Jesus was not the first Jew whose blood was on the hands of Pontius Pilate, prefect of Judea. Luke 13:1-9 reveals Pilate had recently slaughtered a group of pilgrims from Galilee. People wanted Jesus to explain why God had allowed it to happen.
HOW DOES GOD DECIDE WHO CAN BE KILLED?
Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." (Luke 13:2-3)
This had to be disappointing for those questioning Jesus. They wanted to make sense of the world. They wanted God to have a secret formula that determines who lives and dies, and they wanted Jesus to reveal it to them.
Their focus was on what others do to earn death so they could avoid doing those things. Jesus would have none of that. There is no secret formula, he told them. Just repent of your own sins.
Then he answered a question they had not even asked yet.
HOW DOES GOD DECIDE WHO CAN DIE BY ACCIDENT?
"... Or 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? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (Luke 13:4-5)
Again, Jesus emphatically tells them the sins of these victims were no worse than anyone else's.
There is only one "formula" at work when it comes to life and death, and it is no secret. You will all die unless you repent, Jesus was saying. Concern yourself with that.
This wasn't what they wanted to hear. It isn't what we want to hear, either.
WHAT DOES EACH OF US DESERVE?
As Pastor Josh explained yesterday, we are still trying to figure out God's secret formula. We often have the audacity to think we've cracked it.
"Here in Indiana, we use the language of deserve," Josh said.
In our jealousy of someone else's good fortune, we ask, "What did they do to deserve that?" We want to know what we can do to earn more of God's blessings.
And in our self-righteousness, we secretly take pleasure in the misfortune of others, because it means we're okay. "You get what you deserve," we say.
We still tend to believe that God blesses and punishes people based on how good or bad they are. If we can just keep behaving ourselves, we'll be okay. If we can do really great things to please God, we'll be even better than okay.
"That is not how God's economy works," Josh said. "That is not God's way."
NO ONE CAN MAKE THEMSELVES GOOD
Biblical goodness is not something you can work toward. It has nothing to do with where you live, or what you do for a living, or how many mistakes you make. The Bible teaches that all goodness is God's. He declares us good when we believe in him.
That's it. Believing is all we can do. Believing in God, believing his Word, believing the Gospel. Believing he is the only goodness within us.
When we believe that, we understand how futile it is to look for the good works to copy or the sins to judge in someone else's life. We become no more good by our works. We become no more good by avoiding the sins of others.
None of us can save ourselves from death. Whether by firing squad, freak accident or old age, we are all going to die.
WE SIN WHEN WE TRY TO MAKE OURSELVES GOOD
Repentance is about recognizing all of this.
When we believe all goodness is God's, we repent of our efforts to make ourselves good. We recognize that those efforts were sin all along.
We repent of the sin of striving for worldly fortune at the expense of a relationship with God.
We repent of the sin of judging others at the expense of loving relationships with them.
Jesus desperately wants us to understand this, because if God applied the language of deserve to all of us, we would be surprised to learn just how far we all fall short.
Though our bodies will die, Jesus does not want us to perish. He knows there is only one way for us to have eternal life.
JESUS WANTS TO MAKE US GOOD
This is how Jesus explained how he felt:
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’
“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’” (Luke 13:6-9)
When we obsess over what we're doing that makes us better than others, or how to enhance our own goodness, we are not bearing fruit. God sees us using up the soil of his love for the benefit of no one. By all rights, he should clear us away and make room for others.
Jesus, the Son, pleads for more time on our behalf. He knows that in time we can become fruit bearers. He would do anything to see that we are not cut down.
He would go so far as to allow himself to be cut down.
ALL JESUS ASKS OF US IS TO BELIEVE HIM
The people wanted to know what those Galileans had done to deserve being massacred at the hands of Pontius Pilate. Soon, Jesus's crucifixion would pose a far more challenging question: What if the blameless Son of God is Pilate's next victim?
How does the formula of "getting what we deserve" work now?
What we deserve and what others deserve is not only unknowable, it isn't even how God thinks. It's not how he wants you to think either. He only wants you to believe he is the source of all goodness and repent of your self-righteousness.
Then, you will be like a fruit tree once thought beyond hope. You will nourish those around you. And beyond death, like Jesus, you will have eternal life.