By David ReayMonday 15 Aug 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
About this time Jesus was informed that Pilate had murdered some people from Galilee as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.” (NLT)
Bad and sad things happen to all of us. It is part of being imperfect people in a bent out of shape world. The bad and sad things happen as a result of human rebellion against God. Often there is no direct cause and effect link between the thing that happens and the way we live our lives. Godly people get cancer and lose loved ones just like other people.
Of course, there can be a link. If I abuse my body and the body suffers, I can’t just generally blame “sin” for it. My specific sin has caused this particular problem. So it seems we cannot jump to the conclusion that the sad and bad things that confront us are a direct result of our specific actions or words. But nor can we blithely assume there is no causal link.
Jesus warns us against seeing bad and sad things as specific punishments from God. True, we bear the consequences of our own follies, but in many cases, we are not being punished or picked on. Jesus tells us not to jump in and blame people when disaster befalls them.
Doing so is not only untrue but lets us feel more righteous and thus less open to such disasters ourselves. We like to tie things up neatly: bad things only happen to especially bad people. Jesus brings us back to the point: we all need mercy and grace however rough or smooth our lives may be. No need to play the blame game.
Blessings,
David