“…unless you repent, you too will perish.” --Jesus, Luke 13.3 NIV
Most of what we learn about life we discover through experience. Between infancy and adulthood our knowledge of how we can get what we need and want grows, then much of life becomes a pursuit of those things. A natural self-orientation develops as a result, something that is essential to identity but something that can also have significant ill effects if, along life’s way, we don’t learn to consider the needs and desires of others. To the extent that self-orientation is unhealthy, it can cause us to see ourselves at the pivotal center of life with everything and everyone revolving around us, including God.
In Chapter 13, Luke tells a story of, what I believe to be, Jesus’s intent to expose self-orientation. In this story Jesus was told about some Galileans who were executed by the Romans in the Temple. (Theologians speculate the violence might have occurred in retaliation for some anti-Rome action by the victims.) Jesus responded by asking if these martyrs were worse sinners than other Galileans, a rather pithy but not uncommon statement for Jesus. Jesus then reminded the crowd of a similar tragedy that took place near Jerusalem in which a tower fell killing 18 people. He then posed the same question asking if these victims were worse sinners than others who were spared the same fate, followed by the statement, “…unless you repent, you too will perish.” (v.5) We know that Jesus, the consummate teacher, is instructing but his point is not obvious. Without interlude or explanation, Jesus then told a short parable.
There are many good things about the way we Americans celebrate Christmas—parties, Christmas cards, gift giving, light shows, trimming the tree, decking the halls, Christmas music, sharing goodies. During the Christmas season, many corporations slow down, people cheer up; Scrooges and Grinches are unwelcome.
Christians need not feel guilty about taking part in our cultural traditions. There’s nothing bad about waking up on Christmas morning and delighting in the materializing of our Christmas lists, watching our favorite Christmas movies and appreciating the warm fuzzies they produce, enjoying egg nog, or gathering with the people we care the most about.
