Jesus refuses to bolster the illusion that we protect ourselves by good and faithful living. …He dismisses that assumption by ignoring [the inquirers’] question. What Jesus does do is recognize [their] vulnerability, their feeling of being small and fragile, which comes from their fear and sorrow.

…One of the things that makes a falling tower, a crashing bus, a sudden illness, accident, or unexplained death so shattering is that it gives us each a glimpse of our own mortality,…of how fragile we are,…how tentative and brief our lives. “Knowing how fragile you are, how do you stand with God?” He says to repent and turn the occasion into a new beginning, a deeper walk with God, and a life more wisely and more fully lived.

from Breathing New Life into Lent, vol. 3, by John R. Prichard, Jr., et al