You Do You and Let God Do God

Luke 13:1-9

Photo by Alex Shute on Unsplash

It is very hard for us to let God Do God and not try to speak God’s mind for God, because we long to make sense of senseless tragedies and search for reasons, even when there are none. Jesus anticipates our questions in our gospel reading today. Two tragic events happened in Jerusalem. One in the temple and one near the pool of Siloam. In the first instance, Pilate, the Roman governor, killed some Galileans who were making sacrifices at the temple, and he mixed their blood with that of the animal sacrifices. Without a doubt this was a warning to other Jews to remember that Rome was in charge. In the other incident, a tower fell on people near the pool of Siloam which killed 18 people who just happened to be there.

Jesus’ followers were clearly concerned about the news events of the day, as should we be about our own. Both reports were about atrocities visited upon innocents. One was an act of misused power by a powerful figure, the other an act of nature…an accident. They were random acts of violence and destruction. These two headlines of the day pretty much cover any modern headline that deals with suffering—any gloomy news report. How do we make sense of this?

Imagine for a moment that Jesus and the disciples are pondering our own evening news and listening intently to the day’s tragedies, and one disciple says, “Do you think those who were targeted (you fill in the blank…deported, fired, erased from collective memory, arrested with no just cause…whatever…) are worse sinners than the rest?” And Jesus proposes this question:

Were the Galileans, whose blood was mixed with their sacrifices, worse sinners than other Galileans? Were the 18 people who were killed by the falling tower worse offenders than all others living in Jerusalem?

And then Jesus answers his own question:

No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

Jesus’ words make our head spin! He seems to contradict himself. First, he makes it clear that there is no rational explanation for these tragedies. The Galileans killed by Pilate were victims of the Roman government and Pilate’s desire for power and control. The reality is, it could have been anybody offering sacrifices that day! And the people killed by the falling tower? It could have been anyone who happened to be standing there. They were in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Jesus is saying—don’t look for cause and effect explanations—today or any day! Were those who died worse sinners than anyone else? No, but Jesus is telling us to turn our attention to our own lives and not speculate about others. We should be paying attention to our own lives with God and not making judgements about others.

To let God do God while You do You should be the hallmark of every Christian.

Rev. Dr. Debi Powell-Maxwell

3/23/2025