"Why Does God Allow Pain and Suffering?" (Luke 13:1-9)

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Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

“There were some present at the very time who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And [Jesus] answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?’” (Luke 13:1-2).

 

Today’s Gospel lesson from Luke 13 appears like news ripped from the headlines. 

 

A group of unnamed people approach Jesus with the question: “Jesus, did you hear? Pilate had all those pious Galileans killed? They came to offer godly sacrifices at the temple. Jesus, why did this happen?”

 

In other words: “Why did this bad thing happen to such good Galileans?”

 

The question they are asking or the answer they want from Jesus is “why.” Why did these terrible things happen? What did they do to deserve it?

 

First, a little background. If you recall, the histories of the northern and southern regions of Israel were such that it could be assumed that God was punishing the Galileans. Afterall, Galilee had a longer and more pronounced history of apostasy as most abandoned the one true God. So, could God have been punishing them? Did they have this coming to them? Did they deserve it?

 

It appears that these Galileans came to Jerusalem for the Passover Seder. They appeared to be pious Jews. So, did they truly deserve what was coming to them?

 

Now, the mixing of the blood of the Galileans with their sacrifices at the temple was a heinous crime. Pilate violated all holiness codes by sending his troops into the courtyard of the temple to murder Galilean Jews while they were slaughtering their lambs for the Passover Seder. Pilate supervised this heinous act. And the mingling of the Galilean’s blood with the lambs’ blood would then constitute a mockery of the Jewish religion.

 

So, why did these terrible things happen to these good people who were just doing what God had commanded them to do? If God cannot protect His people in His temple, then where can God protect His people? To this, Jesus offers no comfort.

 

In fact, Jesus adds some other news ripped from the headlines: “What about those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them? Were they worse offenders than all the others in Jerusalem?”

 

So, not only do bad things happen to good people, but also to innocent people, who were just minding their own business, living their lives, while a tower falls on them. This is so unnecessary! Why did this have to happen?

 

We, too, have the same headlines with the same question: Why did this have to happen? Terrorists take over an airplane filled with innocent people. An earthquake destroys a city. A tornado flattens a town. A train derails and spills chemicals into a river, which threatens the lives of innocent people. Airplanes collide in midair. Wildfires destroy a city. A child is hit by a stray bullet and dies. An invisible virus spreads across the globe. A person is diagnosed with lung cancer who has never smoked a cigarette his entire life. Why? Why do innocent people suffer and die? 

 

Couldn’t God prevent this? Why does God allow pain and suffering and death? This question has been asked in many ways and at many times. And we have attempted to answer this question. We have tried to make sense of the why.

 

For the people who approached Jesus, they appear to have interpreted the Galileans’ blood mingled with their sacrifices to mean that they deserved it. “They deserved it because they were not good Jews. They had it coming! Certainly, God rewards good behavior and punishes bad behavior!”

 

We, too, try to interpret both natural and human disasters. Just think about earthquakes, wildfires and mudslides in California. For many Christians, they say, “They must have deserved it. They had it coming, because of their sin!” Even secular minded people play this game of why by saying that it’s man-made climate change that is causing hurricanes, tornadoes and droughts. We all – the religious and the secular – get excited about interpreting the events of our times.

 

All we can do is to come up with theories on why God allows bad things. As if we can fathom His mind. But you may notice, Jesus does not respond this way. Jesus doesn’t come up with theories. Instead, He puts the question back on them and on us.

He says, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (Luke 13:3). Jesus doesn’t linger on why these Galileans met such a violent fate. He does not address Pilate’s wickedness and cruelty. Instead, Jesus continues to address the crowd and uses this tragedy as an illustration for their need to repent.

 

Jesus says that these particular events – the slaughtering of the Galileans at the temple and those who died in the rubble of the tower in Siloam – are not signs of God’s judgment on individuals, but of His wrath against all of sinful mankind. No one is a worse sinner than another, but all have sinned. The Psalmist writes: “The Lord looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:2-3).

 

We were all born into a creation that is broken, decaying, and falling apart. We were all born as creatures who are stained and corrupted and weakening day by day. We are all helpless. And we cannot get out of it. The problem for sinful humanity is that we owe a larger debt than we can ever repay. On our own, we cannot put things right. We will all suffer. And we will all die.

 

But it is here, in our helplessness, that God gives His response. It is in our weakness that God comes. 

 

John the Baptist called on all his hearers to repent of their sins and receive his baptism of repentance (Luke 3:3). He called his hearers to bear fruits of repentance (Luke 3:8), and he said that every tree that does not bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown into the fire (Luke 3:9). Does this sound familiar? This is exactly what Jesus is saying in the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.

 

Jesus is no less urgent! He calls on all to repent lest we perish in sin as the Galileans and the 18 who were crushed by the tower in Siloam.

