The teaching on judgment that ended Chapter 12 leads to a discussion as to why tragedies occur and if God uses them to punish the unrighteous.  Jesus explains to His listeners that bad things don’t only happen to deserving people but they are a reminder that life is unpredictable, and judgment is certain.  The lesson of tragedies isn’t that those who are alive must be more righteous than those who died; the lesson is that everyone should prepare now because death is coming and all will stand before the eternal Judge.  For those who live, they live because of the mercy and patience of God who allows time for repentance.  That time, however, doesn’t last forever.

Something interesting about this passage is that the discussion opens the door for Jesus to address the age-old question: why do bad things happen to good people?  Frustratingly, perhaps, He doesn’t address it.  It leads us to understand that He’s much more interested in people living in light of the randomness of tragedy than He is in explaining it.

1-5
Jesus has just finished talking about judgment and it causes some people in the crowd to tell Him about a tragic event that apparently occurred recently in Jerusalem.  Pilate – the Roman government official over Judea – killed some Galileans who were offering sacrifices in the temple (whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices).  There is no record of this event anywhere else in the Bible, so there’s no way to know anything about it other than what’s in this verse.  The details must be horrific, however, as it apparently means Pilate killed worshipping Jews IN the temple.

Jesus responds in a way that’s likely not at all what the people expect.  His response, however, does tell us what the people likely intend by telling Him about the tragedy.  They assume that the Galileans were judged.  Bad things like this are a sign of God’s judgment, so the Galileans apparently deserved what happened.  They did something so bad that God judged them through Pilate’s actions.

What Jesus says disabuses them of this kind of thinking.  He tells them that the Galileans who died weren’t any more sinful than any other Galilean.  They didn’t die because God judged them for their sin (He leaves open why they DID die).  The lesson people should thus take from the tragedy is that everyone is going to die at some point (you will all likewise perish doesn’t mean they’ll die in the same way as the Galileans; it simply means they will all die), so they must repent now before death comes.

He goes on to cite another example to make His point: eighteen people recently died when a tower in Siloam fell on them (this apparently was big enough news that He assumes everyone listening to Him knows about it).  Here again, there is no record of this event anywhere else in the Bible.  Unlike the incident with Pilate, this one is truly random and can be attributed wholly to an act of God (it also presumably happened to Judeans which means that if the people thought there was something inherently sinful in the Galileans, this example argues the same thing could be true of all Jews).  Jesus, though, says the same thing about it that He said of the Galileans.  The people who died weren’t any more sinful than anyone else in Jerusalem.  The lesson, again, is that life can end at any time and people must repent now so as not to be judged later.

Implicit in the people’s thinking – and why they brought up the Galileans – is that since they are alive while others died tragically, it means they’re more righteous than those who died.  If bad things only happen to bad people, then the people that bad things don’t happen to must be okay.  If tragedies are signs of God’s judgment, then those who aren’t affected by tragedies must be free of judgment and doing okay.  This is what Jesus contradicts (and likely shocks His listeners by so doing).

Several things are interesting about Jesus’ response.  One – He doesn’t say anything about the evil of Pilate or Rome.  What Pilate did was despicable and horrific and Jesus says nothing about him (which likely disappoints His listeners – a story like this is meant to get a rise out of a Jewish listener who hates Rome and everything about it).  Two – He says nothing about why these kinds of events occur.  If the Galileans and the people by the Siloam tower weren’t judged, why did God allow them to die?  Said another way, why do bad things happen to good people?  This seems like the perfect opportunity for Jesus to explain a huge question like this and He doesn’t address it at all.  Three – Jesus discusses these events knowing that He will eventually suffer an unjust death at Pilate’s hands too.  When He corrects His listeners regarding their wrong assumptions about sin and judgment, He does so knowing that He’ll be the ultimate example of what He explains.

As frustrating as it is that Jesus says nothing about the randomness of tragic events, it points to His greater intent.  He frankly has much bigger fish to fry than explaining the unexplainable to finite humans.  The lesson He wants to get across is the importance of living urgently.  He wants the people to stop worrying about why bad things occur and instead accept that they do and that life is fragile and unpredictable.  The time to repent is now; the time to live for Christ is now.  What’s important is that we’re ready to face the eternal Judge once our life here is done.  When that will be we don’t know, so make sure to be ready NOW.

6-9
The discussion of eternal judgment leads to a parable.  Jesus tells of a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit for three years.  The owner of the vineyard where the tree is planted orders his vinedresser to cut the tree down.  There’s no reason to keep maintaining a tree that doesn’t bear fruit and just takes up space and robs the ground of nutrients that could be used for other plants.  The vinedresser, however, asks the owner to be patient for one more year.  He wants to dig around the tree and add fertilizer to it and see if perhaps it will bear fruit after one more year.  If it does, then everyone will be happy.  If it doesn’t, then the owner can cut it down. Interestingly, the parable ends with no resolution.  Whether the tree eventually bears fruit is left as an unknown.

While at first the parable seems a little random, it illustrates what Jesus just said about living urgently.  The owner of the vineyard is God.  The vinedresser could be Jesus or perhaps the Holy Spirit or could even be someone who spreads the gospel on earth.  The fig tree is the unrepentant individual (or Israel – the fig tree oftentimes represents Israel in Old Testament prophecy).

