R.C. Sproul

On the other hand, it is also true that when we look vertically in terms of our relationship to God, none of us is an innocent person before God.

And that's what Jesus is trying to communicate, that lest you repent, you will all likewise perish.

He's saying to these people, you're asking me the wrong question.

Instead of being horrified that a good God would allow this catastrophe to befall these innocent people in Galilee, the question you should be asking is why your blood wasn't spilled in Galilee.

Why is Jesus saying that?

That's a hard saying.

Jesus is trying to remind these people that there is no such thing as an innocent person, and He's trying to communicate to us

that the real amazing question is not the justice of God but the grace of God.

We have a song that we sing called Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.

We sing that in church with great gusto and with very little belief.

Do we really believe

that we are wretches who have been saved by the grace of God?

Do we really believe that the favors we receive from the hand of God are unmerited, unearned, and undeserved?

You see, Jesus is saying we should be saying, why didn't our blood flow in that place?

How did we escape?

How could God, who is a good God, allow me, a sinner, to continue to enjoy all these benefits?

That's the question that should be being asked.

And likewise, the next incident that is contained in this narrative is

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

I tell you, no.