I’m okay; are you?: Luke 13.1–5 (Day 333)

Pray

Lord, thank you for your word. Help me to listen. Help me to trust. Help me to act.

Read

1 Chronicles 26–27 2 Peter 1 Micah 4 Luke 13

Daily reflection: Luke 13

In a rapidly shifting world, calls for strong leadership have been on the increase and, in some cases, they’re altering the political landscape beyond recognition. The issue is, what if the strong leader you called for begins to turn on you, and the democratic control of political power is no longer there to protect you?

Back in Jesus’s day, authoritarian rule was the only show in town. Governor Pontius Pilate didn’t bat an eyelid at massacring some Galileans who may have been political rebels causing disruption during a festival in Jerusalem. Note that if today’s passage does indeed allude to political protest, Jesus does not condemn it. Nor does he, a few verses further on, shy away from calling Herod Antipas, the ruler of Galilee and Transjordan, a fox (verse 31).

The fatal incident at the tower of Siloam may relate to the building of an aqueduct in Jerusalem using funds the Romans had appropriated from the temple. If so, then the 18 victims may have been workers whom the religious leaders would have considered deserving of God’s judgment.

Jesus challenges not those outside polite religious society, but those within. Warning them not to think of themselves as immune from God’s wrath, he goes on to tell a parable of a tree – a common biblical symbol of Israel – which fails to bear fruit. ‘If the tree bears figs next year, so much the better; if not, then you can cut it down’ (verse 9). In other words, people who think they have God on their side and no need to examine themselves are in trouble.

Pray

Lord, help me not to look down on others, but to recognise my own failings and rely on your grace at all times.