Luke 13:1
Hughes says, "Jesus' teaching heated up when some of his listeners brought up a recent atrocity: "Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices"" (Luke 13:1). As best we can reconstruct the bloodshed, this took place in the temple at Passover, because that was the only time laymen, Galilean or otherwise, were involved in the slaughter of animal sacrifices. So the victims were Galilean pilgrims offering Passover sacrifices in the temple. Evidently Pilate thought they were guilty of sedition and had his soldiers fall upon them when they least expected. In the ensuing melee human blood mixed with lambs' blood in an appalling bouquet.
Everyone knew of the event, but the reason it was mentioned to Jesus is that it was generally believed that victims of calamities and misfortunes were guilty of extraordinary sins that they had kept hidden. A famous example of this kind of thinking is found in John 9:1, 2: "As he [Jesus] went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, 'Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?'" It was obvious to them that the man's misfortune was due to someone's sin. Similarly, Job's "comforters" earned their ironic title by expounding repeatedly on this theme, beginning in Job 4:7 with the question, "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?" (cf. Job 8:4, 20; 22:5; also Exodus 20:5; Psalm 1:4; 37:20).
This was an attractive way to think about life for those who had been spared adversity. Their goodness, their moral superiority, had spared them! It was all so very neat, and so self-satisfying. "Come on, Jesus, expound on the moral inadequacies of those Galileans who met such scandalous deaths, so we can further sanctify our souls."
Jesus refused to play their game. Instead he answered with the ruthless truth, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish" (Luke 12:2, 3). Jesus was not denying that sin sometimes brings tragedy, because it does (cf. Matthew 9:2). But he flatly refused the idea that all tragedy is due to the sins of its victims. In fact, he emphatically answered those who wondered about whose sin caused the man's blindness by saying, "Neither this man nor his parents sinned" (John 9:3a). This speaks to the misguided tendency of so many ill-informed Christians who heap imagined guilt upon themselves for the calamities that have befallen their children or other loved ones. We must accept reality. Death happens. Tragedies come to all. Sometimes unthinkable things befall the most godly and committed.
Jesus strengthened the impact of his point by citing another incident: "Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish" (Luke 12:4, 5). Many believe that the tower stood at the juncture of the south and east walls of Jerusalem and may have fallen during the construction of an aqueduct from the reservoir of Siloam to improve the water supply. Some of Jesus' listeners could have argued that the Galileans had "asked for" such tragedy from Pilate due to their political activity and thus were morally culpable, but no one could say the same about the random deaths from the collapse of the tower of Siloam.
Jesus wanted to be sure he got his point across. "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way" . . . Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them - do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? His answer was emphatic. I tell you, no! I tell you, no! Jesus could not have put it more forcefully. Those who died were run-of-the-mill sinners like the rest of [you].
Jesus assumed and taught the universality of sin, and of death as its consequence. We are all sinners. Sure, there are differences between us sinners, but they are only differences of degree - we all "fall short of the glory of God" (Romans 3:23). We are all guilty. We all deserve death.
When death comes, we will all perish unless we have repented. The context here is the final judgment. Repentance is a much misunderstood word. Some people think repentance is an emotional experience enjoyed by strange people who like to cry in public. This caricature involves well-trained men who lead their fellow Christians to weep and wail their way back to God. There is more to repentance than manipulated or even genuine remorse.
Another well-traveled caricature identifies repentance with the ritual of penance, which begins with an obligatory "confession," followed by the mechanical carrying out of ordered exercises as a means of making restitution or paying the price of our sin in some sense.
Neither of these caricatures are true repentance. Repentance begins with a change of the mind, but not in the contemporary sense of changing one's mind only to change it again. It is a change of mind that brings a change of actions. It is both intellectual and volitional - and then, though not necessarily, emotional. Repentance is a real turnaround of one's life in respect to sinful conduct.
Repentance must happen in our souls, or we will perish in the judgment. If Jesus has not changed your conduct, and if he is not continuing to change your conduct, you are very likely not a Christian. Repentance is the style of true Christianity! Repentance is not an option. See "Repentance: How Sorry Do I Have To Be?" below.
At that time. Not long after Jesus's exhortation about spiritual discernment (12:57-59). They believed they understood the times and gave an example. This incident was well-known at the time, but Luke was the only ancient historian who mentioned the event. Pilate. However, Pilate was notorious for his brutality and massacres. He was especially antagonistic towards the Jewish people. Galileans. Galilean Jews of that time were especially resentful of the Roman oversight of Israel. Pilate saw them as trouble-makers for the peace and security of Rome in the region. Their death may have been intended as a warning to others. blood. This probably took place during Passover, which was the only time non-priests were involved in blood sacrifice. While they were there, Pilate had them killed. Moreover, he blasphemed God by mixing the blood of their sacrifices in worship to God with their own blood.