One of the reasons for accepting and embracing a religion is this age-old need for protection and security in a world where violence and hostility seem so common.
And the violence and hostility have often resulted in the shedding of innocent blood. So the violence and hostility are directed at innocent and defenseless people who have no means to avert it or to stop it.
That makes people realise that they need God to watch over them (despite whatever human security measures there might be) and protection from unforeseen dangers and snares.
But in recent times, even places of prayer and worship don’t seem to be safe any longer. Churches have been bombed and attacked and worshippers were killed.
Last week, in New Zealand, two mosques were attacked by gunmen and a number were killed and wounded.
So where once it was unthinkable, now the evil of hostility and violence has attacked the sacred spaces of prayer and worship and also shed innocent blood.
Putting it plainly and starkly, evil has attacked the House of God and shed blood on holy ground. Where once it was unthinkable, now that is the reality and it is causing anxiety and fear and the faith is shaken. Just yesterday, a priest was stabbed during Mass at a Canadian church and it was live-streamed on TV. It was shocking, but thanks be to God, the priest only suffered minor upper body injuries.
So can we feel safe anymore as we come to church to pray and worship. Will God protect us from the evil of hostility, violence and terrorism? Does God know? And if He knows, why is He not doing anything to stop this evil and those who are doing it?
In the gospel, we hear of something very disturbing and disgusting. Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices.
There were not many details about it but it can be certain that it was an occult ritual.
But Jesus didn’t seem to address this aspect of evil. Rather, He addressed the aspect of sin. He said that those Galileans who were killed were not more sinful than the rest of the other Galileans, nor were those 18 who were killed when the tower of Siloam collapsed on them.
The Galileans and those 18 were killed not because they were more sinful than the rest. Nor were those who died from terrorism attacks. They were certainly not more sinful than the rest.
And then Jesus gets to the point as He says: But unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.
And we should be bewildered. So here we are telling Jesus about this rampant evil of hostility, violence and terrorism, and He tells us that we should repent.
Of course we will protest. Jesus should make those evil people repent, and maybe tell us to forgive them. But why is He telling us to repent?
And here is where we have to turn back to the 1st and 2nd readings to understand why Jesus is telling us to repent.
The 1st reading tells us that God saw the miserable state of His people in Egypt. He heard their appeal to be free of their slave-drivers. He was aware of their sufferings and He intended to do something.
So He called out to Moses and gave him the mission to deliver His people out of the hands of the Egyptians and bring them to the Promised Land.
So God sees, God hears, God knows and God will act. And He told Moses that the people just had to invoke the name of the Lord God and He would come to their help and deliver them and be their Protector.
So all was well and good until the 2nd reading tells us that though God led His people through the desert and provided food and drink for them as they went, most of them failed to please God and their corpses littered the desert.
The 2nd reading continues: These things all happened as warnings for us, not to have the wicked lusts for forbidden things that they had. You must never complain as some of them did, and they were killed by the Destroyer.
It ends off by giving us this warning: The man who thinks he is safe must be careful that he does not fall.
So what God wants of us is our obedience and faithfulness. But when we sin, we create openings for evil to enter into our lives and in doing so, we become like those who complained and then perished in the desert.
Our sins will also weaken the faith of the Church and the threats of the evil of hostility, violence and terrorism becomes greater. It can be observed that as the faith of the Church grows weaker, the threat of the evil of terrorism becomes stronger.
Our safety is not just in tight security measures or having heavily-armed security personnel. Our safety and security lies in our obedience and faithfulness to God who is our Protector and Saviour.
It is said that evil can only thrive when the good do nothing about it. And evil will thrive as long as the faith of the Church is weak.
So let us heed the call of Jesus to repent. Let us renounce our sins, go for Confession, be faithful and obedient and call upon the name of the Lord to protect us and God will protect us and save us. That is His promise to us.