Did Kobe Bryant Deserve to Die?

Unless you have been “under a rock” you are aware of the untimely passing of Kobe Bryant last Sunday in a helicopter crash. I have heard multiple commentaries on the event. Some have suggested that such an event as this has not gripped our country since September 11^th, 2001. It is tragic, a famous athlete with four daughters and wife dying unexpectedly at the age of 41. 

Indeed, our hearts grieve and we pray for Bryant’s wife, the three surviving daughters, and the other families of the other seven persons killed in the same wreck.

But in all the talk, one of the commentaries I heard said this, “He (Bryant) did not deserve this.” 

That statement has been stuck in my head since I first heard it on Monday, “He did not deserve this.” I think I know what the commentator was saying. That this was not a self-induced death.  We have all witnessed athletes, actors, musicians, and even friends or family members who left us all too soon due to decisions they made that were “literally” deadly.

This was not the case with Bryant. But did he deserve this? Well, to answer we need to realize the cardinal truth that all of humanity (rich, poor, famous, obscure) are sinners and the Bible teaches “the wages of sin is death.” (Romans 6:23) Everyone will die, the only question is how?  That is the only difference.

Everyone has sinned. Yes, the argument can be made that some have more than others, but the Bible also teaches that if you are guilty of breaking one commandment, you are guilty of all (James 2:10). So, in light of that, we are all equally deserving of the total wrath and anger of God.

Why is God so angry? Because He is a Holy God who has never tolerated or tasted any form of sin in Himself, us or His Son. Yet His Son “for our sake was made to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (II Corinthians 5:21). When God’s own Son was made to be sin, the wrath of God came upon Him. It even “pleased the Lord to crush Him.” (Isaiah 53:10)

Here is the point. If God did not spare His own Son, then He will not spare Kobe Bryant, Donald Trump, Mother Teresa, you or I. So, our only hope is to turn to God in repentance of our sin and our self-efforts to save ourselves and trust only in the finished and complete work of Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. And if anyone will do that, they shall be saved.

If the news tomorrow is of your death, are you ready to meet God? The great news is that you can be by turning to Jesus today.