Tell someone you have a story about grace and they will immediately think you received an unexpected financial gift, a couple struggling to get pregnant finally is with child, or estranged friends were finally reconciled.
Jesus also told many stories of grace. But some of those stories didn’t immediately sound so gracious, like the two stories told at the beginning of Luke 13:
Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 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? I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (vv. 1-5)
Here are two stories of untimely death, yet they also must be put in the category of stories of grace. Yes, unexpected and tragic suffering is evidence of the grace of God.
When defining suffering, there are essentially three categories of trials —
- Suffering that is the result of our own sin. We generally would consider these to be consequences and deserved (“we are reaping what we have sown”).
- Suffering that is the result of the sins of others sins against us — a slanderous word is spoken against us, a thief breaks through the window of our home, or a cashier intentionally short-changes us.
- Suffering is the result of living in a world that is broken — cancer or a cold, car accidents, and tornadoes all enter our lives at unexpected moments, through no fault of our own.
We have all experienced all three of these kinds of suffering, sometimes all on the same day, in varying degrees. But we tend to respond differently to these different kinds of suffering. When suffering is the result of our own sin, it seems justified. We may not like it, but we understand we have received what we deserve, so we may even be able to endure because of that understanding.
When the suffering is the result of others or just part of living in a fallen world, it might seem justified at times, or it might seem like the innocent have suffered unjustly (which was part of Job’s complaint).
But these two brief accounts from Jesus reveal another perspective. While a tower may fall on people who have not caused the tower to fall or people might be tortured and killed by the hands of an evil dictator, no one who dies is innocent. Jesus uses these stories to assert that all people are guilty before God and worthy of judgment. There is no completely innocent person. So instead of asking, “Why did I suffer?” we should be asking, “Why have I not suffered more or sooner?” And that we have not suffered more or sooner then also is a means of grace that should provoke gratitude in us. We should see the suffering of others and we should experience our own suffering and respond by saying, “God has been so gracious to me for so long…what a great kindness God has extended to me!”
But Jesus sees a different kind of grace in this story. Notice that He applies the stories in exactly the same ways: “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (vv. 3, 5). When suffering is seen and experienced, it should produce repentance of all our known sin. It may well be that the observed suffering is unrelated to our favorite sin(s), but seeing suffering should remind us that judgment or discipline against us for that sin would be entirely justified. And that should produce repentance.
Since God has not yet discipline or judged our sin, we are experiencing grace. To continue to hold on to sin and refuse to repent is to ignore the grace of God’s patience. To repent in the midst of suffering is to experience God’s grace in an “unusual place.”
Words of Grace 