They deserved disaster?

Sometimes after catastrophic events there will be religious leaders who blame the catastrophe on the allegedly egregious sins of the stricken place and the people who lived there.

As another hurricane pummels the Yucatan and threatens the United States, in the pre-selected Gospel of the day (Luke 13:1-9) our Lord strongly counters such accusations.

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled
with the blood of their sacrifices.

He said to them in reply,
“Do you think
that because these Galileans
suffered in this way
they were greater sinners
than all other Galileans?
By no means!

”But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!

”Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them—
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!

”But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”

It is extremely ill advised to ascribe special moral blame to the victims of disasters.

We are all sinners, deserving of God’s wrath. We need to focus on our need for repentance and the wonderfully abundant grace that God gives us in and through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.