Thursday, April 3, 2008

 

Unconditional Love Series

 

Luke 13:5 “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”  

 

Current Events

 

In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus tells about two current events that happened in Jerusalem.   It was as if this news came straight from the front page of The Jerusalem Times.  It is an anomaly in the Gospels. 

The first story Jesus tells is about some Galileans who were making their sacrifices at the Temple.   Pilate, the Roman governor, had these men murdered.   It seems that Pilate had decided that Jerusalem needed a new aqueduct to supply water for the city.   He planned to pay for it by taking money from the Temple.   However, many of the Jews were unhappy about this arrangement and began a protest in the Temple.   Pilate told his soldiers to disguise themselves in Jewish clothing.  The people began to protest  and the soldiers killed those protestors in the Temple Court to decisively end this issue.

 

The second current event was when the Tower of Siloam fell.   Eighteen people were crushed that day.   Scholars say these men were Jews who had begun working on the aqueduct.  Of course, many in Jerusalem said it was because they were traitors and therefore, sinners.   The citizens of Jerusalem commonly felt that God had punished them because they were working on this unpopular task.   

 

Jesus asked this question, “Do you think these people were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?  I tell you no.  But unless you too repent you will all perish.”   When Jesus spoke those words He knew a truth that the people did not know.   He knew in forty years Jerusalem would be completely destroyed.   He knew that sooner or later the Romans would get sick of the Jewish political ambitions and intrigues.   He knew that Roman politicians would come to the place of complete disgust with the Jewish rebellions and plotting.    Jesus knew enough about Rome to understand that if the Jews continued to be a problem then the Romans would eventually obliterate the little nation, which of course, did happen.    

 

The people of that day didn’t listen.   I guess the current question is, “Do we?”   Is it possible for us to stop the silly little games we play and simply devote our lives to God?   The simple worship, study, and service of God is an incredible life.   I feel a growing sense that if average people like us don’t step in and try to make a valiant difference that our world will become just as lost as the little Jewish nation was under the tidal wave of the Roman Empire.    After thirty years I have become disgusted with the power games that are played within the life of most churches and the bureaucracy of most denominations.   We must become serious about our walk with Jesus or our world will become just as lost as the Jews in Jerusalem in 70 A.D.     

 

Prayer:

Dear God, help me to be serious about my love for you.  Amen.