Luke 13:1–9

3rd Sunday in Lent

¹There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. ²And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? ³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. ⁴Or 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? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." ⁶And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. ⁷And 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?' ⁸And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. ⁹Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

A week ago last Thursday, 8 high school students lost their lives in Enterprise, Alabama, when a tornado ripped through their school at 10 minutes after 1:00 pm. On Sunday, February 11, at 2:20 a.m. 4 Oswego High School students were killed in a tragic car accident. Why do these things happen? Were these kids being punished by God?

On August 29, 2005, Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast of the United States. Over 1800 people lost their lives due to the storm. One of the largest natural disasters ever in the United States. Why? Some Evangelical Church leaders said it was God’s punishment on New Orleans for their annual Gay Rights Parade. Others said it was punishment on the United States for its support of the policies of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel. Others said it was the earth punishing the U. S. for not signing the Kyoto Treaty.

Whatever the reason for these tragic losses of life, these are neither the first nor will they be the last time disasters to befall mankind and takes the lives of hundreds or even thousands of people at once.

The Jews in the time of Jesus also wrestled with the same questions about suffering and disasters that we do. So when one such disaster struck in Jerusalem they came to Jesus with questions. On this occasion several Galileans were offering their Passover lambs for the sacrifice in the Temple. Pilate ordered his soldiers to enter and kill them. It was a virtual bloodbath, and literally the blood of these Galilean pilgrims was mingled with the blood of the animals they were sacrificing.

To be sure, many of the people who brought this to Jesus had hopes that he would condemn Pilate and the Roman Government for their brutality. They were hoping for a Messiah who would raise up an army and overthrow the Romans. Perhaps this event was the needle that would brake the camel’s back that they needed to start a rebellion.

Almost everyone in the crowd was thinking that God was punishing these people. That was the popular theology of the time, as it is in our time. The Jews of Jerusalem thought little of Galileans and this was surely God’s punishment on them for some particular sin they had committed.

But Jesus had a completely different interpretation. He spoke not a single word against the Roman Government nor against Pontius Pilate. Nor did He say it was punishment by God on those people for any specific sin. Jesus just asked them the question: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” It was a rhetorical question. He knew that, that was what they were thinking.

“No!” he said, “but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” He completely rejected their thinking on this issue. He completely smashed to pieces the idea that such a disaster was punishment on specific people for specific sins. What it was, he told them, was an example of God’s wrath on sin. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” We all deserve the same fate. Whether we suffer such a disaster in this life or not, we all face an even worse fate at the end of our lives if we do not repent and believe in Jesus Christ. They were wrong to think that they were somehow better than the people who suffered such a disaster.

But we have the same problem today. We are prone to think that if some evil befalls someone else, it is because he deserves it somehow. It is because of his sin, or his lack of faith. We think that somehow we are better since we haven’t been punished in this way. We always justify ourselves and put the blame on others. It never fails, whenever I preach a sermon in which the law is exceptionally clear, someone will say to me, “Good for you, pastor, you sure told so-and-so off.” We, just like the people of Jesus’ day, always point our fingers at someone else. We always seem to think the law applies to the guy sitting next to us in the pew, or on the other side of the isle. “Tell them, pastor. I hope they are listening.”

But Jesus makes it really clear here that he means YOU! YOU are the sinner! Not the guy over there. Unless YOU repent, YOU will perish. The sins of the other guy are none or our business. We will not be punished for his sins. What difference is it to us if they other guy sins, or isn’t friendly, or doesn’t love his neighbor. You don’t have to answer for his sins. But you will be called into account for yours. Jesus says, “Unless YOU repent, YOU will perish.” And by perish, he didn’t mean that some similar disaster in this life would befall them too. He was talking about the Day of Judgment. This is a statement about the future not the present. Some sinners actually make out pretty good in this life. But no one will escape the wrath and punishment of God in the end.

However, there were some people listening to Jesus who thought that the Galileans were the rift-raft. It was because they were Galileans sinners that they were being punished. But Jesus reminds them of yet another incident in the news that day. He brings up the news of 18 Jews from Jerusalem who were killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed. This was not a political issue; this was an act of God. This was not about Galilean rift-raft; it was about Jews, the ones living in Jerusalem, the crème-de-le-crème.

It was not because of their individual sin, for there were devout believers and followers of God among them. It was about God’s wrath against sin! It was no longer about the other guy, the Galilean rift-raft, it was clearly about them! It is about YOU. It is about the crème-de-la-crème. You, who calls yourself a believer. You, who calls yourself good. You, who considers yourself a leader of the church. You, who thinks you are better than the guy sitting next to you in the pew. You are the one Jesus was talking to when he said, for a second time, “Unless YOU repent, YOU will likewise perish.”

Jesus is here calling us to repentance. This is a passionate plea of Jesus to repent and believe in him. Otherwise you will perish, eternally.

