Stupid Assumptions

09.30.12

Luke 13.2 2 And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?” NASB

The pericopes ([puh-rik-uh-pee(s)] ‘a selection or extract from a book’) in Luke 13 in the NASB are as follows: Call to Repent, Healing on the Sabbath, Parables of Mustard Seed and Leaven, and Teaching in the Villages. They could easily be renamed Stupid Assumptions.

The rub in Luke 13.1 seems to be the fact that Pilate (a despotic Roman bureaucrat in charge of Judea at the time) had mingled some of the blood of some Galileans with his sacrifices. Yuck! And Jesus responded, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?” But then He answered His query by stating, “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” In other words, stupid Roman bureaucrats are going to do what they’re going to do but there are far greater concerns than these.

And then Jesus asks, “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem?” (v. 4) And then He answers, “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (v. 5) The issue wasn’t fate per se, it was one’s relationship with God. It also seems He was saying, there is a difference between death and perishing. Or maybe He was simply stating that to die like these did (without repenting) a similar death would take place: a death outside of a relationship with God.

For centuries, God had been trying to get these people’s attention and so He allowed them to rise to the heights of success and fame under David and Solomon and then to fall into utter social disarray in 70 years of captivity to the Babylonians (and the Medes and the Persians.) But the whole time was one failed attempt after another to get His people to stop and listen to Him. So when Jesus comes on the scene, there is one attempt after another by these people to regain their lost glories as a nation but Jesus is saying something different: He’s saying that the glory they so desperately sought was in reality only found through friendship with God through belief in Himself.

For centuries God’s people had been dying off in one manner or another, and winding up both dead (physically) and dead (spiritually). Jesus was trying to right that wrong by advocating repentance (turning) from stupid assumptions – the ones they had made the whole time – that acceptance by God was found in works and that was found by obeying the Mosaic Law. And that unfortunate or untimely deaths were as a result of one’s sinfulness, thus one getting what one deserved.

So Jesus came advocating repentance, which is found in true relationship and friendship with God, and letting fate do what it’s going to do: but making sure one’s standing with the Almighty was secure through faith, worship, and obedience. Stupid assumptions lead to the worst ends.

I too, must beware of stupid assumptions on my part: like attempting to live like hell but believing I somehow have a Hall Pass through grace. Lord, may I walk humbly and fearfully with You and avoid the stupidity of stupid assumptions…