You Were There (09/29/09)
In one aspect alone, it is worth listening to these words as one who was there, and that is to recognize that the event to which Jesus refers was local news and, one might presume, fairly recent news. It is thus that Jesus finds no cause to provide further details. Indeed, His mere mention of the event would likely stir many thoughts in the minds of those listening. If, as is suggested in Unger’s, the fall of that tower was connected with the construction of the Roman aqueduct, thoughts may have been on far more than those eighteen who died. That theory would also give us an understanding as to why that particular example should come to mind for Jesus. Reminded of Pilate, He turns to this calamity that might well be laid at the feet of Pilate. Those listening to Him would likely make the same connection.
Were they sinners, those who died? Hadn’t really thought about it in that light. But, yes, I take your point, Jesus. We are quick to make the case against those who beg in our midst, those born blind as this man was. Surely, we reason, there must be some terrible sin in his past that he has suffered this fate! By extension, then, we really ought to suppose a similar cause behind the greater terrors that befall man. It is an expression of the same mindset that sees every evil of this life as evidence of some great sin. It is an expression of the false heart of human nature that sees this as evidence that I am not so bad as they.
Once again, upon hearing these news stories, my own nature is revealed as I compare myself to what I suppose must have been the particular evil of those who died. I compare myself to their lot and suppose I must be doing OK. Once again, Teacher, You have pulled the rug of false security from under me. I’m not doing OK. My peril is every bit as great as was theirs. We are all found wanting. There is none righteous, no not one. My, but how we fool ourselves when we fail to recognize that this statement includes us!
Master, how can I hear this, take Your point to heart, and not sense the depth of my need for Messiah? For You?
And how this message seems to be arising in every quarter in the last day or two! It is the great issue of hypocrisy, and if I think myself free of it, then have I not been fooling myself, Lord? Oh, I can talk a good game, but that anger boils just below the surface. I am all set to accept my place in the praises of the workmen, but I am all frustration when I am called to work. Honestly, my God, there is much in me just now that is in disarray. My feelings are torn, as You surely know. Is it just familiarity that is bringing about a certain dissatisfaction? Is it just increased responsibility that has me longing for less? Or is the problem truly in me? Oh, I am quick enough, God, to point out the errors in those around me, and I know well enough that those errors that attract my pointing finger are as likely as not the very errors I should be addressing in myself.
Yet, I am not without concern, Holy One, as You well know. I am not without concern when I hear some of the views held forth by Your children. And yes, I am still convinced they are Your children, but they seem not to know You. Or, is it I who don’t know You? It seems improbable at best that we are both clear in our understanding of You and yet so at odds in that understanding. Lord, once more I must come and ask that You bring correction where it is needed, whether in me or in those with whom I share Your house. Let me, then, leave it in Your hands and await Your clarification.
New Thoughts (09/30/09-10/02/09)
There is a temptation to get caught up in the details of those events which are noted in this passage: the assault on the Galileans and the fall of the tower. These are, after all, clear references to historical occurrences, yet we have no confirmation of those occurrences. The skeptic could look at this and suppose that the lack of corroboration means the event never actually occurred. But, that would be a false conclusion. Arguably, the inclusion of such local detail makes the veracity more likely. If one was out to falsify a record, would they not choose better known events to illustrate the point? Would this not be particularly true in Luke’s account, where he has come as an outsider and at a later date?
Why would Luke include such details? If they were local events, they were not local for him. He was a Greek, not a Jew. The events, while they may have been common knowledge to those Jesus was speaking with would be no such thing for Luke. But, Luke researched. He had gone about asking after the details, and this is what had come to his ears. This is what the eye-witnesses reported of the event, and therefore, that is what he recorded.
As to my choice of including this portion of Luke’s Gospel in the midst of John’s account surrounding the feasts in Jerusalem, I may well be wrong in having assumed a connection. I am assuming that the events described occurred while Jesus was in Jerusalem on the theory that the fall of the tower was truly local news, and not something likely to have been spoken so far and wide as to have reached the hinterlands of Galilee. It would be far more likely that the first event spoken of would have been noted back home.
