Degrees of Sin, Luke 13:1-5

"There were present at that season some that told Him of the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galileans were sinners above all the Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish."

     In our minds we tend to sort different sins into different categories, considering some of them to be of greater degree than others. We would think that murdering someone would be far worse than stealing something, and that homosexuality would be far worse than a little white lie. But God doesn't see it that way, and Jesus proved this by showing the people that terrible things happened to people who were not necessarily "greater sinners" than any other person, but that all have sinned, and all need to repent, or similar judgement will fall upon all of them.
     People have a tendancy to associate the amount of difficult circumstances in one's life to the amount of sin in their lives. To see a perfect example of this, read the book of Job. Job was a man who was declared righteous by God, and yet, terrible things came upon him: he lost all his children, his wealth, and his health almost simultaneously. And it was not because of sin that this happened, but because Satan had challenged God's worthiness of being loved, saying that Job only loved Him because God had blessed him so. So God allowed Satan to do what he wished to Job, with the limitation of not taking his life, so that Satan would realize that Job truly loved God for who He was, and not because of blessings. Yet Job's friends sat with him and accused him of having some secret, grievous sin in his life that caused God to pour out His wrath on Job in judgement. Bad things in our lives, hard times, trials and tribulations, are not always a result of sin.
     Jesus affirms that bad things don't always happen because of sin in our lives. But the main point He is making in this passage of Luke is that there aren't different degrees of sin that cause worse things to happen to worse people; all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all need to repent or face even worse circumstances: eternal judgement.

     This teaching of Jesus also shows us that we can't always look at the external circumstances around us and come to the conclusion that this plus this equals that. The Jews of Jesus' day assumed that because the Galileans had been slaughtered by Pilate's soldiers while making their sacrifices that those Galileans must have been horrific sinners, so much so that their sacrifices were detestable in God's sight and God had them killed before they could make their offerings. They assumed that because the tower of Siloam fell on those eighteen people that they must have been vile sinners, so much so that God poured out His judgement against them. But Jesus says to them, no; these were no more sinners than any other person. He adds that unless they all repent, they will face the judgement of God, implying that all sin is equal in God's eyes. Homosexuality, stealing, lying, murdering, coveting, dishonoring your parents, sex outside of marriage, and cheating on a spelling test in elementary school are all sins in God's eyes, and one sin, any sin, keeps you out of heaven. There is no sin which we should look down upon more than another, as if to imply that this sin is the one that God has a hard time forgiving. No: Jesus Christ died for every sin, all sin, every man, and all mankind, providing cleansing and forgiveness, eternal life in heaven with God, for all.
     We must never, never, when talking with someone who is living in a sinful lifestyle, say or do anything that would give the implication that God will not forgive that sin that they are practicing, and that they have to work extra hard to earn God's forgiveness and grace. This is absurd. The grace of God is available to all, from a five-year-old girl to a forty-year-old mass murderer. It is available to a wayward teenager as much as it was available to Adolph Hitler and is available to Osama bin Laden. Jesus' blood covers all sin, and every sin ever committed. To imply otherwise in sin on our behalf, for we are misrepresenting God. And misrepresenting God is what kept Moses from entering the promised land after forty years of wandering in the wilderness. It is a grievous thing to present God as less loving, less caring, less gracious than He is.

     But on the same note, it is a grievous thing to present God as a God who overlooks sin, who does not judge sin, as One who is not concerned with our sin. God hates sin. He hates it so much, it is so repulsive and intollerable to Him, that even disobeying His simple command not to eat the fruit of a particular tree caused spiritual death in man, separating man from God. He could not be in the presence of man even after such a small, seemingly insignificant little sin. But it is sin, nonetheless. He loaths sin so much that He came down to earth as a man, let man beat Him, bruise Him, whip Him, mock Him, spit upon Him, and crucify Him, so that this horrible thing called sin could be judged righteously.
     God could never simply overlook sin, it had to be punished, dealt with, and judged. We can be pardoned and forgiven only because Jesus Christ took that punishment for us, in place of us. We are free, we have eternal life and peace, but it cost Jesus Christ everything He had to give. It cost God His Son to give us life. And that's how we know that sin is deadly, that it is serious, and that it is detestable in God's sight. That's how we know that God loves us more than we could ever realize. He gave us the most precious gift anyone could ever offer: the Son of God, God in human flesh, paying our debt so that we could be free.
     He died for the little white lie, and He died for the murder. He died for the theft, and He died for the gossip. He died for all disobedience, all sexual crimes, all lust, all greed, all covetousness, and all pride. Jesus died so that we might have life, and that more abundantly. To say that any sin cost more than any other is absolute mockery of the sacrifice Jesus made for that sin: All have sinned, all were destined for hell, and all are saved by the blood of the only begotten Son of God, Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.