The lesson of the parable is that the one who doesn’t repent – who doesn’t bear fruit – is always in imminent danger of being cut down and destroyed.  Life is short and unpredictable.  For those who live and yet don’t bear fruit, they live because of the mercy of God, not because they’re worthy or righteous.  And God’s mercy isn’t everlasting.  There will come a day when the patience of the landowner runs out, and the tree is cut down.  The time to repent, therefore, is now.

Thoughts
The same thread runs through all these verses.  Live urgently.  Life is unpredictable and we never know when it will end.  Since that’s the case, and since death and judgment are certain, we must live urgently.  The time to repent is now; the time to live for Jesus is now.  The wise man doesn’t put off belief or living righteously to a tomorrow that’s not guaranteed.  We’re only guaranteed to someday stand before the eternal Judge.  With that in mind, the unrepentant must repent today and the repentant must live for Christ today.

The enemy continually whispers to the unrepentant and even to the believer that there’s time.  No need to do today what you can put off until tomorrow.  He either tells us we’re young and therefore have lots of time or he convinces us that even in our older years death won’t happen today.  It’s like the parable of the workers in the field – the ones who start work one hour before sundown get the same wages as the ones who start at dawn.  That being the case, we don’t need to worry about entering the field until it’s closer to sundown – and that’s not for a long time.

Jesus explains how unwise that kind of thinking is.  We don’t know the length of our life, we don’t know the circumstances of our death, and it’s foolish to live as if we do.  And the fact that we’re still alive has NOTHING to do with our righteousness or worthiness.  We stand purely by the mercy and patience of God and that patience isn’t meant to lull us into a false sense of security; it’s meant to lead us to repentance.  Peter teaches us this very truth: But do not overlook this one fact, beloved, that with the Lord one day is as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance (II Pet 3:8-9).  Paul makes the same point more forcefully in Romans: Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God ‘s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God ‘s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury (Rom 2:4-8).

We must live every day with the expectation of standing before our Creator.  We don’t have tomorrow; we only have today.

One more thought to pursue as perhaps an aside.  As we mentioned in the notes, it’s interesting that Jesus says nothing about why the tragic events occurred.  If the people who died didn’t die because of judgment, then why did they die?  He doesn’t address this in these verses and really, He never addresses it at all at any time.  The message presumably is that we shouldn’t worry about it and simply accept that we live in a fallen world and bad things happen, but we’ll someday live in a world where they don’t.  Eternity will ultimately right all the wrongs.

On this note, however, there IS one book in the Bible that DOES deal with this issue.  The book of Job is all about why bad things happen to good people.  Or said another (more theologically precise) way; why do bad things happen to people who aren’t being judged?  There isn’t space to go through the whole book here, but a quick overview of the book and its lessons can be helpful. 

The story of Job is fairly well known.  Because of a cosmic bet between God and Satan, Job loses his children, his wealth, and his health all within a very short time.  After an emotional outburst and a back and forth with his wife (who, interestingly enough, God leaves alive), Job settles in to deal with his misery and loss.  As he sits in his misery and physical suffering, his friends come over and begin to argue that his immense suffering must be the result of God’s judgment and Job therefore must repent of his sins (the same logic that Jesus’ listeners use to explain the deaths of the Galileans).  Job maintains his innocence and claims that he’s guilty of no sin that deserves judgment.  He also, however, demands answers from God.  He refuses to give in to the faulty theology of his friends, but he DOES wonder where God is and claims that God owes him an explanation for all that God’s done to Job.

After a long back and forth with the friends, God finally shows up.  When He does, He doesn’t explain anything to Job.  He instead shows Job the gap between who Job is and what he can comprehend with who and what God is.  God explains in grand detail that the gap is so large between God and Job that God could never make Job understand all that God does.  He also makes it abundantly clear that He owes Job nothing.  In the end, the answer God essentially gives Job is, “I’m God and I’m the answer.  I don’t need to nor will I explain everything to you and you could never understand it if I did; what you need to do is walk with Me by faith, not walk on your own by sight.”

That same answer dovetails with Jesus’ response to His listeners here.  He can’t explain the infinite to the finite, so He doesn’t try.  The much bigger issue is repentance and salvation.  We can’t explain God, and we can’t explain all His actions in a fallen world.  What we can do is trust Him and spread His gospel.  What’s important is to be spiritually ready for the disasters and tragedies that are part of a fallen world, not be intellectually ready to explain the disasters and tragedies that are part of a fallen world.

One more lesson from Job that’s critical to understand.  Throughout the book Job complains about the absence of God.  His friends show up with their faulty theology, but God is nowhere to be found.  Job repeatedly wonders why God doesn’t show up to explain Himself.  When God DOES show up, He makes it clear that He was with Job the whole time.  Job didn’t realize it, but God never left him.  That same lesson applies to all God’s children today.  We oftentimes don’t understand why difficult times come but we can be confident that the God who oversees them will always go through them with us.  We may be confused or discouraged, but we’re never alone.  And the One who’s with us LOVES us and works all things for His good purposes.

And that’s the final lesson.  Knowing God is the key to living through trials.  God’s children must never lose sight of three truths about their Father in heaven.  One – He’s good and can do nothing that isn’t good.  That means everything that happens to us is meant for good whether we understand it or not.  Two – He’s sovereign and nothing is outside His control.  Three – He loves us.  Everything that happens comes from a source of love so far beyond our comprehension we’ll spend eternity trying to know it.