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Recap of April 22, 2007 (Luke 13:1-17)
1. In the midst of tragedy we should not live in fear, but in fruitfulness.
2. The view of the of the religious leaders of Jesus’ day was that tragedy or calamity in a person’s life was due to some unusual sin in their lives.
3. Jesus, following up on His teaching of Luke 12 about the need to be rightly related to God, answers that all are under the sentence of death (Romans 8:12); some deaths are tragic and unexpected, but all should be prepared for death, all should be reconciled to God.
4. Since all die all are in need of salvation and Jesus has the power to save as illustrated in His healing the woman who was crippled for 18 years. Jesus has the power to make straight that which is crooked, to save people from sin and make their lives fruitful and useful to Him.
5. In tragedy we learn: to value the things which are truly valuable (“Life does not consist in the abundance of things”) our relationships with our loved ones; the brevity of life (James 4); the priority of the gospel, and the need to pray for those around us and to preach the gospel.
