The world is a dangerous place.  Bad actors do bad things.  Human beings can miss the point of their own stories.  Sometimes one’s life or even one’s day does not unfold as planned.  People minding their own business may be hurt or killed through no fault of their own.  There is such a thing as being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  A tower may suddenly collapse on you.  Death does not discriminate.  No one is immune.

These are but some of the observations to be made from reading Luke’s account of an everyday conversation between Jesus of Nazareth and others who are not named.  Anyone with a bit of life experience already knows these things.  They are obvious to the point of banality.  So, why capture this incident in the Bible and preserve it for all posterity?

This is not a parable.  [Neither is it one of Aesop’s Fables.  It really happened.  There were eyewitnesses—lots of them.]  It’s no divine allegory, either.  No subtleties or hidden meanings await discovery beneath the surface.  Yet, Luke was led to capture the incident in writing and include it in his gospel.  Why?  

It was an ordinary day.  Some folks who simply happened to be “present at that season,” decided to bring Jesus up to speed on the news from His stomping grounds in the northern part of the country, in the region known as Galilee.  Their lead story concerned “…the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices” (Luke 13:1).

We don’t know anything else about this deed.  Was it the latest atrocity committed on the orders of a vicious Roman procurator?  Was this an intentional provocation, a sacrilege meant to outrage pious northerners? Was it committed for sport?  Was it motivated by Anti-Semitic animus?  Could it have been personal, an act of revenge, perhaps?   Or was it merely a case of swift dispensation of justice for some capital crime under Roman law?  No answers to these basic questions are given.  

How did those who related the event to Jesus expect Him to react?  How did He react?  Here again, no details are offered.  Their omission by Luke appears deliberate.  But, how could those details be irrelevant to the story of the slaying?  How could Luke exercise such poor editorial judgment?  How could an eyewitness be such a clueless reporter?  

We have no evidence that Luke, the Physician, was working on a double major in Journalism, but flunking out.  So, the explanation for his silence on key points must lie elsewhere.  As the next few verses reveal (chapter 13, verses 2-4) Luke was not writing about the deaths of some Galileans executed by Rome.  If he had been, the missing facts would be not only necessary but essential, their absence inexcusable.  But, Luke was writing instead about the use Jesus made of a teaching opportunity, occasioned by the ‘live news feed.’  

It seems inconceivable that the shocking story of the executions would not spark lively discussion.  Simon the Zealot, for one, was sure to have had a few choice comments about the Roman occupiers.  And Jesus was not the only one present who called Galilee home.  The brutality and malice of the act alone had surely drawn people into conversation. 

The Nazarene had clearly been listening to the chattter.  We may surmise this from the fact that it would have been natural for Him to be attentive, given the subject matter.  But we don’t have to guess.  The text says, “And Jesus answering said unto them…” (v. 2).  What was Jesus answering?  Had He been asked for His views?  It seems more than likely that He would have been, if He didn’t volunteer them.  He was their leader and after all, the tale had been told for His benefit.  In any case, He gets involved in the conversation and quickly redirects it.

Evidently disturbed by the remarks being made, Jesus jumps in with a question: “…Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?”   

Jesus does not wait for replies, but answers His own question unequivocally (v. 3): “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”

For emphasis, He follows up with another current event, asking the same question (v. 4): “Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?”

Lending the weight of His own authority, Jesus again answers His own question (v. 5): “I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.” 

Galilee was in the north, Jerusalem in the south.  The significance of citing an event from each end of the country was that the application of Jesus teaching was universal—it covered everyone from north to south and everywhere in between.  

Jesus’ message was not only universal, it overturned conventional wisdom.  A popular notion in the Near Eastern culture of the day was that if something bad happened to you, you must have had it coming.  Bad things don’t happen to good people.  [Sound familiar?]  A separate commonly held belief covered any exceptions to this rule.  If you seem to be a saint but get clobbered anyway, you must be a secret sinner, who hides your wickedness from others until fate inevitably exposes you.

Not so, says Jesus.  Plenty of bad things happen to plenty of “good” people.  Tragedies, suffering, and yes, death come to everyone—even to those whose outward conduct may seem more godly than others’.  The person who is justified in his or her own eyes is not safe.  Neither are those who think they’ll earn a pass if the “good” deeds they’ve done outweigh their bad deeds.  God looks at our deeds, yes, but also at what we say and think.  He probes as well, what we fail to do, say or think.  He thoroughly examines our motives. 

Consciousness of our shortcomings vs. the standards of a just and holy God, should alarm us.  According to Jesus, it should awaken us to an urgent need for personal repentance.  This word means more than a small course correction or a few minor adjustments.  Repentance is a complete stoppage of forward progress in the wrong direction, followed by an immediate turn in the opposite direction.

So why, when we acknowledge that we’re mortal and will die—some sooner, some later, some expectedly and some unexpectedly—does Jesus warn that we will “perish” UNLESS we repent?  Isn’t the word “perish” just a euphemism for “die?”  Is perishing different than dying?  In the context of Jesus’ comments here in Luke’s gospel, the answer is clearly, ‘yes.’  To die is a sad event; to perish, an unimaginable catastrophe.

To perish is to pass from this life to the next without being reconciled to God.  That means coming to Him His way and on His terms, to have your sin dealt with, trusting in His mercy rather than in your own righteousness.  

‘Unless you repent, you will all “likewise” perish,’ does not mean that ancient Roman soldiers will slay you while you’re worshipping or that a tower may fall on your head.  It means that spiritual death—eternal separation from God—is much worse than physical death.  Its torments defy description and go on without pause forever.  It is the ultimate horror.

If you have not already come to Christ, humbled yourself and surrendered your life to Him, are you willing to do so now?  Are you ready to accept the pardon Jesus died to give you?  Will you worship and serve Him and Him alone?  Or will you silence the alarm, ignoring Jesus’ warnings about the uncertainty of life, and the urgency of turning to God in repentance and faith?

No, you may not be the worst sinner in the area where you live, but that fact offers you no protection.  “Except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”  All means all.  Come to Christ now.  Please.  He is ready to receive you with arms outstretched and with joy unspeakable, to reconcile you to God and give you real and lasting peace, to envelop you with His mercy and clothe you with His righteousness, and to fill your heart and soul with His incredible, indelible love.

HOW TO BE SAVED:

• Admit to God that you are a sinner (that you have not kept His moral law to perfection; in your thoughts, words and actions you have done what His law forbids and have failed to do what His love demands).  This is seeing yourself from God’s point of view and agreeing that He is right about you.  Be as specific as you can.
• Believe in your heart that Jesus died for your sins and that God raised Him from the dead.
• Sincerely repent (turn away) from your sins, asking God to forgive you and to use His power to help you resist temptation, no matter how strong the pull of sin may be, at first.
• Acknowledge Jesus as the Lord of your life.  Invite Him to move into your heart and take up residence there, so that He can change you from the inside out.
• Trust His promise to save you and give you a new spiritual birth and a new nature (thoughts, desires, priorities, hopes, dreams and character).

SOME KEY TRUTHS:

• “For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:23)
• “As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10)
• “For the wages of sin is death: but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (Romans 6:23)
• “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”  (John 3:16)
• “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.”  (Romans 5:8)
• “For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures.”  (I Corinthians 15:3,4)
• “But as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” (John 1:12)
• “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him…”  (Revelation 3:20)
• “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  (Romans 10:13)
• “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.”  (Romans 10:9)
• “Verily, verily, I say unto you; He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life; and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”  (John 5:24)
• “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing, ye might have life through his name.”  (John 20:31) 
• “These things I have written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.”  (I John 5:13)