unless you repent

"No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

Luke 13:5

These are the words of Jesus in response to two human tragedies. The first incident was a political evil in which Pilate brutally executed Galilean Jews who had been traveling to the temple to offer sacrifices. The second tragedy was a natural disaster in Jerusalem when a building collapse killed eighteen unsuspecting people.

Jesus' point is that none of those tragedies occurred as an act of God's judgment on "worse sinners". Rather, these things occurred in a sin-cursed environment. No one knows when they will die, yet death is inevitable, and the worst tragedy is to die without repentance of sin. Death's inevitability and its surrounding sorrow should move us to be people who repent of sin.

Oh Lord,

The end of sin is death. But You give eternal life. And in Your grace is a peace that comes in my repentance. And so I want always to have Your gospel to lead me on to repentance. The ongoing response to my sin is a regular, continuous process of repentance so that you can make of this broken life something whole and useful for Your glory.

Amen