Worse sinners

Pretty frequently I hear, or see posted on social media, the idea that this person deserves what they are getting, whether or good or bad. Or that we should treat a person based on what they deserve, whether good or bad. For example, here is a statement I saw yesterday:

Never give anyone more than they deserve.

If we aren’t careful, we can find ourselves carrying around the idea that there are different classes of people based on our behaviors. We will admit, “Yes, we are all sinners.” But at that point, we will determine that this person or that person are worse sinners. They – those other people – deserve the bad that they are getting in their lives, or maybe even more pointedly, we deserve something better, because we are much better.

That is the type of attitude that Jesus addressed as people came to him to tell him about how the Jewish people from Galilee’s blood was mixed with the sacrifices:

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

The people that came to Jesus likely came to complain about what the Romans were doing in the hopes that Jesus would lead a revolution against the Roman government. Pilate had committed a great offense and a great sin against the Jews, so now they were hoping that Jesus would raise up an army and throw them off.

But Jesus’s kingdom is bigger than that of Israel. In fact, much bigger. And so Jesus begins to explain that, if the people think that the mixing of blood or the tragedy of the falling tower in Siloam is bad, they haven’t seen anything yet.

No, instead, those are relatively small tragedies, to say the least, in comparison to what is in store for the people if they will not repent. If they will not leave their sinful lives in the past, they will all perish. All of them.

But why? Why would they all perish? Yes, they are all sinners, but doesn’t it seem like those people who experienced these tragedies deserve worse?

No. When compared to a holy God, even “a little sin” is evil. God has no evil within him and cannot be where there is evil, so if the people will not repent, they will perish. They will be judged. All of them. And the punishment for being guilty of the judgment that they will be under will be that they will perish.

Jesus is trying to help the people see that there is a reality that is much greater, much more real, and much more important than anything that they can even begin to imagine here on earth. The people are rightly indignant about what has happened with those who were killed and had their blood mixed with the blood of the sacrifices. That was wrong and a great offense against the Jewish people, no doubt.

But it is also true that the tragedies that we see today, in our physical time, have nothing to do with whether you are a good person or a bad person. We are all sinners, and in fact we all deserve to perish! But this is precisely the reason that we can say that we are saved. Because of Jesus! Not because of us, but because of him.

Jesus is trying to help these people that are reporting the tragedies to understand this reality. They each deserve to perish. But if they will repent, if they will believe in him, if they will go forward understanding the eternal reality in which they are living, then they will be able to truly live as Jesus is calling them to live. Not as ones destined to perish, but as those alive and serving him within his kingdom.