How is your life going? Are you getting what you deserve? Do you deserve more than what you have received? Or maybe you feel that you deserve even less than what you have been given?

When Jesus lived, over 2000 years ago, the Romans ruled over Israel as an occupying and governing force. A Roman man named Pilate governed over the area of Judea, the region that surrounded the city of Jerusalem. While we don’t know the exact details, something happened where several people from Galilee, a Jewish region to the north of Judea, were killed by Pilate and their blood was mixed with the sacrifices that they had brought before God.

This was considered a great offense by Pilate to the Jewish people that he goverened over, and a great offense to God because human blood was now mixed with the blood of the sacrifices that the people brought before God for the forgiveness of their sins.

Why would these people come up and report this to Jesus? Perhaps they thought that he would be the Messiah and would lead Israel to victory over the Romans. Perhaps they thought that this great offense would make Jesus want to go to war with the Romans.

But Jesus asks the people… Do you think that those who were killed were greater sinners than everyone else? In other words, do you think that these people who were killed got what they deserved? No, Jesus says, and in fact, if they don’t repent, they will also perish.

Jesus is speaking about a spiritual death which will be even worse than the way that these Galileans died. The people must repent of their sins if they want to live.

Jesus goes on to underscore his point by talking about a situation where a tower in Siloam had fallen and killed 18 people. He essentially asks the same question:

Did they get what they deserved?

Had they sinned more than any one of these people to whom Jesus was speaking?

No, Jesus says. And in fact, if they don’t repent, they will end up the same way. They will pass away spiritually in the same way that these people who died passed away physically.

Read the story – Luke 13:1-5

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Luke 13:1-5

Put it into practice

Jesus cares about our physical lives. He cares about what we need in our lives, but he puts an even greater value upon our spiritual lives. He cares even more about the condition of our hearts before God.

Are you willing to repent? Jesus calls each of us to repentance for the sins that we have committed. The wrong things that we have done, the impure thoughts that we have had, the ways in which we haven’t loved God or loved others around us. Jesus calls us to repent from these things and come to him.

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