Monday, March 12, 2007

(#3) Point 1. Don’t WANT suffering (The people's pain)

(First, read Luke 13:1-9, and the previous posts).

Notice that there is no question in sight in V1 or V2 from the people who bring this news to Jesus. They just told Jesus the story of what happened. There is no "well how do you explain that?" There is no "Give us your opinion, now."

There is no trap question. This may have been a trap. They could be baiting Jesus to enter a political storm: Either he condemns Pilate (Not a good idea at this point) or emboldens the Galileans to fight (Jesus is trying to get people to pick up their cross, not their swords!) But there is no indication in the text that it’s a trap.

See, they do what you do when something horrific happens. You just pass the news and they let the tragedy speak for itself.

You know this experience: You heard, didn’t you, that fire in the Bronx claimed its 10th victim Friday night? Its 9th child?
You know about the 30 dead in the latest car bomb in Baghdad?

This is not just "interesting" news.

Its something we don’t want.
And we’ve never wanted.
We are not OK about it.
And we’ve never been OK about it.

That itself is worth saying to yourself. Followers of Jesus put it like this: We live in a fallen and sinful and divided world and we don’t like it, and we’ve never liked it.

Don't want suffering. But don’t deny it either. Own it. Don't slame the door shut, for Jesus opens for us a door out.

Before I go on to my second point, can I ask you to underline or lock in your minds one word from verse 1: The Word ‘Galilean’.

TBC soon...

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