now while you can, because there may come
a time where it will be too late. Therefore, take care of things here and now
because someone evil might cross your path or the decay of all things might
find you when you least expect it.
Then He tells a parable to drive the point home. Repent and
bear fruit because of your repentance. For us today, within the body of Christ,
we should not say we know Jesus and our life doesn’t bear the fruit of the
Spirit.
When we know Jesus, the one who was raised from the dead, he
has the right perspective of life and death matters. He is the author of life
and He experience the life and death of a human. Morn those that pass however, use the
occasion to reflect on your life. Have you changed your mind about Jesus? Not
the Jesus of the institutionalize religion we see today. I’m speaking about the
Jesus of scripture, unfiltered, not someone else’s opinion about scripture. Bad things have been happening since the Fall
up to the present day. Get ready.
“Therefore bear fruits in keeping with repentance, …..
- Luke 3:8 (NASB)
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