We live in a world in which we can hear about all the bad things that have happened throughout the day any time we want. While instant communication can be a great blessing, sometimes we can be overloaded with negativity. While we have been hearing more bad news than any other generation, we are not the only ones to wonder why those bad things happen. In Jesus day, bad things would happen and there was a common assumption behind the circumstance.
Luke 13:1-5, "There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
The assumption was that because something bad happened to these men they must have been great sinners. A similar thing is recorded in John 9:1-3, "Now as Jesus passed by, He saw a man who was blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” Jesus answered, “Neither this man nor his parents sinned, but that the works of God should be revealed in him."
Jesus corrected the mindset that bad things happen to bad people. This is extremely helpful for all of us to understand since bad things could happen to any one of us at any time. This is does not mean that there is something that we must fix to be right with God; sometimes things just happen.
This reminds me of the book of Job as well. Job was afflicted and his friends were under the same assumption as the men in the first century. Job knew that there was no sin in his life that was to blame for his illness and struggled to see God's plan in his suffering. The same thing can happen to us. We can wonder "why" the entire time we are going through tough times and lose our faith in the process. Let us take heart from the words of Jesus and know that God's plan for us lies not in an easy life now, but a eternal day of rest after this life is over.