Hurricanes are no respector of people, frankly. They blow on the just and the unjust. Jesus was clear that the suffering of the innocent was not necessarily because sin.
Take the account in Luke 13:1-5, for example:
1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or 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? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (NIV)
In some sense all disasters emanate from the curse of humankind in Gen. 3. In another sense, it’s undoubtedly true that we do reap what we sow. (If you smoke for 30 years, for example, you may indeed have to pay the piper, and he may exact a huge price.) Sometimes, sadly, we reap what we did not sow. In Luke 13, Jesus was clear that the grusome killings in the temple did not occur because those unfortunate souls were worse than anyone else. I feel he’d say the same thing about those in the path of a ferocious hurricane.
Jesus used the murders in the temple, not to cast aspersions on those who suffered, but instead to tell the survivors that they had better get their hearts right before God. No one knows his time. Indeed, today is the day of salvation. Thus, today is a good day to repent!
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