Tragedy and Repentance

Day 99: Luke 12:1-21

"No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." - Luke 13:3 ESV

Apparently, we are not the first people to wonder why bad things happen to good people. Jesus has two tragic events that He addresses here. One that they brought up and one that He initiated. The friends of Job also were wrestling with this problem. If Job was such a good man, why was he suffering so much? Isn't that reserved for the wicked?

Jesus is trying to help us work through this problem. It isn't just the wicked who suffer crazy fates like these. In another place, Jesus declared that God sends the rain (blessing) on the just and unjust (Matthew 5:45). So it goes to show that God allows (in this fallen world) tragedy to take place in the lives of both as well.

On this side of heaven, we won't really get our why questions answered.

The key takeaway that Jesus insists we have is that tragedy should always drive us to return (repent) to God with all our hearts. One day all suffering will cease. All tears. All sorrow. Gone. (see Revelation 21:1-7) Until that day comes, may we take every chance we get to turn our attention to the one who saves.

"We lose our capacity to be surprised by him. So when a tragedy befalls us, we turn in anger to the Lord God of glory, who fills our lives with grace and mercy every day. Jesus detected that kind of hardness of heart in those asking this question, and found it necessary to give a severe warning: ‘But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’ Oh that we might understand the difference between justice and mercy."
- Sproul, R. C. (1999). A Walk with God: An Exposition of Luke (p. 277)