The movie Gladiator opens with the Roman General Maximus giving an order to “unleash hell” on the extremely outnumbered and outgunned people of Germania. A gruesome massacre happens after.
For some reason, people interpret passages like Luke 13:1-5 (please read) as referring to a hell in the afterlife. But what Jesus is telling His listeners there is that unless they repent, they will also perish like the Galilean insurgents Pilate executed. He is not talking about eternal damnation when they die but about what they can avoid right now in this life so they won’t end up like those Galileans. He is saying that unless they turn away from their angry and violent ways of revolution and follow His way of peace, they will die violently as well. Sadly, they didn’t listen and their calamity came upon them 4 decades later; hell was literally unleashed on them. Jesus foresaw their enemies not leaving one stone upon another in their city. The Romans accomplished that by catapulting huge flaming boulders into them, just like in the above-mentioned movie, killing several hundred thousand and turning Jerusalem into a vividly real hell.
He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. But blessed are the meek and the peacemakers for they will inherit the kingdom of God. May we heed Jesus’ words for our own good.