 

Repentance includes sorrow for sin and trust in the One who brings forgiveness and release. And for humanity to be rescued, it is necessary for Jesus, the Rejected Prophet, to perish in Jerusalem (Luke 13:33).

 

So, we must repent! In the face of death, which is the wages of sin, repentance is Jesus’ solution. And repentance isn’t just doing a little bit better than we used to. God doesn’t just want us to be a little better. He wants us perfect, just as He is perfect.

 

Our suffering is connected to sin ultimately in Adam, whose sin precipitated all human suffering. But a son of Adam – the Son of Man, who is also the Son of God, brings forgiveness and the promise of release from all who suffer the effects of sin. So, for us and for our salvation, Jesus will perish on behalf of all humankind, including for those Galileans whose blood was mingled with their sacrifices and those who were crushed by the tower in Siloam.

 

In the face of death, turn to Jesus, who alone is life. We only have hope in Him, for He alone has conquered sin and its power. By His own death, He conquered death for you and me.

 

So, let us repent as Jesus calls us to do saying, “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel” (Mark 1:15).

 

Again, for Jesus, any tragedy should not be seen as a sign of God’s judgment on specific people for specific sins, but as a sign of His judgment for all people. Jesus does not call us to speculation, but to contrition, repentance and faith. For He says: “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”(Luke 13:3, 5).

 

So, the Christian is never to think when analyzing the headlines, “they must have deserved it,” but rather, “I deserved the same,” yet also, we are to always thank God that Jesus perished on your behalf, and rose again three days later, so that you would not perish eternally! Amen!

 

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding,

 keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.  

+ SOLI DEO GLORIA +

Sermon for the Baptism of Our Lord: "The Best News of All" (Luke 3:15-22)

 

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! Amen! 

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

[Intro]

We have all heard this saying: “The only news is bad news.” It is likely that you have said the same sentiment. Each time we open a newspaper, turn on the television news, or read the news online, we see a “crisis” in every headline or lede. Each day, we learn of the newly discovered ways that we are going to die: through war, crime, weather, terrorist attacks, the food we eat, the medicines we ingest or inject, and on and on.

We like to blame the news industry for holding back the good news. We like to imagine that there is a grumpy editor who uses his power to rain woe, grief, and despair on us all. But the thing is, the news publishes and broadcasts bad news, because it sells. As a former journalist, I know this to be true. If the news business thought a story about Sally getting a pony on her birthday would bring in revenue, they would publish it above the fold on page one or as the leading story on the evening news.

You see, the news business gives us what our old Adam – our old sinful nature – wants. Our sinful nature actually enjoys news about death, war, and famine. We want to read the stories that reveal the sickness of human nature first, and that’s why it’s always the top story. We revel in sickness, disaster, and death.

Ever since sin was unleased, man’s evil state has never changed. The Psalmist David wrote: “The LORD looks down from heaven on the children of man, to see if there are any who understand, who seek after God. They have all turned aside; together they have become corrupt; there is none who does good, not even one” (Psalm 14:2-3).

You see, on our own, we can’t change our evil and sinful condition. This is because the enduring reality of our existence is that we are sinful. Though sin is not part of the very essence of being human, it is the situation we find ourselves in for all of us who were born after the Fall with original sin – the sin we inherited from Adam and Eve. Because of this, we are sinful from the moment we first exist as human beings. Sin is in the air we breathe. We are attracted to sin. We can never escape sin in this life.

Due to sin, we live in a natural state of unbelief as we do not trust in the One true God. Due to sin, we have hardened hearts as we live in absolute rebellion against God. Due to sin, we have a stricken conscience as the Law was written on our hearts and our hearts know we’ve violated it. Due to sin, we are helpless. Due to sin, we are either left in despair – if we know our situation – or pride – if we don’t.

But when we realize the full extent of our rebellion against God, it is God’s Law doing the work. It is then that we realize that we can do nothing about our situation. Left on our own, due to sin, we get what we deserve, that is, eternal death. This is certainly bad news, but is it really news if we know in advance?

This is the situation that Jesus enters. This is what brought Jesus down from heaven. This is what caused God to become man. This is what brought Jesus to get in line to be baptized by John. John was calling sinners to repentance. He was boldly confronting people with the truth: they were sinners who needed help and rescue. They were sinners who needed to repent. But all of this seems rather strange. Why would Jesus, who knew no sin, need to be Baptized? Well, He made Himself to be a sinner, so that in our Baptism, we could be saved from sin’s power so that He might make us clean saints.

Today on this Baptism of Our Lord Sunday, the Triune God proclaims the best news of all – that through the obedience of Jesus – He has opened heaven to all the faithful through our Baptism into Christ!

[While Jesus was Praying]

Oddly enough, in Luke’s telling of this salvation event, Luke’s gospel does not focus on John the Baptist, nor does this gospel focus on the actual Baptism of Jesus. Instead, the focus is on what happened after Jesus was Baptized, while He was praying.

As Jesus was praying, “the heavens were opened, and the Holy Spirit descended on Him in bodily form, like a dove; and a voice came from heaven, ‘You are My beloved Son; with you I am well pleased’” (Luke 3:21-22). What a sight and what a sound! Here, we have the entire Godhead revealed as heaven opened to declare that Jesus is the Son chosen to accomplish the messianic work of salvation.

Here, Jesus is named as the Christ, the anointed One, who has come to give sinful humanity – this same humanity that doesn’t seek after God and is utterly corrupt – salvation from the powers of sin, death, and the devil!

As God the Father spoke, “You are My beloved Son; with you I am well pleased” (Luke 3:22), it would be remissed not to see the sacrificial overtones in Jesus’ Baptism. Recall, God testing Abraham when He said, “Take your son, your only son Isaac, whom you love … and offer him there as a burnt offering” (Genesis 22:2). But unlike Isaac, who was spared, God the Father would not spare His own beloved Son.

Here, at His Baptism, as God the Father puts His seal of approval upon Him, Jesus takes our place by becoming a poor, miserable sinner as He submits to a Baptism of repentance. Through a sinner’s baptism, Jesus who knew no sin of His own, now takes humanity’s place to receive the wrath against sin that we all deserve.

From this moment, Jesus stands in solidarity with sinful humanity. He gives all sinners hope! He, therefore, stands for us under the wrath of God, the wrath that will culminate in a Baptism with fire with His bloody Baptism in His crucifixion for the sins of the world.

[Becoming a Child of God through Baptism]

In being Baptized, we experience a change! Outside the Church and to the unbelieving world, Baptism is just a mere bath. Nothing more. Nothing less. But as we know, Baptism is so much more.

We know that Baptism is a bath that is different from any other bath, since in Baptism, the water is combined with God’s Word. This water also puts God’s name on us as the pastor pours water upon the one to be baptized as he says, “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” At that moment, although we can’t see it, the heavens open as God says, “This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

Instead of washing away dirt, like a normal bath, Baptism washes away sin and replaces it with a new birth as a child of God. Baptism gives faith, and through that faith, Baptism delivers the forgiveness that Christ won for us on the cross.

Baptism changes everything! At one time, we were all dead to sin and doomed to eternal torment, because of our sinful nature. But through Baptism into Christ Jesus, God comes to us brining the best news of all since we were buried with Christ by our Baptism into death, so that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life as God’s beloved child (Romans 6:4).

So, what do we do in this newness of life? Well, we remember our Baptism with the words “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” – the trinitarian invocation. When we use those words of God’s Name, we recall and confess before heaven, earth, and hell that our identity is in Christ and that in Baptism we receive: victory over death and the devil, forgiveness of sins, God’s grace, the entire Christ, and the Holy Spirit with His gifts.

Now that we are baptized into Christ, shall we “continue in sin” like the unbelieving world “that grace may abound?” (Romans 6:1) “By no means!” says the Apostle Paul. As Christians, we are to reject the notion that we should ignore God’s will and deliberately sin, knowing that He will forgive. Instead, we live in repentance and faith in the Triune God, who made us His beloved child. We do this when we trust in God above all things and treat our neighbor – everyone we meet in our daily life – as we would like to be treated. And when we fail by not living the Christian life of repentance and faith, we ask God and our neighbor for forgiveness.

Even if we may find it difficult to forgive and forget others, God does that very act! He forgives and forgets as that sin is completely wiped away and He says: “This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.”

Imagine there was a doctor who said he could save people from death, or even if the person died, the doctor said he could restore them to life and live forever. I’m sure this doctor would soon be wealthy beyond our imagination as people would flock to him. But the thing is, we have this great gift already! In Baptism, everyone receives this good news of eternal life. You see, through Baptism and faith as we live a life of repentance, we receive the medicine that utterly destroys death and preserves all people alive.

All this happened since through our Baptism into Christ, we are linked to Christ’s Baptism by John and linked to Christ’s bloody baptism as He hung on the cross. Through Baptism and faith in Christ, our condition has changed, since He took upon Himself our dirty sin and replaced it with His righteousness, so that He could make us clean saints!

We will still read and watch the bad news around us, but through Holy Baptism, we have received the best news of all that through Christ, heaven is open to you and me, since our sin is forgiven! Now set free from sin, we are now alive to God in Christ Jesus!

Our condition has changed! Because of this, God the Father now says of everyone who is baptized and trusts in His Son: “This is My beloved child, in whom I am well pleased.” Amen.

The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, keep you hearts and minds in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.

T SOLI DEO GLORIA T