City Life Starter

Written by Scott Fiddler

The Word

1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

-Luke 13:1–5

Reflection

For hundreds of years people had attempted to answer the question of why bad things happen to good people. Plato offered an answer, the Stoics offered an answer, as did the Epicureans.

The question is the reason so many atheists claim they can’t believe in God, and it is the reason so many Christians would later claim to have fallen away after suffering personal tragedy or loss. 

And here, the question was being posed—albeit in a somewhat passive-aggressive way—to the One who could definitively answer it. Luke says some of those who were present “reported” to Jesus “about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices” (NASB).

I imagine such an event was already known to Jesus, and “reporting” it to Jesus was a way to get Him to comment on it. Regardless, the question was out there, and I’m sure those present waited in rapt curiosity wondering how Jesus would answer this age-old question. 

And then He didn’t. Or better, He answered it partly.

Jesus could have given a rational response that explained we lived in a fallen world that was not the way God had created it, that the presence of evil in the world does not preclude the existence of a good or all-powerful God, and that for people to have freedom they must have the freedom to hurt people.

But, apart from saying that “deserve” doesn’t have much to do with it, Jesus chose not to answer the question. We should ask why.

Application

I’m thinking one reason Jesus may not have answered the question is because the answer is not very helpful. The question is most often asked by ordinary people in the depth of a personal trauma or loss. If Jesus had given the rational response, we would be quoting that answer to people who were suffering in the pain of their loss.

The better response to one in the grip of deep emotional pain or loss is not a rational answer, which will almost certainly ring hollow; it is comfort.

We are called to comfort those who are suffering, not give them explanations (2 Corinthians 1:3-4). We are called to comfort them just as the “God of all comfort . . . comforts us in all our affliction. . . ” Id.

Prayer

Lord, help me to be a comfort to those who are mourning, as You have been a comfort to me. Amen.