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Mingled Blood and a Falling Tower

by Jerry Ousley  
7/15/2011 / Christian Living


Some people are very squeamish when it comes to blood. We all have a line if crossed will result in our reaction. For instance, when it comes to blood, I can take my own bleeding fairly well. In fact there have been times when I'd be bleeding quite a bit. It didn't seem to bother me however, because, I suppose, I still felt that I was in control. But years ago at a certain place where I was the office administrator, a worker was rushed in bleeding profusely. His finger had been cut off in a machine. I couldn't handle it, felt myself growing faint and had to get someone else to help him. Isn't that weird? You'd think it would be the other way around; that I'd grow faint at the sight of myself bleeding.

I'm funny; I can see blood on TV and in the movies and it doesn't seem to bother me at all, perhaps because I know that it isn't real; but when another person is bleeding in real life my stomach gets weak and my head light. I've got to turn my face or get out of the room or you'd see a fat guy bouncing off the floor!

In Luke 13:1-5 Jesus talked about two tragic incidents. We need to be reminded that during His time (and in a lot of ways still in our time) when someone met an ill fate or suffered in an accident the belief was that they were being punished by God for some secret sin. The passage says, "There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.'" Jesus spoke of two contemporary items of news. There's nowhere else you can read about these two events, yet that doesn't make them invalid. Tragedy strikes every day somewhere in some town or city. They may make the local newspapers but they aren't recorded in the history books.

In the first incident it seems that two men from Galilee were offering sacrifices in the temple. Apparently they were wanted men for one reason or another. Maybe they were even then offering sacrifices for the very crimes they had committed. Pilate had them killed and it is evident that it was in the temple because their blood was splattered and mixed with the blood of their sacrifice on the altar A horrible thing to happen to a Jew.

In the second incident the Jews had built a tower over or around a river that flowed in Jerusalem known as Siloam. Whether it wasn't built strong enough or what, the tower fell and eighteen people were killed by the tumbling debris.

Jesus asked the question in reference to both occasions, "Do you think that these folks were sinners above all the others in their areas?" Then He answered His own question by saying, "I tell you no; but unless you repent you will all perish in a like manner." He was telling them that their sin wasn't the reason for their untimely deaths. They were victims of accidents just like any of us could be today. We could be walking through the woods and be bitten by a poisonous serpent, or walking along a road and be hit by an automobile. Any number of things that would be labeled as an accident could occur at any time to any of us. What Jesus was telling the folk of His day was that they should repent and be ready just in case. And that same advice holds true for us today.

We don't know if or when tragedy will strike us or a loved one. We hope it never happens to us but it could. Many of you know of people to which it has happened. Maybe you've lost a loved one in a horrible accident. It doesn't mean that they were sinners and God was punishing them. We hope and pray that they were ready to meet Jesus. That's the key; being ready. We may live a good long life and die of old age, or we may be taken in the prime of our youth in a tragic accident or disease. The important thing is to repent and be ready. Are you ready?

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of ?Soul Challenge?, ?Soul Journey?, ?Ordeal?, ?The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional and his first novel ?The Shoe Tree.? Visit our website at spiritbread.com to download these and more completely free of charge.

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