April 9- Pilate and Pain

Deuteronomy 33:1-29
Luke 13:1-21
Psalm 78:65-72
Proverbs 12:25

Luke 13- ¹Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ²Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ³I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ⁴Or 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? ⁵I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

Here's one of those verses that you might skip (as I have) and suddenly, you realize that it's there. So I take it that Pilate went and murdered a bunch of Galileans as they were sacrificing to God. The text is a little shocking to me, not because I thought Pilate was a good man, but that he would do something so drastic. He after all, did make an attempt to keep from having Jesus killed.

What interests me from the text is that Jesus tells the people that their deaths were not the result of sinfulness on their parts (an idea that bad things only happen to bad people). Jesus lets them know that sometimes bad things just happen. However, as the text goes on, it will remind them that their sins will result in an ultimate judgment where our actions do result in pain and suffering. So, Jesus tells them, "Sometimes bad things happen when you do the right thing." And the follows up, "But one day, our actions will result in reward or punishment."