Re:Verse passage – Luke 13:1-9 (day six)
2 “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? 3 Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God.” Luke 13:2-3
It’s easy to justify ourselves when we compare ourselves to the sin and suffering of others, especially when we imagine their sin must be way worse than our own. It becomes such a slippery slope, with the conclusion that God blesses the more righteous, and curses or judges the less righteous.
This notion has been alive and well from the beginning. It’s why the book of Job was written. Today, we call it the prosperity gospel.
Jesus corrects this kind of thinking quickly by answering the rhetorical question with, “Not at all!” He goes on to say, “It could have just as easily been you.” Well, he didn’t say it just like that, but that is what he meant.
When we compare ourselves to the righteousness of God, rather than one another, his wrath makes complete sense. We are all deserving of his judgment. Then every waking moment is rightly perceived as a gift of God’s mercy, instead of something we believe we somehow earned.