Over against this view, it seems odd to suppose that Jesus, having so recently departed the temple grounds, and having been there throughout the days of the Feast of Tabernacles, would be supposed to have been unaware of this killing of the Galileans. Indeed, it would be odd that no other mention was made of the event. On the other hand, it may be that they are not speaking of something in the immediate past, but something that had transpired while Jesus was out of town still, in other words, before His arrival at the Feast. That would explain why they thought perhaps He hadn’t heard the news. Maybe it had happened while He was on the road.
All in all, I think I could hold with my idea that the conversation is taking place in Jerusalem, and I am not precluded from thinking it may have been “on the same occasion” as the events John is relaying. Luke connects it with a point when Jesus was praying “in a certain place” (Lk 11:1), having then gone to lunch at the house of one of the Pharisees (Lk 11:37), and later segues to a scene “in one of the synagogues” (Lk 13:10). The references are all a bit vague, but could be seen as pointing to Jerusalem. Perhaps those who came to Him with news of those other Galileans who had died by Pilate’s order thought to warn Jesus of a potential danger to Himself – as if the local Pharisees weren’t danger enough!
But, just as Jesus had not found personal safety sufficient cause to refrain from seeking out the one born blind, He does not see this warning as a reason not to take time to teach. They thought to provide Him with a warning. He found in their words a teachable moment, and the Teacher took full advantage of that!
Alternatively, it may be that those who told Him of the Galileans who had been killed sought to incite Him to anger against the Romans. This, too, is a common enough behavior in mankind. Think of the typical newscast we have any longer, or perhaps of the blogs which are slowly replacing them. What will be reported is as often as not selected with an eye towards incitement. Good news, they say, doesn’t sell. It’s the bad news. It’s the things the Other Guy is doing wrong. These are the things that keep us coming back, the ‘red meat’ as they may choose to call it. Given the misunderstandings many had about what Messiah was to be about, it would make sense that these who spoke to Him of that other group being killed were hoping to stoke enough anger in Him that He would move against Rome Himself.
Be that as it may, Jesus isn’t taking the bait. Indeed, as He replies, you could almost think of Him speaking of the Romans rather than the Galileans. “Do you suppose these Romans are greater sinners for having done that? I tell you no! You are all sinners as well, and all will perish.” But, He has chosen the harder question, the question of pain and suffering. Isn’t this the most difficult question we ever face in contemplating a good God? If God is good, what’s with the hurricane and the damage it has inflicted on believers and unbelievers alike? If God is good, how is it that children die of cancer?
It is exactly this sort of question that has led to the mistaken belief that, since God is good, all suffering must necessarily be the direct result of sin on somebody’s behalf. It must prove that the one who suffers (or his parents at the very least) are great sinners, since God is punishing them so. This is the mindset that His own disciples displayed when they saw the man born blind. Jesus can know with certainty that many of those who are bringing Him news of these dead Galileans have similar explanations in mind. Perhaps it is the case that those who were killed were following after some other claimant to the Messianic title. It hardly seems reasonable to suppose that Pilate just had them killed for no cause, especially as they were at Temple and making their offerings at the time. There’s clearly more to this story than the teller is letting on.
Well, now: if they were following the wrong Messiah, perhaps that was why God struck them down by Roman arms. But, not us, hey Jesus? We’re following You, so nothing like that will happen to us, will it? Or perhaps these are city folk, and think little enough of Galileans anyway. Perhaps the idea is that God was offended at them simply for being Galileans, and associating too freely with the Gentiles, in which case Jesus and His followers could expect similar treatment. One could imagine that anybody thinking this way probably thought the crucifixion confirmed their suspicions.
But, whatever their motivation, Jesus turns the picture around. Are you thinking that they were great sinners? As the Living Bible has it: “Is that why they suffered?” No! If it were a matter of sin leading to such suffering, you could all expect the same fate. You think it is something about being Galilean? Well, what about those folks who died under the tower right here in Jerusalem? Perhaps they were particularly notorious sinners, too? No! But, death comes to all for their sins. There is none righteous, not one. Unless you truly repent of your sins, however your death may come to you, the end result will be that you are dead and you are forever separated from the God you claim to belong to.
