Over Our Fruitlessness

Repentance: The Sweetest Fruit

3.20.22 [Luke 13:1-9] River of Life (3rd Sunday in Lent)

What do you think about what’s going on? I had never met the man on the phone who asked me that question. But that wasn’t why I was at a loss over what to say. I didn’t know what to say because I didn’t know what he was referring to. Do you ever get questions like that?

In this case, he was vague because he was including everything. COVID. Ukraine. Inflation. A handful of other things, too. He wanted to know if I thought this was a sign of the end times.

With so many things going on in this world right now, so many people wants answers. They want explanations. They want you to connect the dots. Maybe I get a little bit more of that coming my way because I get the privilege of serving as a full-time pastor, but I suspect you hear it more than a little bit, too. What do you think about what’s going on?

That’s why I’m really grateful for God’s Word to us in Luke. Luke 12 begins with Jesus speaking with (Lk. 12:1) a crowd of thousands. He warns them about hypocrisy and hell, greed and worry. Jesus tells them to be watchful and faithful—serving the Lord their God in all they think, say, and do. He tells them the days ahead will not be peaceful, but filled with strife and trouble. He encourages them to spend more energy on their spiritual future than the weather.

Some in that crowd begin to discuss the things that were going on. Some Galileans had gone to Jerusalem to worship and they had been killed by Pontius Pilate’s men. Evidently the whole thing was so brutal and barbaric that (Lk. 13:1) their blood had been mixed with the blood of some sacrificial animals in the Temple.

Of course, this issue was politically charged. Pontius Pilate was everything that was wrong with Rome in the minds of many Israelites. The Galileans weren’t highly respected—and many were political zealots who rebelled against Roman tyranny. But the question that was troubling most folks was the nature of their death. They had been in the Temple, offering sacrifices to the Lord when Pilate had them struck down. Why did this happen?

In our day, we are far more likely to think of these Galileans as innocent victims and consider Pilate’s actions to be an atrocity. Today, we might wonder: Where was God? Why didn’t he step in & stop this?

But Jesus’ answer to the crowd leads us down a different path, doesn’t it? He asks: (Lk. 13:2) Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? For this crowd, there was no question of Where was God? It happened in the Temple! Of course God was there! If they did wonder: Why didn’t he stop this? their answer was because these people deserved to suffer in this way.

Two thousand years later, that opinion might seem offensive. Vile. Heartless, even. I won’t argue with you if you feel that way.

But might I ask you a question? Today, people live longer than back then. Today, we are far less likely to be the victims of violent crimes or suffer anything like this. These are good things. Peace and safety and human flourishing are all blessings from above. Why is it, when we have so many more gifts from above, today, that we are more likely to wonder if God is active in our world?

As Jesus answers this question, he strips away all the political baggage of Rome and Pilate and the Temple and the Galileans. He asks them about a disaster in Jerusalem—when a tower in Siloam fell and eighteen people died. (Lk. 13:4) Do you think that these people were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?

Jesus asks these two questions because, in the minds of his hearers, the answer was yes. Some put themselves in a bad spot and got what they deserved. Others maybe didn’t seem like they were so bad, but they must have secretly been more wicked than the rest.

Jesus’ answer was different. (Lk. 13:3,5) I tell you: no! That part doesn’t confuse us. It’s the next sentence that does. And it’s the next sentence that is most important to God and for us. Twice Jesus says: (Lk. 13:3,5) But unless you repent, you, too, will all perish.

What good would repentance do if Roman soldiers are hunting you down? What kind of protection does repentance offer when a tower is crashing down on you? But this isn’t Jesus’ point. He isn’t saying, these people weren’t repentant and that’s why they died tragically. Jesus is saying that atrocities and disasters should call you to repentance. They only happen because this world has been malfunctioning since Adam and Eve fell into temptation in the Garden of Eden. They were never part of God’s original design.

Bad and sad things happen in this world because of sin. Yes, disobedience can bring about disaster, but not every tragedy can be traced back to some specific transgression. Yet, every death—whether by falling sword, tower, or falling asleep and not waking up—is the byproduct of sin. (Rm. 6:23) The wages of sin is death.

Jesus wants us to recognize that we will all die. Some of us tragically young. Others will live longer than we ever thought we would. But we will all die, because we are all sinful.

