Grace and peace to you from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ.

Luke records two incidents that have not been found in any other historical documents. The slaughter of the Galileans in the Temple and the collapse of the tower of Siloam are unknown other than this text. We can piece together a fair idea of the circumstances of each event by what we know about Jerusalem at that time.

The Galileans were at the Temple engaged in sacrifices as required by the Law. For some reason that is not recorded, the Galileans were killed and their blood was mixed with the blood of the sacrificial animals. What we can surmise and fits with other events is that Pilate and Romans in general had a brutal disregard for the people they governed. Death was a constant threat for those that offended the Roman authorities.

Siloam was a pool which formed part of the water supply system for Jerusalem. The tower was probably under construction as a part of the water system or at least in close proximity to the water system. Some suspect that the tower was actually part of the city wall. Jerusalem sets on an active seismic area so it is possible that this event occurred due to an earthquake. Both events seem to be very recent to the time of this account. One event an accident and one an act of evil.

The purpose for recording these two events seems to be entirely an attempt to put some context to the telling of the parable of the fig tree. It certainly was an opportune time to teach a very important lesson about our relationship with God. In the discourse and the parable Jesus teaches that sin is sin in God's eyes. Judging the magnitude of one person's sin versus another is really something of man's making.

Let's go back to our reading from Ezekiel for a moment (Ezekiel 33:7-20).

Ezekiel was a priest at the time of the exile to Babylon. The exile occurred in three waves. In the first wave most of the upper echelon of Judah was either killed or taken to Babylon that included administrators and priests. The time of the reading is after that first wave arrived in Babylon. The priests and administrators taken from Judah were already established and helped resettle the people of the next two waves.

Ezekiel's mission is to begin preaching of restoration to the people. Of course what he encounters are very negative people. The people have suffered a great setback and they assess the situation as God punishing them, even the righteous among them. They say the way of the Lord is not just. But the Lord says to Ezekiel it is their way that is not just He will judge each of them according to their own ways. In essence God is saying all are sinners and all will be judged accordingly.

Jesus is saying the same thing when He asks were those who died greater sinners than anyone else. No they were not. The questioning and accusations leveled at God are just as common today as they were in ancient times. However there was a very strong belief that when terrible things happened it was punishment for the sins of the person or even the parents of the person. In the book of Job, Job's friends accuse him of some great sin to explain why he is allowed to languish in suffering.

I'm not going to attempt to explain or let on that I know why bad things happen. I think we all ask questions like: Why are there wars? Why do people get cancer? Why do people lose their jobs? Why do earthquakes, floods, and weather hurt and kill people? Why…Why.

If I were to venture a guess it's because this world is sinful. In the beginning there was no sickness, no death, and no hunger until Adam turned away from God. I think God was saying to Ezekiel that the way of man is unjust. Jesus echoes that statement stating that none of those who died either by sword or accident was any greater a sinner than anyone else. They died because there is sin and all are sinners. All sickness, death, and discord are due to a fallen world.

When suffering occurs it's easy to say that God brought about the situation. Is that really what happens though? God does have control over all things so what can we say about suffering. If we look to John 9:1-3 we read:

As he 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?" "Neither this man nor his parents sinned," said Jesus, "but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life.

God doesn't want His children to suffer. If turn to 2 Peter 3:9 we read:

The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.

Isn't that what we are hearing in the parable? The caretaker of the vineyard asks the owner to be patient and not chop down the tree immediately.

How patient God must be with us. He does not send bad things our way as a means of punishment. He does wait for us to look to Him for help.

Unfortunately we often invite trouble by turning away from God. He is certainly willing to intervene on our behalf when we repent.

Scripture is full of times that God intervened on the behalf of His people. If I were to pick just one event that was a spectacular intervention other than the passion, I would turn to 2 Kings 19. Jerusalem is surrounded by the Assyrian army. The end of Judah, the southern kingdom, is at hand. Hezekiah, the king, was a good king that tried to bring the Israelites back to the worship of the one true God. Hezekiah prayed to God for a reprieve from the impending onslaught. Through Isaiah God informed Hezekiah his prayers were heard and the kingdom would be spared. That night an angel of the Lord killed 185,000 in the Assyrian camp. The remainder of the army fled in panic.

We have all heard of accounts even in modern times where prayer has led to the intervention of God to save His people.

How often have we turned away? Our priorities are not God's priorities. Yet he has patience with us. He waits for us to see our error and come back to Him.

He knew that we could not overcome the sin of this world on our own. The old sacrificial system was not enough. A greater sacrifice was required one that would be the final atonement for all time. The last blood to be spilled for the salvation of this world, His only Son Jesus Christ.

As we approached the celebration of Easter lets not forget the unimaginable price paid to gather us to His kingdom. Let's not forget the patience He has for each of His wayward children. Most of all lets not forget that He is willing to accept each of us no matter what our past holds because He has paid the final price for each of us. We are His children He loves us beyond all human understanding.

In the name of our risen Lord and savior Jesus Christ, Amen.