Untitled Sermon (14)

Scripture Introduction:

Let me tell you a story about Anne. Anne lived in a time period when women were banned from participating in worship services. All they could really do was listen and then gather together after the service and discuss the sermon. But Anne was a really good Bible teacher. And her women’s religious study groups began to grow and grow and grow. She had to add another meeting.

Things were going well but after a season Anne started questioning some of the teaching of the local pastors. Anne took issue with ministers who suggested that people need to display their faith, perform good deeds, and act as a decent Puritan should in order to show that they have been saved. She said that salvation was by grace alone.

Anne was breaking several very clear rules. She was not listening to the authorities. She was not doing what was proper for citizens in the new colony. It was disrupting everything. Things got really bad in 1636 when she walked out of the meetinghouse and several other ladies followed her. By 1637 she’d be facing a trial..her fate decided by forty men. She was, unsurprisingly, found guilty of stirring up disunity and of teaching error. She was exiled from the new colony and had to seek refuge in Rhode Island. While there she was scalped by a band of Siwanoy warriors.

We are meaning makers. And so what are you doing with this story? Some might be thinking that this was such a silly thing for her to do. Why not just do what she was supposed to do—maintain law and order, don’t be disobedient to the authorities in her life. Others, might be thinking that she was treated unjustly, she needs to be fought for, some are just mourning tragedy. Others are thinking...”I need some more information...”

Another story. A rickety bridge is up in town. Signs are posted everywhere that says, “Danger. Do not Cross. Do not trespass. Do not go on the bridge. Danger. Danger. Danger.” But a group of teens decide one day that this is a pretty cool hang out. They play on the bridge. It collapses. They all die.

We are meaning makers. So what are you doing with this story. Blaming the kids? Blaming their parents? Blaming the city for having not demolished the bridge? What do you do with this story?

What do we do with a story of tragedy? How do we respond? How did you respond on 9/11 when the two towers fell? How do you respond during a global pandemic? How do you respond to local tragedy? To personal tragedy?

Let’s hear how Jesus responds when he’s told of a tragic situation.

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. And he answered 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. 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.” 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. 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?’ And he answered him, ‘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.’ ”

Sermon Introduction:

I think as I’ve read this passage in the past I’ve been a bit guilty of bringing some assumptions to this passage. If you read it one way it can almost seem like Jesus is incredibly insensitive to their suffering. You’ve got someone who is hurting, confused, asking questions, doubting...

Remember some of the questions you had after 9/11. Some of the pain you felt. The confusion. Imagine coming to the Lord with that pain.

Or even now…you’re living in a pandemic. Suffering people. Maybe even lost loved ones. Life has been changed. You have tragedy. You come to Jesus…you tell him your pain. Take your pain to Jesus…a situation that happened and you’re really wrestling with…and how does he respond?

“repent, or you too will perish.” Worry about spiritual stuff. Don’t worry about these temporary things. As if Jesus is just glossing right over our pain. He’s telling us to worry about the spiritual stuff and not our present day suffering. He stares tragedy in the face and says—if you think that’s hot…well just think about a devil’s hell.

And we could, I suppose read this text that way. But is that really what is happening in this passage? Are the people coming to him with deep pain and confusion? Or is there something else going on here?

Let’s look at the context here for a moment…what is happening. The immediate context is saying “The master is coming and the servants are going to be called to give an account. You must be ready. The wise person will settle debts now. Don’t be like the guy with the bigger barns—who centered his life on self-fulfillment and self-focus rather than working for others to flourish, who had no concern for God or his kingdom. Don’t be like that guy.

Now “at that very time” that’s what Luke wants us to see “at that very time” some people told him about these Galileans who were slain by Pilate and their blood mixed with sacrifices. What’s going on there? What is that story?

It’s nowhere else in the Bible. So we can’t say anything too definitively. Historically when we have a question like this a good place to turn is to Josephus…he was a Jewish historian during this time. Not much is said about this. So then we turn to some of the early church Fathers…and here we find something interesting.

Most of them pin this on the Galileans for not worship properly. They were breaking rules…especially Caesar’s rules. They weren’t following the authorities. Cryil of Alexandria seems to accuse them of just being bullheaded and conspiring against the government and being wrong. Another said that it was Pilate making some sort of amends for what Herod had done to John the Baptist.

But what is happening I think is similar to what we saw at the beginning with Anne Hutchison. It’s a story that is causing some consternation with the people. Did this guys die because they were idiots? Did they die because they were disobedient? Did they die because they were worse sinners than others? Was this God’s judgment against them?

It’s a perfect transition to what Jesus just said. Punishment happens to those who are not ready for the Master’s coming. Judgment happens.

“Do you think they were worse sinners....”

Now where does that come from? That would have been the assumption. That was how they answered these questions of tragedy. This bad stuff happened to these people as judgment. So are they bringing this to Jesus to try to have some questions answered? OR are they still coming to him to try to trap him?

If he says—”Pilate is wrong…that was a mess. I think they did the right thing. Then what is happening? He’s putting himself against Rome and he’s in danger.”

If he says--”these Galileans are wrong…they shouldn’t have been doing that…then Jesus is siding with Rome, he’s going against so much that the Jewish people believed in.”

