Faith v. Faulty Towers

Zephaniah 1:14-18
Luke 13:1-9
The prophet Zephaniah offers this warning to the people of God: “Neither (your) silver nor (your) gold will be able to save (you) on the day of the Lord’s wrath…” (Zephaniah 1:18). It is a familiar idea in scripture, that wealth is no guarantee of salvation, and anything can be turned into an idol. But when set beside today’s reading from Luke Zephaniah’s words, as emphatic as they are, still take on a heightened meaning.

In Luke, Jesus is told about a group of Galileans murdered by Pilot as they offered sacrifices in the temple. “What do you think about this?” Jesus asks his listeners. “Was this God’s judgment on them because they were worse sinners than others? And what about the 18 people killed by a collapsing tower? Were they any worse than others living in Jerusalem at the time?” No, says Jesus, neither they nor the Galileans were worse sinners than anyone else. But unless you repent (literally “turn around” in your living) you can expect to perish just as they did (Luke 13:1-5).

It all has to do with our relationship to God. To invest hope in wealth or comfort, to treat any other aspect of life as though it were a god, is to be separated from the one true God. You might as well have a tower fall on you for all the good it will do. Instead, trust in God, live to God, be focused on God and God’s will. Then falling towers will become nothing to fear. As the apostle Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s” (Romans 14:7-8). Perhaps it is all about perspective. Those who count on their own wealth or abilities in life have no hope. But those who trust in God live in hope and, when the time comes, die in hope as well. And that is something that no amount of money in the world could ever buy.

Prayer: Gracious God, help us to live our lives in the hope that you alone can offer, trusting in you and your merciful grace. Amen.