There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:1–5
How do you suppose the bearers of this piece of news expected Jesus to respond? Did they expect Him to condemn Pilate’s atrocious crime of killing men in the act of offering sacrifices in the holy temple? Did they expect Him to announce that it was time to put an end to the oppression inflicted by the Romans on God’s people? Did they expect Him to change His mind about going to the city Himself? A.T. Robertson observes, “Jesus comments on the incident, but not as the reporters had expected. Instead of denunciation of Pilate he turned it into a parable for their own conduct in the uncertainty of life.” Where they expected a condemnation of Rome from the teacher who hailed from lowly Galilee, Jesus aimed to open the eyes of these messengers to their own state of condemnation. Instead of lamenting the loss of His neighbors, He lamented the condition of all Israel.
We have seen plenty of tragedies just like this in our lifetimes. The words “Columbine,” “Oklahoma City,” and “9-11” have all become synonymous with horror and senseless loss of life. When tragedies like this occur, people generally want to know who is to blame. The Jews were accustomed to blaming the victim for his ill fate. In Job’s despair, Eliphaz asked him, “Who ever perished being innocent?” (Job 4:7). When the disciples encountered a blind man in Jerusalem, they asked Jesus whether they were this man’s sins or his parents’ that had resulted in his deplorable condition (John 9:2). Some want to blame the government. Some want to blame God. The truth of the matter is that Satan is to blame for all the evil and death in this world. But for spiritual death we have only ourselves to blame (Romans 5:12; 6:23).
When tragedy strikes, we need to realize that it could happen to us. No place is safe from people like Pilate and those who have been responsible for the calamities of our own time. Where should a person be safer than in the temple (see 1 Kings 2:28; Nehemiah 6:10)? Yet how many people were slain there (Matthew 23:35) like these Galileans as they were offering their sacrifices? We may think ourselves perfectly secure in our schools and our homes, but how safe are we really? When Jesus told these messengers, “You will all likewise perish,” perhaps He was thinking of the destruction of Jerusalem that Titus would bring about. We need to consider the fact that, physically speaking, every one of us will also perish (Hebrews 9:27). If your life were taken from you this very day, would you be ready?
What can we do about it? If we cannot evade physical death, what can we do to insure that we will not perish spiritually as well? Jesus says that we can repent. Because all have sinned (Romans 3:23), this is a universal requirement. Repentance is a change of mind that manifests itself to the world through the change of action that it precipitates. We should also understand that repentance is not simply an immediate action, but as the Greek tense in Luke 13:3 indicates, it is a continuous one. We must make a daily effort to make our minds more like the mind of Christ (Philippians 2:5).
Finally, while we prepare ourselves and warn others (as Jesus did) of coming destruction, we must not fear, but trust in the Lord (Matthew 10:28–29), who loves us and wants more than anything to save us.