So what are they doing? They are using this tragedy of other people to try to trip Jesus up. They are using this to try to trap him. This isn’t a question of pain—this is a question meant to trip Jesus up.

But what does Jesus do? He turns the tables. He doesn’t answer their question but he does turn it back on them and on their very own souls. He pops a hole in that whole way of thinking…bad things happen to bad people. If something really bad happens then they must be awful people. That’s not true, Jesus says. They aren’t any worse of sinners than you.

Unless you repent you likewise will perish. Now what does this mean?

You will ALL. None are innocent. These Galileans aren’t innocent. The ones with the falling tower aren’t innocent. But you aren’t either. Nobody is innocent.

What does he mean here that they will “likewise” perish. Die in the same way. Is he saying unless you repent—you’re going to have a tower fall on you, or you are going to be murdered while offering sacrifices? He can’t say that about the Galileans and the tower of Siloam. That wouldn’t make any sense.

And it can’t even mean just physical death. Because if that was the case then what we’d see is that if you repent then you won’t ever die a physical death. So what does it mean?

I think Piper does well here:

Sermons from John Piper (1980–1989) Unless You Repent You Will All Likewise Perish

I think he means something like this: you see what a horrible end those people came to; they didn’t think it was going to happen. O they knew they were going to die someday; but they didn’t know what that would mean. The horror of their end took them by surprise. Well unless you repent, that is the way it is going to be for you. Your end will be far more horrible than you think it is. You will not be ready for it. It will surprise you terribly. In that sense you will LIKEWISE perish.

I think you could easily connect this back to the guy with the big barns. It came on him suddenly. That’s the thread through this whole passage.

And perish isn’t just dying physically. That’s not what it means in a place like John 3:16

John 3:16 ESV

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

It’s contrasted to eternal life. Repentance leads to eternal life. Not repenting means that unexpectedly you’ll perish. And so Jesus takes

This is what we like to do…tragedy ought to lead us to repentance, it ought to make us inward…but wicked people will use stories to benefit self. Let me show you this.

Listen to these words:

Today Christianity stands at the head of this country…I pledge that I will never tie myself to those who want to destroy Christianity…We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit—we want to burn out all the recent immoral development in literature, theater, the arts and in the press…In short, we want to burn out the poison of immorality which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of liberal excess the past…few years.

Those are good words, right. And what if I told you they were words given to a country that had been beat down and had lost its identity. The people were starving. They were being oppressed. Punished for things done in the past. This message was a “rise up” type of message. A rousing speech. A champion fighting for marginalized people—rise up, be proud, it’s a new day.

The words quoted above are from Adolf Hitler. And they resonated with hurting people. Tragedy that was taking place in Germany. Good words in the hands of a wicked person. He uses the tragedy taking place in Germany in order to propel himself. To create a master race. To punish those he saw as enemies. To build an empire to his own glory.

I think some of that same thing is happening here in this story. Tragedy is being used for a wicked end. It sounds like good words. It sounds like concern. “Jesus, speak to this tragedy…give us some answers Jesus…but underneath is a trap”.

What Jesus is doing with tragedy is he isn’t using it to serve himself. He’s using it to actually help others—his using it for a good end. They are trying to use a tragedy to score points, trap Jesus, have a gotcha question…using other peoples pain for themselves. But not Jesus. He turns it back on them.

And we see this in the parable that Jesus tells next. That tells us that we are on the right path in interpreting that first part.

A fig tree isn’t producing what it ought to be. It’s deceptive. We’ve seen this in other places with Jesus when he curses the fig tree. He’s used this before as a sign of hypocrisy. They seem to be a favorite picture of the Lord. It’s what the first couple hid behind....fig leaves.

God is seeking fruit from his people. What the nation ought to be…self-giving, flourishing, Garden of Eden stuff.

But what does he find…no fruit. Cut it down. It’s using up ground.

But the vinedresser pleads…give me another year. And if after this there is no fruit…then, yeah, cut it down. What is happening here?

Christ is the vindresser. He is saying to the nation they are being given another opportunity to repent. Tragedy in the Old Testament. You see this in Isaiah. You see it in Jeremiah. You see it in Hosea. Time and time again…tragedy happens. And it’s meant to turn people back to God. To consider their ways. To look inwardly. To realize that we aren’t any better than the person who had this tragic loss.

And yet God continues to pour out his grace. Jesus the vindresser…I love how John Bunyan speaks to this

Luke, Volumes 1 & 2 Stay of Excution

Thus, I say, deals the Lord Jesus ofttimes with the barren professor; He diggeth about him, He smiteth one blow at his heart, another blow at his lusts, a third at his pleasures, a fourth at his comforts, another at his self-conceitedness: thus He diggeth about him. This is the way to take bad earth from the roots, and to loosen his roots from the earth. Barren fig-tree! See here the care, the love, the labor, and way, which the Lord Jesus, the Dresser of the vineyard, is fair to take with thee, if haply thou mayest be made fruitful.

It’s interesting that wicked people use soft words to do bad things. Here Christ is using harsh words to do a good thing. He’s really going after this fig tree. Getting in there. Painful root work. Ouch. But he’s doing it for growth to happen. It’s an act of grace.

Yes, Christ uses harsh words with the Pharisees. Yes, there are tragedies. But what do we do with these stories? Do they lead us to repentance?

Application: