TUESDAY, November 2 (All Faithful Departed)

Luke 13:1-9. Jesus asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”

Why do calamities happen to some people and not to others? Were the poor Galileans who were slaughtered at the altar or the men on whom the tower of Siloam fell particularly wicked? Investigate any earthquake or tornado, and you will see that the relatively innocent suffer with the relatively guilty.

Jesus speaks of repentance, but he does not threaten the unrepentant with the fate of those Galileans. He simply reiterates the Old Testament warning: in some way every person who defies God will perish. Not because God wishes it so, but because there is a moral order in the universe. This is only one side of our Lord’s teaching, but it is the necessary background of the Good News. Without judgment, forgiveness would be meaningless. What the Bible calls the “wrath of God” is also the love of God; it is the word which brings correction to God’s children. Otherwise it would not be love at all, but sentimentality that makes no distinction between right and wrong. (1963)

PRAY for the Diocese of Jamaica and The Cayman Islands (West Indies)

Ps 61, 62 * 68:1-20(21-23)24-36; Ecclesiasticus 43:1-22; Revelation 14:14—15:8

View the daily Lectionary Readings at Satucket.com.
Or view the Bible passages at Biblegateway.com.

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Editor, Forward Day by Day

Nov 02, 2010 at 9:09 am

Written by Richard H. Schmidt,

I am writing to comment on yesterday's reading, which struck at least one reader as condoning abuse and su*gesting to victims of abuse that they should not resist but simply submit to the abuse. I think the meditation could indeed be taken that way, and I wish we in this office had edited it more carefully. Taking vengeance is wrong; protecting oneself is not. Turning the other cheek is the right resposne to evil in some cases, I think, but not in all. If we always turned the other cheek, no evil would ever be overcome.

natural, man-made, or supernatural?

Nov 02, 2010 at 4:07 pm

Written by Tom P,

If we allow that there is a creator deity, then he/she/they/it created the cosmos and our portion of it. The planet's natural systems can be influenced and affected by mankind's actions, at least to some degree (and by beavers, for that matter, on a smaller scale).

If those who believe that there is a grand design are willing to hold said deity responsible for shifting tectonic plates, volcanoes, and destructive weather events then they have to allow that the just and innocent will perish as surely and indiscriminately as the evil and wicked.

We will all perish and whether we are put through personal trials such as cancers, strokes, ravenous communicable diseases, disabling degenerative diseases, or mental abberations OR be the victims of the aforementioned natural disasters, we will surely all perish. While we may be somewhat responsible for what happens to us in some instances, in many circumstances we are innocent victims of fate.

If only more people would live and not only recite the golden rule of loving our neighbors as ourselves, we'd all be better off.

...

Nov 02, 2010 at 10:34 pm

Written by Steve Doutt,

I think that Jesus is saying that if we repent we will live forever and if we turn away from God (sin) we will die forever (perish).

Either way we can expect to die in this life, just as he did.

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