This week, Jesus is told by a crowd about the Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate’s soldiers– and Jesus gets at the heart of an unspoken implication. “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way that they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?” In his sermon, Stephen acknowledges that this is a question as old as time, and still gets asked every day: “Why does God let bad things happen?”, “Why doesn’t God protect us from these misfortunes?”, and– most pointedly– “Did God do that to them because they deserved it?” Stephen tackles how we should interpret Jesus’s response to the question.
“…unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Luke 13:5