Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

–Parallel verses:
‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭4‬:‭29‬-‭32‬
Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

I like to watch action and suspense movies. And in one of my favorite movies, the first Red Dawn, after the US is attacked by communists, in a small town, a band of teenagers and a twenty-something leader went off to hide in the hills. They fought the war against these invaders with surprise attacks. One of these attacks was on the concentration camp where they were holding many of the town residents to free them. By this time, they had partnered up with a Captain in the Air Force, whose plane was shot down. He talked to them about their plans, and they built a strategy. The strategy involved a diversion of sorts. They would wire some dynamite to blow up a building. And this would attract the military over to that area, then they would attack in another area. The diversion would distract the troops from the main attack.

In a similar way, we humans like to distract and divert attention away from our own sin and point out the sin in other people’s lives. Deflection and distraction are two sisters of many of the sins we all wrestle with. They go hand-in-hand with our sin to help us feel better about ourselves by pointing out the sin in other people. This turns into gossip and we then rely on diversion and distraction to justify our sin by gossiping about how other people are bigger sinners than we are.

It is the vicious game that gets played in the world, and it tears apart relationships and builds division and walls that are hard to break down.

Jesus was presented with some gossip here regarding how certain Galileans were killed by Pilate, while offering sacrifices in the temple of his god. Apparently, he mixed the blood of the people killed with the blood of the animals in the sacrifice. Very evil and grotesque!

Instead of decrying this appalling practice, they gossiped to Jesus about and wondered if this meant these Galileans were worse sinners than others Galileans (or really, than they were). And Jesus calls them out on their finger-pointing. They were using diversion and distractions to take the focus off of their own need to repent. Maybe they would look better by pointing out worse sinners?

Paul tells us in the Ephesians passage that this type of unwholesome talk does not mark a follower of Jesus and should not come out of our mouths. Instead, he says to only speak what is helpful for building up those around us and meeting their needs. We are to be kind and compassionate, forgiving each other. But how can we do this when our natural self wants to compare, judge, and point fingers?

The key is to not gain our self-worth by others’ opinions of us or this world’s standards. We must live for the approval of God only. In doing this, we must humble ourselves and focus mainly on God’s great plan for us and allow his Spirit to point out our sin and repent of it.

When we stop comparing and start working to follow God and receive his corrections, however they come, we rise above the fray of this world and achieve spiritual greatness through the power of his Spirit — alive and active in us!

Lord, I repent of the times I have used gossip and finger-pointing to deflect and distract attention away from the ugliness of my sin. Clean my heart and help me to focus on my ways to improve first. May I let your healing hand touch the painful places in my heart and rip out the sin that can have a stranglehold on my life. Free me, fill me, and use me, I pray!