Grace and Peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in the truth, for His word is truth. Amen

The Third Sunday in Lent (2010)

Repentance, the Important Issue Rev. Toby Byrd

Luke 13:1-9 (ESV)

There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [2] And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? [3] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [4] Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? [5] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

[6] And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. [7] And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' [8] And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. [9] Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.' "

Just what is God’s explanation of a righteous man? We read in Ezekiel 18:5-9 (ESV) "If a man . . . . . does not eat upon the mountains or lift up his eyes to the idols of the house of Israel, does not defile his neighbor's wife or approach a woman in her time of menstrual impurity, does not oppress anyone, but restores to the debtor his pledge, commits no robbery, gives his bread to the hungry and covers the naked with a garment, does not lend at interest or take any profit, withholds his hand from injustice, executes true justice between man and man, walks in my statutes, and keeps my rules by acting faithfully—he is righteous; he shall surely live, declares the Lord God.” However, God also tells us, “Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins” (Eccles. 7:20 ESV). St. Paul also reminds us, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23 ESV).

Sadly, these words of God ring hollow for most men. The world does not accept God’s Word as a standard for life and therefore most men are great at beating their chest, proclaiming their goodness. In fact, much of man’s energy is exerted in obtaining what the world calls righteous. But what the world calls righteous is foreign to God’s description of righteousness. Rather than obtaining that which God calls righteous, the world chases after arrogance and pride; two attributes of man which God declares as sin. “The fear of the Lord is hatred of evil. Pride and arrogance and the way of evil and perverted speech I hate” (Proverbs 8:13 ESV) and again, “Scoffer" is the name of the arrogant, haughty man who acts with arrogant pride” (Proverbs 21:24 ESV). Therefore, the Holy Spirit, through the prophet Ezekiel warns, “Though I say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be remembered, but in his injustice that he has done he shall die” (Ezekiel 33:13 ESV).

Too often, trusting in our righteousness leads us to look at others as something less than righteous. Such is the case in the Gospel Reading for today.

A group of people come to Jesus with a report about the plight of some Galileans who had brought their sacrifices to the Temple only to be murdered there by Pilate’s soldiers. This was truly a great sacrilege to the Jews. Not only did these Gentiles desecrate the Temple by entering the Court of the Priest which surrounded the Sanctuary, but there, next to the great altar, they brutally murdered these Galileans and because of their proximity to the altar, the blood of these victims mingled with the blood of the animal sacrifice thereby desecrating the sacrifice as well. This news was reported to Jesus, not because of the blasphemous deed done by Pilate and his men, (for Pilate was well known for his atrocities and his desecration of Jewish customs and places of worship) but because of the violent death of the Galileans. Those who brought the report to Jesus believed that these Galileans had committed some grievous and great sin and therefore, God had sent a destroyer to kill them.

All too often we hear similar comments regarding worldly catastrophes. Some have offered opinions that the earthquake in Haiti was an avenging act of God because of that countries lawlessness and propensity to Voodoo worship. Others have opined that the earthquake in Chile is also the result of God’s anger with the world. Pick a natural disaster, tsunamis, tornados, hurricanes, blizzards, avalanche, floods, etc., it matters not, there will always be someone who will claim it is a sign of God’s wrath upon a sinful generation. Just turn the TV to some of the religious channels and you will readily find all sorts who are eager to claim God’s wrath as being apparent in the disaster and that the disaster is a certain sign of His quick return. It is all too easy to recall the drum beat of preaching that declared the United States as an apostate nation and therefore God sent the Muslims to kill all who they killed on September 11, 2001. Looking for bad in others is a favorite pastime of those who consider themselves righteous. However, in most cases this perceived superiority is little more than self-righteousness.

Thus, when the group came to Jesus and told Him of the tragedy at the Temple, Jesus said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (vv. 2-3). Our Lord answers in this way in order to reverse the idea that the murdered Galileans were guilty of some heinous sin. In fact, His response is intended to get them to think of their own sin and to learn how they may be delivered from their sin before it is too late; before their deaths. Thus, our Lord opens their hearts and minds to the truth that Repentance is the Important Issue.

To drive His point home even further, Jesus asks, “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (vv. 4-5). The tower in Siloam collapsed most probably because of disrepair and those near it were buried in its rubble, killing eighteen. Calamity, disaster, or tragedy does not signify that God is necessarily angry with a group of people or not. Rather, because of sin and its effect, death; such instantaneous events can occur at any moment in time, taking our lives. Although the effect of sin is death, God gives us a way of escape; a way of facing death without flinching.

In His response to the news of the dead Galileans, our Lord does not choose to solve the mystery but rather He points to the need of repentance that lies in occurrences of these kinds through His parable of the fruitless fig tree. In this parable, Jesus shows us how God spares His people so that they may have ample time for repentance while also warning that we should not allow that time to pass in impenitence.

In the parable our Lord speaks of a man who has a fig tree planted in his vineyard; a tree from which he expects to get fruit. Clearly in this opening line we see the images of God (the man), Israel (the vineyard) and the fig tree (Jerusalem). I also think it is not allegorizing too much if one today were to apply the Church to the vineyard and the local congregation even the individual member to the fig tree.

Jesus explains, after the man finds no fruit, he says to the vinedresser, “Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?” (v.7). The owner is a patient man, but three years without the tree bearing fruit obviously means the tree is terminally barren. Why spend any more time or money in trying to get it to bear fruit? The owners patients has run its course and He can only come to one conclusion; It must be a bad tree, so cut it down!

As was the way of our Lord Jesus, He often used contemporary props to get His point across to the people. Here, the fruit of the fig tree is the true repentance of Jerusalem. We remember so vividly the words of our Lord as He prepared to enter Jerusalem for the last time, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you would not!” (Matthew 23:37 ESV). How often Jesus desired to grant His mercy, love, and forgiveness upon God’s Holy city, yet the residents were not willing. Moreover, our Lord is always willing to grant His mercy, love, and forgiveness to us, but all too often we are not willing to turn to Him in repentance and confess our sins. We are blessed that He is able to wait patiently for us to bear the fruit of repentance, however, His patience has limits, and the time He provides is not unlimited.

Answering His Master, the vinedresser says “‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down’ ” (vv. 8-9). Our Lord Jesus intercedes for you and me with His heavenly Father. Give the sinner more time. Let Me prepare their hearts with Your precious Word, the Gospel. Let Me fertilize and water the seed of faith, which You put in their heart through the Sacrament of Baptism, with My body and blood given in Holy Communion, let me comfort them with the assurance of forgiveness I pronounced in Absolution. Let Me send to them the Holy Spirit to lead them away from the world and to Your altar to receive these soul saving blessings, Your means of Grace. Then, if these efforts do not produce the fruit of repentance We will know that they are not a live tree but only a dead branch, fit only for the fire.

In the Old Testament Reading for today God is instructing all pastors through the pen of Ezekiel. He says, “So you, son of man, I have made a watchman for the house of Israel. Whenever you hear a word from my mouth, you shall give them warning from me” (Ezekiel 33:7 ESV). It is clear, all who have been called into the office of the Holy Ministry are required to proclaim God’s Word, both its Law and Gospel. However, these must be rightly divided and never confused or mingled as was the blood of the Galileans with the blood of the sacrifice. The Law warns ever sinner, “Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?” (Ezekiel 33:10 ESV). Sin is debilitating and eventually fatal. Oh it’s not the fatality of the flesh that concerns God, but the fatality of eternal death; that which consigns the sinner to an existence in hell for eternity; a prospect in which God takes no pleasure. Moreover, the righteousness of a righteous man will not save him from his sin. Only through true repentance, which leads to seeking God’s forgiveness through confession, can one expect to be delivered from the consequence of sin.

In showing us our sin, the Law convicts us and shows us there is nowhere we can turn to undo the sentence of death that is the consequence of our sin. It shows us the impossibility of saving ourselves. No one can be made righteous and saved from the eternal fires of hell by their works or deeds. Only God can overcome the result of sin and this He did through His Son, our Lord, Jesus Christ.

The apostle Paul makes it abundantly clear, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor. 5:21 ESV). How do we become the righteousness of God? Through faith in Jesus Christ; faith that has come to know He alone redeemed us, by His crucifixion and death He saved us from sin and reconciled us to His Heavenly Father. Furthermore, St. Paul writes, “For as by the one man's disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man's obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:19 ESV). St. Paul also tells us, “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe” (Romans 3:21-22 ESV). Faith brings about righteousness.

There is only One who has always been righteous, our Lord, Jesus Christ. He alone knows the will of God and He alone fulfilled it. He alone leads His Church to proclaim the forgiveness of sins in His name. The blood of the Galileans was mingled with the blood of sacrificed animals; the blood of our Lord, Jesus Christ was shed by the same Pilate, but it was the will of His heavenly Father who from eternity had called for His Son’s blood to flow from the altar of the cross to atone for the sins of the world. His death brought eternal life to all who believe. His death brings peace and strength to all who are in Him and all who die in Him.

Because our Lord was victorious in death, there is now no reason to fear death. The apostle Paul says it clearly, “When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written: "Death is swallowed up in victory." "O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?" The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Cor. 15:54-57 ESV). Thanks indeed, for a day will come when the faith that fills our heart will be rewarded with the hope of heaven and eternal bliss. However, that reward is not possible without repentance; Repentance is the Important Issue. Repent and live for eternity. Amen.

May the Peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen