R.C. Sproul

It's hard enough to understand how human beings could be so inhumane and so wicked in their treatment of other human beings, but how could God allow these things to happen?

Well, those questions are the questions that every generation seeks to answer, and the people in Jesus' day were no different.

We're going to turn our attention to some of the hard sayings of Jesus.

What we call a hard saying is a saying that is either

difficult for us in the sense that we perceive it as being harsh or severe, or we can call it a hard saying because it's hard to grasp or hard to understand.

It's difficult to figure out what it means, and so we'll be choosing both of those types of hard sayings.

And today,

I want to turn your attention to the gospel according to St.

Luke, to the 13th chapter, to an episode that is contained there that I, in an earlier series, have already spoken about under our series entitled The Providence of God.

But I want to revisit this episode in light of its being a hard saying.

Chapter 13 of Luke begins with these words.

There were present at that season some who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And Jesus answered and said to them, Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered such things?

I tell you, no.

No.

but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Were those 18 on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem?

I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

Obviously, the questions that were being brought to Jesus were questions that people had about catastrophes that had befallen people in their day.

And they were wondering how a good God, a loving God, could allow these tragic catastrophes to take place.