Live your theology.

There is an anecdote regarding John Newton, famous writer of ‘Amazing Grace’, wherein he mentioned in company the death of a lady. A young woman who sat opposite immediately said, “O sir, how did she die?”

Newton replied, “There is a more important question than that, my dear, which you should have asked first.”

“Sir,” she said, “what question can be more important than ‘How did she die?’”

“How did she live?” was Mr. Newton’s answer.

It seemed to me safe to say that most people would agree with this statement by John Newton. “Too true” are the lyrics sung by a chorus of Christians, atheists, hedonists, and every other sort of individual. It’s only when the follow up questions are asked that you’ll begin to see that the reasons for our assent to John Newton’s question of “How did she live?”

If you’ve ever been in a situation where you hear about the untimely death of a person you didn’t know, one of the first things that might pop into your head, or at least does in mine, is the question of whether or not the person was a Christian. And so, after waiting your turn with the rest of the world to express your condolences, you ask, perhaps sheepishly “were they saved?”

“Were they saved!?” is often the bellowing reply you receive from those outside of faith. The severity of the rebuke may be the reason why the question at hand is so often asked meagerly. “What sort of question is that in a time like this? Hadn’t you ought to ask if the person had done all they wanted to do in life? Isn’t the real question whether or not they empowered themselves, had their existential moment confirming their existence, or simply lived a ‘good’ life? Was she saved? What kind of a question is that?”

The reality is that it’s the only question truly worth knowing the answer to. We have no avenue of helping someone whose life has passed. The finality of death leaves us to ponder the question of someone’s salvation above anything else. Speaking of death George Swinnock says “Against this arrest there is no bail.”

The text I’ll be speaking from tonight comes from the Gospel of Luke 13:1-5:

“1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

We have in this section of scripture something unique. Luke is the only gospel writer to record the incident. I’d like to look at a few things about this passage and I think doing so will serve to supply us with a practical method for handling those awkward situations where we are called upon to speak to the realities of death and evil in this world.

Jumping right in – 1There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

Chapter 12 tells us that Jesus was speaking to large crowds about various things. He had already warned them about the leaven of the Pharisees, given them the parable of the rich fool who died the very night he felt he had secured enough goods for his happiness, the admonition not to worry and to consider the birds of the air and the flowers of the field which God provides for. He spoke to the fact that they must be ready for their master’s return, that he came not to bring peace but a sword, that his hearer’s were able to determine the signs of the weather but not the signs of the time, and the urgency they should feel to settle with their accusers.

Following all of this some present came forth and told Jesus that a some Galileans (perhaps only a few – there are not corroborating accounts from the other gospels nor secular historians such as Josephus) were killed by Roman soldiers under Pilate’s authority and had their blood mingled with their sacrifices.

There is much conjecture and speculation as to why this happened. Matthew Henry says “Some think that these Galileans were of the faction of Judas Gaulonita, called also Judas of Galilee (Acts v. 37), who disowned Cæsar’s authority and refused to pay tribute to him: or perhaps these, being Galileans, were only suspected by Pilate to be of that faction, and barbarously murdered, because those who were in league with that pretender were out of his reach. The Galileans being Herod’s subjects, it is probable that this outrage committed upon them by Pilate occasioned the quarrel that was between Herod and Pilate, which we read of in Luke 23:12 -And Herod and Pilate became friends with each other that very day, for before this they had been at enmity with each other…

Here stands Christ, who was to become the reason for Herod & Pilate to kiss & make up, listening to the account of this abominable act. We can gather from the fact that verse 1 says ‘at that very time’ that the messengers offered this message to Jesus in front of the crowd for all to hear.

Some have speculated that these informants were making conversation or telling Jesus something they imagined he might wish to know – “Jesus, you’re from Galilee, right? Did you hear about those Galileans and the Roman soldiers…”. It’s an odd thought, but we know from our own experiences that conversation is born and sustained much more freely with bad news rather than good. We ourselves much more likely to begin small talk by asking if someone heard about the latest scandal or tragedy, rather than if they had heard the good news, aren’t we?

Whatever their reason for bringing the subject up, their thought process seemed to be very common during the time. The people were asking Jesus to give some sort of account of this tragedy and Jesus says “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” If you turn in your bibles one gospel to the right, in John 9:1-3 – “As he passed by, he saw a man blind from birth. And his disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was not that this man sinned, or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

We see that in Jesus’ day the consensus question asked when something bad happened to someone is “what sin did they commit?” What did that fellow have to do to end up like that? We see it in the counsel of Job’s friends, among the disciples, and apparently in the thoughts of those communicating the news of the Galilean’s death to Christ.

Christ was being asked to give an account for the victim’s deaths relative to their sins 2000 years ago and today He’s being asked to give an account for his part in any tragic occurrence. “What sin did they do to bring this about?” has given way to questions such as “If God’s so loving, why does he allow such things to happen? Give an account, if you can.”

In both instances there is an agenda. One is to glorify self, even if unconsciously, by being able to reason “That happened to this person because they are a sinner. Such a thing hasn’t happened to me so I can take pride/ease in the fact that I am not a sinner.” The other is to accuse God of supposed crimes against humanity, to be his judge, and passing a favorable judgment to retreat back to a life of rebellion against Him. Ignoring his Word.