Jesus’ call to repentance is based on an objective fact; the fact that God has provided a way to escape the ultimate disaster that awaits every sinner. Jesus himself perished so that we would escape. God does not want anyone to perish. God wants all to be saved from eternal death and punishment. So God himself perished in our place. Jesus is our escape from disaster. Because Jesus perished, those who repent and believe in him will not perish.

Those who die in car crashes, in tornadoes or in hurricanes are not being punished by God. They are just victims of a fallen world and God’s wrath on sin. They are victims of the evil and violence of sinful people. They are victims of nature that is under God’s curse. They are victims of Adam and Eve’s sin. They may well have been devout believers and steadfast in the faith. They were not being punished for their sin, because Jesus already paid for their sin. The cross of Jesus is the judgment of God for our sin that fell on His Son, Jesus Christ. The judgment of God can only be understood in light of the cross of Christ. For it was there on Calvary that God’s righteous judgment was unleashed on our sin. The cross is God’s wrath against our sin. It was our sin and God’s punishment that took the life of his Only Begotten Son.

Therefore, since God’s justice was satisfied by the cross, it is by the cross that we are saved. His judgment falling on Jesus is the basis of our hope and salvation. The cross of Jesus is the sign of God’s mercy upon us. It is because Jesus perished on the cross that we shall not perish. We shall escape punishment and be saved from death. It is due to the cross that God declares us innocent of all evil doing and free from his punishment.

Then Jesus gets even more personal. He tells about a man with a fig tree in his vineyard. For three years the man came looking for fruit on the tree, but there was none. He gave orders to cut the tree down. But the vinedresser interceded on behalf of the tree. He said, “Give the tree a little longer. I will dig around it and put on fertilizer and see if it has fruit by next year. If not, then cut it down, but for now, give it just a little more time.”

We are the tree. The vine dresser is Jesus. The fertilizer is the gospel of Jesus Christ. The fruit is repentance and faith. Jesus, the vinedresser, intercedes for us. He interceded for us by his death on our behalf to win forgiveness for us. He intercedes for us today by sending the Holy Spirit to us through Word and Sacrament to grant us repentance and faith. He asks for time to fertilize, to proclaim the gospel to more people. So he tarries. He delays his return so that more will have the opportunity to hear his word and repent of their sin. For he does not want anyone to be lost. He desires the salvation of all people. His delay in returning to earth is for the express purpose of giving us more time to spread the gospel so that more would repent and come to faith.

And so the owner of the tree waits. He gives the vinedresser more time to fertilize the tree with the gospel. Judgment is put off for awhile longer, in the hopes that more will hear the good news and repent of their sin.

And this time is given to us, his church, to spread that gospel. Because one day that tree will either produce fruit or it will be cut down and pulled out of the ground. It will either be a tree full of fruit or it will be a hole in the ground.

Are we a tree that is bearing fruit, or are we the dead tree? The vinedresser has given us a little more time to be fertilized with the gospel, are we bearing fruit? Will we flourish and bear fruit, or will we perish?

We must ask ourselves, “What are we doing to fertilize the trees? What are we doing to spread the gospel to those around us?” I see holes in the pews where no one is sitting. Holes that remind us of where dead trees have been uprooted. Holes that make us ask, “what are we doing to fertilize the trees around us with the gospel of Jesus Christ? Are we fertilizing the trees at home? Are we fertilizing the tree next door? Are we fertilizing the rift-raft Galileans who live on the ‘other side of the tracks’?”

As it turns out, the sins of our neighbor are our business. If our neighbor is living in sin, it is our business to fertilize the tree with the gospel; lovingly, and patiently calling him to repentance and faith in Jesus so that he doesn’t perish. Too often when we fix our eyes on our neighbor’s sin we want him to perish; we want in some way to punish him. But that is not our business. If and when the tree is dug out is only the business of the owner. Our business is the business of the vine dresser. It is our business to fertilize that tree that doesn’t bear fruit.

The vinedresser’s business is to call people to repent. Jesus calls us to repent. For unless we repent and believe, we too shall perish. But there is no need to perish. Christ perished for us. Emmanuel, God with us, is our life and resurrection. Emmanuel is God with us, the God who perished in our place on the cross so that we would not perish. Emmanuel is God with us through word and sacrament, entrusting us as stewards of his word and sacraments to fertilize those dead trees around us. Only this gospel, the gospel of a God who loves us so much that he perished in our place, has the power to bring forth the fruits of repentance.

Therefore the only way to view accidents and suffering is not from the point of view of judgment; it is from the point of view of the cross. It is a call to repentance. The forgiveness of sins is present in the risen one who remains present in his church through proclamation of the word and administration of the sacraments. It is here, in word and sacrament, that the suffering Christian meets the suffering Christ and sees in Christ’s suffering his own comfort, his peace, his redemption, and his life everlasting after he has been released from every pain in this world. Amen.