How widespread is this idea that all suffering must result from secret sin! Think about Paul’s experience coming out of the shipwreck. Here he had come to this island, and the locals had made him welcome enough. But, then, he is bitten by a snake. Indeed, as he raises his hand, the snake is still there, hanging from it. Nor, is it some harmless garden snake. The locals are convinced that he must be a murderer, and the gods are seeing to it that he does not escape his just punishment (Ac 28:4). Of course, we know how that turns out. He survives the snake bite and continues to hold forth the Gospel.
Another aspect of what Jesus is dealing with here is that the ideas he attributes to his listeners are the natural follow on for the beliefs evident in their view of the blind man. If you thought blindness was the product of some secret sin, surely this greater calamity must also be seen as wrought by sin. Hmm. You could take that further and suppose that the whole suffering state of Israel must find its roots in the sins of the nation. You might not be far wrong, either. But, you won’t go there, will you? You like to believe in this whole cause and effect thing, but not when it starts to point back to your own situation. But, I tell you, it does! It’s not that suffering is necessarily connected with some personal sin of yours. It’s also not that suffering is necessarily unconnected with that. It’s that the sin needs dealing with, and the sin is certainly there.
Unless you repent, whatever form your death may take, it’s going to be a tragedy for you. End of story. Whether you die peacefully in your sleep or crushed under a tower, your guilt will be just the same before God. The penalties paid in this life are nothing compared to what lies beyond the grave. If you do not repent, that penalty is eternal, just as your crimes against an eternal God must be counted eternal. You cannot escape the weight of that punishment in your own power. You are going to need something from outside yourselves.
You see, the problem is not that these who died were worse than others. They were not even worse than you. That’s not what you need to learn from this. What you need to learn is that you think too highly of yourself. You are not as safe before God as you want to believe. Your sins reek in His nostrils far more than you suspect. You think you are OK because you’ve been following all these rules. You think that your almsgiving has washed away your crimes. You think that the goat you sacrificed this week was really enough to pay for the sins of the week. But, it isn’t! It’s just a goat. You haven’t changed. You’ve walked away ready to go out this week and make sure the goat at the end was worth sacrificing. That’s not repentance!
Let’s be clear about this: However you may multiply your sacrifices or your offerings, however faithfully you tithe and attend every event at church, unless you repent, none of it matters. Unless you have truly turned away from your sins and turned towards God, you are just as dead now as you would be without all those actions. You are no better than the Gentile you think so little of. You are no better than the Romans! Deal with that!
And this is exactly where so many so called Christians are today. They think their attendance record will save them. They think their record of giving will save them. They think that their participation in political actions, and loud shouting on behalf of God’s views on things will save them. But, they are as great in their own sins as those they rail against. They’re just a little less honest about their own sins, more careful to hide them away from prying eyes. But, the sins remain. It’s not the eyes of the public that matter, and God’s eyes are not fooled by their attempts to hide away. Be clear: Unless you repent, unless your faith is more than an act that you put on for the benefit of others, you’re just as dead now. Might as well blow off the church stuff if that’s all it is. Save your money, because it’s not buying you any indulgences.
This will also strike many as being terribly unfair. How can you count all sins as equal? Surely, the murders that have happened under certain regimes are greater sins than my little peccadillo! Surely, lifting a pencil from work is not on the same scale as assault and battery? Well, the answer is both yes and no. When it comes to the main point: whether one spends eternity with God or separated from God, the answer is yes, these things are equal.
Yet, clearly some sins are counted more heinous than others, at least in our own sight. It’s written into our penal codes, and ever has been. Arguably, given that we all have the Law written on our hearts, however poor our reading skills may be, those penal codes reflect in some degree the views of heaven’s God. Conscience, that God-implanted gift to man, dictates that there are sins and then there are notorious sins. There are moral failings and then there are acts of great evil. And so, we can suppose that these assessments are true, that there are distinctions to be made. Dante may not have been too far off in supposing there are levels of punishment in hell, all equally eternal, but differing in degree as the sins they punish differed in degree.
