Luke 13:1-5: A lesson from tragedy.(please click here for todays passage)

Early this morning (22 March as I write) we heard the terrible news of  terrorist bombings in Brussels, leaving many dead and more injured. Suddenly and tragically the end came for people who were just going about their business. Some would be going to work; others, perhaps, were excited about the start of a vacation. In an unexpected moment or two everything changed.

What Jesus said here,making reference to a couple of tragic events that must have been ‘on the news’ in His day, is still relevant. We are not to imagine that those personally affected by these incidents in Belgium were worse than other people. But we should heed the lesson to repent and get right with God, because we never know when the opportunity might be gone forever. As suddenly as a disaster can strike, we can find that we die and are ushered into God’s judgment hall. So the message of the last paragraph of chapter 12 holds good today: make the effort to get right with an offended God.

‘Pardon from an offended God, pardon for sins of deepest dye…’

Such pardon is available to anyone and everyone who will turn to Jesus in repentant faith.