Luke 13:1-9
Last week a gunman entered a small church in Texas and killed 20 people and injured others. There have been other mass shootings this year too, in churches as well as at main stream events.
Pilate would sometimes send soldiers to break up protests and sometimes it got out of hand, ending death. We don’t know for sure that's what happened here, but it seems likely.
We do not have to speculate what Jesus would say. Luke tells us about a time when Jesus received a report that people had been killed in a place of worship. Jesus also mentioned a group of 18 people who had died in an accident or natural disaster. His response about both events was the same:
Unless you repent, you too will all perish. … Jesus refuses to make it all political. He simply uses it to call others to repentance. Jesus also implies that the deaths were not judgment from God. Jesus doesn’t let us assume that natural disasters or accidents or any death is part of God’s judgment. He lets us know that it could have been us.
The term “perish” here means both physical and spiritual death. These deaths were introduced when Adam and Eve first sinned. John 3:16; 10:28; 11:25 all tell us Jesus came to give us a chance at not perishing. Not perishing means we will still have a physical death, but we won’t suffer a spiritual death. Matthew 10:28 reiterates the idea of two deaths, the physical and the spiritual.
“Repent” means to turn from your sinful ways. In Luke 13:5 we see Jesus tell us that repentance is key to salvation. He has also said similar things of believing. The two concepts are just two sides of the same coin. Believing and repenting go hand in hand.
Then Jesus tells a parable about a fruitless fig tree. For three years it beared no fruit and was in danger of being cut down. The keeper begged the owner for one more year and was granted it as a last chance for the tree. God gives second chances, but eventually there is a last chance.
2 Peter 3:9 Tells us why Jesus waits to return. He’s giving us ample opportunity to repent and turn to him.