Bad things happen to good people. In Jesus' day two major tragedies occurred. One involved the murder of Galilean worshipers at the hands of Pontius Pilate. The other was a construction accident outside of Jerusalem that killed 18 people. The followers of the Pharisees considered this karma, that bad things happen to bad people. Jesus said karma was crap.
Karma claims you get what you deserve, but Jesus said, "No!" The people who lost their lives in those tragedies were no better or worse than any other human beings who've ever lived on this planet. Bad things happen in this fallen world. Too often, bad things happen to good people.
Good things happen to bad people. Perhaps now would be a good time to give clarity to the definitions of good and bad. I have said before and I will state it again, that all people are basically good, insomuch as all human beings have been made in the image of God. Humans are born with certain qualities, capabilities, freedoms and rights given to them by God. We are all good and have the potential to do good in this life and please other people. But are we good enough to please God?
No, because we are all bad, too, if you believe in sin and affirm the sinfulness, the badness, of sin. Total depravity is taught in both Testaments and can be observed in everyday life. Human beings are selfish; therefore, we sin against God and against other people to get what we want. The people we consider good are tainted by selfishness and sin, while the people we view as bad are consumed by it. Yet, to return to Jesus' previous argument, we are all about the same before God, no better or no worse, "For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God" (reference Romans 3:23; Proverbs 20:9; etc.)
What Jesus does in this episode, so masterfully, is honestly address the first question and use it as an opportunity to offer an answer to the even more important second question. Forget that bad things happen to good people for a moment. What good thing, what is the best thing, that can happen to a bad, sinful, person? The answer is salvation by grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone! How does such salvation come? Repentance!
Repentance is demanded by God (reference Luke 13:3,5) and supplied by God (reference Acts 11:18). When unfolded in the human heart, mind and will, it turns bad people into good, lost people into saved, castaways into Christians. Repentance is not negative and harsh. It is the most positive, life-changing event in a person's life. And, repentance and its flip side faith bears spiritual fruit, here and now and always.
God allows bad things to happen to good people so that good things can happen to bad people. God is mysteriously transcendent. In other words, there are some things about God we will never know, never have complete answers for, never fully understand. This is in keeping with His incommunicable attributes of sovereignty, supremacy, omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience. God is God, and there is nothing about His nature or ours that requires Him to answer all of our questions, yet He is absolutely worthy of our absolute trust.
God is consistency imminent. God is here, now, then, tomorrow, forever. God reveals Himself to all in creation, and to His people through word, spirit, preaching and most perfectly in the person and work of Jesus Christ. God is always loving, always working and always working all things together for good for those He loves and who love Him (reference Romans 8:28-30).
God is in control and His ultimate outcome is salvation. This is why bad things happen to good people, so that good things can happen to bad people. This is why God allows human freedom, even sinful choices. Tragedies are a part of life, they change lives temporarily on earth and they lead to changed lives forever in Heaven.
Chuck DeVane is the pastor of Lake Hamilton Baptist Church. He is a graduate of Valdosta State University, Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary and Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. He has served churches in Arkansas and Georgia, and preached the gospel across the USA and other countries. He can be emailed at [email protected].
Religion on 06/16/2018