And therein lies the thing we must hold onto. However minor our sins are in comparison to others, they remain eternal affronts to a just and eternal God. If you have broken the least part of God’s Law, you stand guilty of the whole. There is but the one punishment, you see, whichever article you may have been charged under. The penalty is always death. Death is always separation from God. And, that separation is always permanent and eternal. There’s no purgatory there. There’s no work-release program where you might earn your parole by millennia of good behavior. There is one means of getting out from under this sentence, and one only: That One Way is the Christ. That One Way is laying hold of His Atoning sacrifice on your behalf. The lambs and goats and bulls that Israel offered were but a sign. They were temporal beings such as ourselves, and their death could have nothing but temporal value. The Son of God, though! He is eternal, and His death has eternal value. Though He lives (and lives forevermore) yet His death, the blood He spilled to redeem all mankind, is eternal, too. The price He paid to rescue us from our sins is equal to the enormity of our sins.
How great, then, is the crime of that one who refuses the redemption He has brought? This sin will weigh more heavily than any other breach of the Law. It must be so. Nothing less would be honoring to God and His Son.
[10/02/09] Reading the text once again this morning, I am brought back to the thought that these events were as likely to put people in mind of the evils of the Romans as of those killed in the event. Learning that those Galileans had been slain, I’m not sure the first thought would have been, “why, they must have been terrible sinners.” Far more likely, thoughts would turn to those evil Romans who had done this deed. Likewise, if theories are correct about the fall of the tower being connected to the aqueduct construction, thoughts would not have been that the eighteen most evil Jews in Jerusalem must have just received justice. Thoughts would have been on the vile Romans and how they had paid for this project that had now cost the lives of these poor innocent Judeans.
In other words Jesus, by turning the point to the condition of those who died rather than the condition of those by whom death came, is already jarring the ears of His listeners. I probably noted it already, but this is like Jesus showing them the natural conclusion of their thought processes as revealed in their reasoning about the blind man. If his blindness was due to sin, much more these deaths must be due to an even greater sin. But, again: all men are sinners, and the penalty is coming due.
How often we need, I need that same reminder. It’s not those awful other folks. It’s awful me. It’s my sins I need to be worried about.
There’s also the aspect of thinking God unjust because bad things happen to good people. This is one of the most common complaints you will hear from unbelievers. If God is good and worthy of my worship, then why does He let this happen? Or that happen? Why do bad things happen to good people if He is all powerful? The most honest answer is that bad things don’t happen to good people, because there are no good people. Of course, that’s going to be a hard sell, but isn’t that the whole point? We are all of us in need of repentance. Perpetually in need of repentance. We all fall short of the requirements God has set forth. The Law, while binding, is impossible to us. That is, again, why we have need of a Savior. That is why a Good God was willing to come and die that we might live. Had there been any other way, any least possibility of even one man out of all history managing obedience to that Law in perfection, He could have simply been patient. Indeed, Justice would require that He not act to save all the unrighteous if but one righteous one were found. For, they would be even more without excuse than they are. It could have been done, and here in this one man is the proof of it.
But, the keeping of the Law always required God’s participation. It was never intended to be something man could do in his own strength. Man needs God. It is not, as some like to pretend, the other way round. God does not need man to continue being God. Man needs God to continue being at all. The Law, apart from God’s active participation in our pursuit of it, is both dead and deadly. It can bring only judgment and certainty of just punishment. But, with God all things are possible. With God, the very concept of impossibility does not apply! So, we are taught to run to Him, to come in repentance as often as it takes, knowing that where the motive is earnest, forgiveness is certain. We come to Him not in fear of punishment but in certain hope of forgiveness.
So certain is His forgiveness, so clear the prophecies regarding Messiah that even the pagans understood it. We saw that back in the stories of the birth of Jesus. Even in Babylon, it was known. That’s why the magi made the trip. They had their own prophecies about the King who would arise in Israel. Was this to their national advantage? Hardly. It spelled the end of any national advantage they still had, for this King would be greater. Thus, they made certain that their kingdom had paid due homage to the true King at the earliest possible moment.
Fausset’s Encyclopedia notes that the words Pilate’s wife speaks to him regarding Jesus when the time comes for His trial reflect a prophecy contained in Plato’s writings. Now, I don’t know about anybody else, but I don’t generally associate Plato with prophecy at all, let alone Christian prophecy. Yet, the article points to a statement in his book, “The Republic”, about the just man who suffered to restore righteousness. Having read that book, I don’t recall coming across that reference specifically. Yet, I do recall many points made that could easily have come from the mouth of Jesus. Indeed, in some cases the statements are almost word for word duplication of things Jesus did say.
