I was sitting in my Spanish 1 class, a freshman in high school, when we were told there was a man with a gun on our campus. I don’t think it was very long that we were on lock down, however, I do remember being terrified. It’s interesting what you do in crisis. I immediately starting jotting down a conversation to God in my notebook. I told him I knew where I was going when I died, but that right now I was really afraid. It turned out the man did not enter into our high school and the crisis did pass. I don’t remember feeling any type of relief, but I do remember having the chance to share my faith with a fellow classmate. It wasn’t in great detail, but I did share what it was like to have faith in Jesus.
We are still processing a global crisis. How have you been talking about this pandemic? Have you been able to use it to talk about your faith? I know that has not been the first thing I talk about when I am in a conversation talking about what has happened in the world the last few months. I might be talking about how I have to wear a mask when I go out or how we’ve been missing going to restaurants, but I have not been talking about how this relates to my faith.
Jesus never missed an opportunity to share the Gospel. I stumbled across this passage in Luke chapter 13. Jesus uses two current events to tell his followers about the Gospel, the good news. Yes, sharing the gospel in relation to crisis or current events is Biblical!
The first event took place where galileans were mixed up in a horrible situation where Pilate, the king at that time, used their bodies with his sacrifices to their gods. Horrible. Then Jesus mentions a second event where a tower fell and killed 18 people.
At that time people attributed negative situations to a person’s sin. If you got sick, it was because you have some kind of evil or sin in your life.
Jesus asks the audience if the galileans or the 18 in the tower incident are more sinful? Did tragedy happen to people because they are more sinful? The crowd of people had to think about this. How do you think Jesus answered? Here’s what we find:
He says twice in verse 3 and in verse 5, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Jesus is teaching us about sin using current events. When bad things happen it isn’t because someone sinned more. No, everyone has sinned and will experience spiritual death too, unless we repent and turn to Christ.
This is such a beautiful picture of how Jesus uses what we are experiencing and uses it to teach us about the condition of the world, His love, and how we need someone to save us. Friends, In light of the current events, let’s not waste a teaching opportunity.
