Q. How should we accept the following part of the Bible found in Luke 13?
‘Luke 13:4 What about those 18 people in Siloam who were killed when the tower fell on them? Do you suppose this proves that they were worse than all the other people living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you that if you do not turn from your sins, you will all die as they did.’
This scripture causes us to have the following realistic questions. One is ‘Are those who were recently killed in wars or accidents worse than those who remain alive now?’. Another is ‘Did Jesus turn from his sin?’ considering that Jesus himself who stated this also couldn’t avoid death. The third is ‘If Jesus’s didn’t die and his death is different from ours, what is the difference between his death and ours?’ All these eventually lead to the questions: ‘What is to turn from our sin?’ and ‘How can we avoid death?’.
Turning from our sins means being freed from our discriminating mind, our original sin that began with the fruit of the tree of Good and Evil in the beginning of the world. This means to see things as they are without discriminating, which is to realise that everything is empty. When realising that everything is empty, we can see everything as one as emptiness. Then, we can truly understand what ‘John 14:20, When the day comes, you will know that I am in my Father and that I am in you just as you are in me’ means. This means that we are one with God and Jesus.
To sum up, to turn from our sins is to realise that everything is empty and that we are one with God and Jesus. To realise that death is empty is to avoid dying.
©Boo Ahm
All writing ©Boo Ahm. All images ©Simon Hathaway
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