Read Luke 13:1-9 with your family.

Often when Jesus is asked a question he does not answer it. Or when he does answer he is talking about something different from the original question.

In this story we hear about 18 people crushed when a stone tower collapsed. We do not know anything about this tower or where it might have been, but there is a Pool of Siloam south of the Temple where people gathered when they first came to visit Jerusalem. People who wanted to visit the temple would first go to the Pool of Siloam to wash themselves because they had to be clean going into the Temple. So maybe the Tower of Siloam was beside that pool, and when it collapsed the people killed would have been on their way to pray.

So the question asked is: were those people killed by the tower worse people than the rest of us so the tower collapsed on them as a special punishment by God?

Jesus did not answer that question. Instead he told them we all have to improve our behaviour and make better choices.

Bad things happen to good people and bad people, and we have no way to prepare for that. But poor behaviour does mean that we are not helping to make this world a good place for everyone. And poor behaviour is a choice.