Jesus Addresses Tragedy

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Where is God during this pandemic?

I imagine this is a question among many these days. For nearly the last 2 months COVID-19 has been a household term and has dominated the news and frankly the lives of the entire world. At this point, many are ready to get back to “normal” life again whatever that is going to be. I am thankful I have not had to make some of the decisions those in government have had to make. How do you balance the value of life versus the lively hood of millions. While I struggle with too much government sometimes, I do appreciate the willingness of our elected officials to value life over money. If we could only make this kind of progress on unborn babies...
Very often when something bad happens, or is happening, people will often ask where is God in all of this? If God is sovereign, why doesn’t he take care this? Why would He allow bad things happen? Sometimes the question goes to whether God is punishing a person, group of people, a country or even the world, but that I think that without a direct word from God on the matter, we are making a bit of an assumption.
First, we assume that because others are going through something, they’ve done something that deserves punishment. I hope after today, that false assumption is not part of our thought process. Surely there are times where God has punished a city (Sodom and Gomorrah for example), but we must not assume because bad things are happening to someone else that they are somehow deserving of punishment, EVEN if there is a good reason for us to think that.
Second, we inadvertently are saying that we are not deserving of punishment. When we point our finger are someone else’s trouble and say: “See, that’s what you get!”, at the same time we are saying that they should be more like us. This is a very dangerous thought process. Thankfully God has been merciful to our church and we haven’t had anyone test positive for the virus. That doesn’t mean we are doing something right, it is by God’s grace alone that we have not seen someone in our church infected. He alone gets the praise for that. Not our government, not our efforts to social distance…none of that. God alone gets the praise. It is by grace alone, not because we don’t deserve or others deserve more, that someone is free from this virus.
So back to our question: Where is God during this pandemic? There are several answers to this, but I want to give you a response from Jesus when people confronted him with something bad that happened and look at his response. Let’s look at Luke 13:1-3:
Luke 13:1–3 NIV
1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.
This is the only mention of this account in the Gospels. There was much tension between the Romans and the Jewish people during this time. It is believed that this was an event that Jesus did not know about prior, and is finding out in the moment about Pilate’s violence toward the Galileans. We don’t get to hear the entire other side, but we see Jesus’ response. As I said in the introduction, people have a tendency to believe that someone did something to deserve it and Jesus being able to know their thoughts, likely addresses what they were thinking even if they didn’t say it.
“Were they worse sinners?” Jesus answers that with an emphatic “NO!” Then he turns it from the Galileans onto those who are present. To paraphrase and read between the lines: “How’s your sin? Unless you repent of it, you too will die.” We have a tendency to look at other’s issues and Jesus is saying we need to look at ourselves. These people were so surprised about the death of those offering sacrifices and thought those that died must have done something to deserve it. In reality, Jesus is saying that our we should be surprised it hasn’t happened to us. We’re all sinners, and there are daily moments where we deserve punishment and yet we don’t get it - By God’s grace alone. As if that event was not enough, Jesus recalls another current event in verses 4-5:
Luke 13:4–5 NIV
4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
2 current events. Tragedy struck and people died. People are looking for answers…where was God when this happened? Was he punishing them? And Jesus says that they are asking the wrong question. The are focused on the dead and Jesus says: “Let’s focus on the living - you.”
It’s much easier to examine someone else’s life and play the shoulda-woulda-coulda game with their life. It is much more difficult to examine one’s own life and have those areas of sin brought to light and exposed. Jesus is saying let’s talk about that instead. You need to repent, or true death is coming your way. Permanent, eternal death is coming for those who don’t repent.
Let’s define this word repent. It means to change one’s mind, to alter course and go in the opposite direction.
Jesus talks about the sin of those who died in these tragedies and then he tells those with him to repent (of their own sin) or face death. In several other passages in the New Testament, the phrase “and turn to God” is added in order to clarify what to change our mind to:
Acts 3:19 NIV
19 Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord,
Acts 26:20 NIV
20 First to those in Damascus, then to those in Jerusalem and in all Judea, and then to the Gentiles, I preached that they should repent and turn to God and demonstrate their repentance by their deeds.
Repentance is not just a surface change of mind, it involves a deep rooted change within us that causes a complete change in direction, and that direction is toward God.
What does it look like to turn completely toward God? Jesus gives this answer:
Matthew 22:37 NIV
37 Jesus replied: “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’
If this is turning completely to God, anything opposed to what Jesus said here is sin. When we seek to love ourselves first by gratifying our fleshly desires - sin. When we put look to our job or spouse or money for security - sin. When we fill our minds with junk day in and day out instead of what God’s word says - sin. When we act of of selfishness instead of selflessness - sin. I imagine you’ve found something in those statements to be convicted by. I hope there is some level of conviction in all of us. Not one of us is free from sin. Repentance is a daily process of trading the things of this world for a deeper relationship with the God of the universe.
When we chose sin, we are choosing to replace God and the joy He only can bring with the knockoff feelings that this world offers - money, jobs, entertainment…etc. They may bring a momentary satisfaction, but it will fade away.
Jesus took the opportunity to turn a tragedy into a time of reflection for those who were witness to it. We all deserve the punishment, but we can still repent and gain the fullness of right relationship with God. What does this right relationship with God mean? Let’s look at what Paul says about tough times in 2 Corinthians 1:3-11
2 Corinthians 1:3–11 NIV
3 Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4 who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God. 5 For just as we share abundantly in the sufferings of Christ, so also our comfort abounds through Christ. 6 If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer. 7 And our hope for you is firm, because we know that just as you share in our sufferings, so also you share in our comfort. 8 We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters, about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. 9 Indeed, we felt we had received the sentence of death. But this happened that we might not rely on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead. 10 He has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and he will deliver us again. On him we have set our hope that he will continue to deliver us, 11 as you help us by your prayers. Then many will give thanks on our behalf for the gracious favor granted us in answer to the prayers of many.
Back to our original question:

Where is God during this pandemic?

He is present to comfort us in all our troubles, so we can comfort others with the same comfort. (vs 4)
The distress on believers results in salvation of others because of the comfort from God that believers have. (vs 6)
Troubles come so that we might not rely on ourselves but on God. (vs 9)
God is saying to us that He is here. He is waiting for us to come to Him. To repent and turn to Him in order that He might comfort us in our troubles, save us from our sins and be the rock we can rely on no matter what comes.
Pray
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