Repent Or Perish!

In Luke 13:1-5, some of Jesus’ disciples approached Him to relate the terrible news that some Galilean Jews had been murdered under the authority of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate. In addition to that heinous act, Pilate had desecrated the sacrifice of these slain Jews by dumping their blood onto the sacrifices they were offering. Undoubtedly, Jesus’ disciples expected Him to rail in outrage against the oppressor of God’s chosen people. However, Jesus responded in a way that must have shocked and offended some who were present, when He said:

“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 dwell in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (Luke 13:2-3).

His listeners could not believe what they were hearing. Didn’t Jesus abhor the evil that had been perpetrated against His countrymen? What did He mean, “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish”? Jesus used this opportunity to teach an important truth: The people who experienced these terrible tragedies, Jesus pointed out, were no worse people than other Galileans, or other residents of Jerusalem. Their fate was not due to any great wickedness they had committed, but to declare they were all sinners in need of repentance — including those who informed Jesus of these unfortunate incidents (Luke 13:1; cf. Romans 3:9-12,23).

Sometimes we have a tendency to observe the tragedies of others and comfort ourselves with the thought, “That could never happen to me.” But as Jesus warned, tragedy can happen to any of us. Then Jesus draws a parallel between worldly tragedy and spiritual tragedy. One is unavoidable: the murdered Galileans did not know they were going to be murdered, nor did the people in the Siloam tower know in advance it was going to collapse and kill them.

However, spiritual tragedy is avoidable. When Jesus stated, “unless you repent,” He was indicating that if one truly repented, one could escape perishing in an eternal place of torment (Luke 16:19-28) — a fate far more disastrous than what befell the unfortunate people in the two above examples. The Hebrew writer establishes the fact that we are all going to die physically (see article and Hebrews 9:27). Whether we lose our lives to an assailant’s weapon, an unforeseen accident, a disease of the body, or the natural deterioration that comes as we age, we cannot avoid physical death (Ecclesiastes 8:8).

But we can overcome spiritual death, if we will truly repent — that is, make a complete 180 degree change in our mind, resulting in a complete change in the direction of our lives (cf. Jonah 3:1-10). When we stare ahead at the inevitability of death, and ask, “What shall we do?” The answer of God’s word rings clear — “Repent, and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins” (Acts 2:38 KJV). As Jesus Himself cautioned, unless we repent, we will all likewise perish (Luke 13:3).

—Mike Riley, Gospel Snippets