At the same time Jesus calls us to repentance lest we perish. Lest all the blessings that we have received in and through this life be squandered on us. He wants us to realize that (Rm. 2:4) God’s kindness is also intended to lead us to repentance. God tells us that catastrophes & his kindness have the same goal: repentance.

This is the whole reason for our lives. That we recognize how often we go astray. That we realize that our hearts are not pure. That we come to grips with the fact that God (Ps. 103:10) does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.

Imagine if God did that just for the sin of deceit. Imagine if, like Pinocchio, your nose grew every time you told a lie. Would anyone have ever hired you? Would anyone help you? Would anyone be your friend? Would your spouse stand by your side? And that’s just one of the 10 commandments! God does not treat us as our sins deserve. Not because he isn’t just. But because he had another plan.

That plan is what Jesus speaks about in his parable about the fig tree in the vineyard. For far too long, we, live like that fig tree. God blesses us with good, cultivated soil—blessings we can’t take any credit for. And what does he want? Repentance. And what do we do? Nothing.

But here comes this gardener. And he goes to bat for that worthless fig tree. He asks for time. He promises he is going to work with it. He is going to get his hands dirty. He is going to Lk. 13:8 fertilize it, even, which seems foolish & wasteful when you remember it’s produced nothing.

This caretaker is none other than the Christ who’s telling this parable. Jesus has gone to bat for fruitless folks like us. He is patient with us. He takes no pleasure in cutting us down. He doesn’t want to dig us up and throw us out. Only because he is merciful. Not because we have shown him some potential. Only because, as the gardener, his heart is bent towards seeing his plants flourish. So he carefully digs around us. He methodically fertilizes us so that we will bear the sweet fruit of repentance. If we won’t, then eventually, we will be cut down.

The work that Jesus does to bring us to repentance is far more demanding than the picture this parable offers. Digging around a fig tree would be back-breaking work. Fertilizing was a dirty job, too. But Jesus did more. He put our guilt & sin on his back. Not just the shameful things we’ve done that we’re sure no one else knows. But even our righteous deeds. Jesus knows that the root of those righteous acts is not any different than our shameful sins. We were serving ourselves. But the Son of Man did not come to serve himself, (Mk. 10:45) but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many. Jesus didn’t just get his hands dirty, he got them bloody because that’s what our sins really deserved. Is. 53:5 He was pierced for our transgressions. He died the death we have all earned. Pilate’s people executed the Son of Man during the Passover. The tower of our transgressions came crashing down on the Son of God.

When you and I consider what happened to Jesus on Good Friday, we should be mortified. This is what we deserved. This is what the wrath of God looks like. And this is only the tip of the iceberg. We cannot even begin to fathom what it means to be totally forsaken by the Lord. We can not even begin to understand what hell is really like.

And we don’t have to. On Good Friday, we also see God’s love. Yes, we should fear experiencing the righteous repercussions for our sins. But that won’t lead us to repentance. Only seeing, knowing, and trusting in God’s love can move us to run to the Lord we have sinned against. And we do, because the Jesus who died for what we have done, has said: (Mt. 11:28) Come to me all you who are weary and I will give you rest.

If we didn’t know and trust God’s love, we would never run to him for forgiveness, for rest, or for eternal salvation. But we do, because we know his mercy, his undeserved love, his unmatched patience, and his unrivaled sacrifice. Repentance is the sweet fruit God loves. Repentance is the sweet fruit that God work to produce in us.

That is what God wants. So the next time, someone asks you what you think of what’s going on—whether it’s good or bad—you’ll know the answer. God allows bad things to happen in this world to peel back the veneer of our vain thoughts. In atrocities and tragedies and disaster we see what this world would be like without him, without his protection and his love. We are all sinful and because of that this world is aching & groaning. Horrible atrocities & terrible tragedies will continue to happen.

God also blesses us with many kindnesses because he wants us to know his love. God desires that our whole lives—when things are going well and well, when things are falling apart—to be marked by repentance. A constant recognition of our sinful nature’s power and a continual confidence in God’s willingness and ability to forgive. May God bless us with such clarity and confidence to always produce the fruit he loves most. Repentance. Amen.