Doubtless, some will look at that fact as indicating Jesus had plagiarized the Greek philosophers, but that hardly seems likely. Selling Greek philosophy to the Jewish community, particularly the Judean community, would hardly seem a winning formula. It would make no sense for one bent on gaining power in Israel to appeal to such sources. What it demonstrates, though, is that even in those lands which dwelt in deepest darkness, still there were glimmers of the Light. It is further proof that all men are without excuse, for even without the sacred texts, there are those who see the Truth in part, who recognize the nature of man, and the necessary nature of the God revealed in creation.
God has not left us with the possibility of pleading ignorance. The one who dies without having heard of Jesus is still without excuse. The evidence he had was sufficient to cause him to seek out this God that was revealed, and he did not do so. For, had he sought, he would have found.
That said, God has not left us without the possibility of pardon, either. That same stranger with no word of Jesus, having sought, will find Him. It may not come by way of a missionary. It may not come by way of the written word. But, where a soul seeks forgiveness with a heart of true repentance, God will see to it that Salvation is found. He is not so deeply in need of our efforts on His behalf that He will fail where we don’t help Him. We are the ordinary means, if you will. But, if the situation calls for extraordinary means, He is able. No man is left without possibility of pardon, for no man is left any excuse. A just God requires that if the latter be true, so too must the former.
The final topic I wish to touch on here concerns a comment the ISBE makes regarding Pilate. To quote: “He was faced by a great moral emergency, and he failed.” This is the story of the judgment of the Christ. He knew full well that the man was innocent of all charges, yet he capitulated to the threats against his own position rather than see justice done. When it came to the test, he failed. Given a choice between upholding justice and saving his own skin, his own skin won.
How easy it is to despise the man for his failings. How easy it is to slip into the trap of thinking, “thank God I’m not like him!” Truth be told, though, I am like him. I just haven’t had the opportunity of failing on such a grand scale. Nor am I alone in this, to be sure! We all have this tendency, when the crisis is upon us, to make the wrong choice. A man with no support network around him can be almost certain to fail, and fail spectacularly. We nee the accountability that comes from being honest and open one with another.
I think of the oft-told tale of those two men, Latimer and Ridley, who faced death for their adherence to sound faith when the current Queen of England insisted on submission to the Roman church. Faced with burning at the stake, these two encouraged one another to hold fast to their confession: to “play the man.” Don’t give in to the temptations to trade Truth for some false safety offered in this world. Think of the things Jesus faced! At every turn, there was the devil offering Him an easy way out. Sure, I’ll make you king of the earth. I could do that. Just worship me. But, He would not. He could have been spared the agony of His crucifixion and all that led up to it, and He knew it. But, He would not. He would not trade the Truth of God for personal comfort.
In both cases, though, the one who stood did not stand alone. Thus it has ever been. Every martyr has known himself or herself not to be alone, even when no other stood with them. There is always that Other, that Fourth Man in the fire. We may not always be as aware of His presence as we ought, but His presence is surely ever with us. Yea, though I walk through the very Valley of Death, I fear no evil, for Thou art with me (Ps 23:4). That passage needs to be more than something familiar, something memorized and quotable. It needs to be our reality. Faced with the temptation to sin, Thou art with me. Faced with the opportunity to ‘get away with it, because nobody’s looking,’ Thou art with me. Indeed, “Can a man hide himself in hiding places so that I do not see him?” asks the Lord (Jer 23:24). There is no place to hide from Him.
We know this is true, but it so often fails to be sufficient reason for us to walk worthy of His attention. We need more. We need something tangible around us, near to us, that we can lean on in our moments of weakness. We need one another. We need those with us who know our failings, who know our trials, and who share our challenges. These can speak words of strength and encouragement to us when we begin to fail. These can be the difference between failure and victory. Why set yourself up for failure by hiding away? Why try to go it alone when there is no reason to do so? Seek out those whose fellowship can strengthen you. Avail yourself of the power God has put in your hands in this fellowship of the saints!
