Lent
Luke 13:1–9
1Luke 13:1 There 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.'"
"It's not fair!" You might hear the cry at any playground with children. You don't have to teach children about fairness and unfairness. A sense of justice comes with being human. We have a passion for justice. We dream of justice. We might for one fleeting moment even imagine a world put right, where things work out, where societies function fairly, where we not only know what we ought to do, but actually do it.
You fall of a bicycle and break a leg. You go to the hospital and they fix it. You stagger around on crutches for a while, then rather, gingerly, you start to walk normally again. Pretty soon you've forgotten about the whole thing. You're back to normal. There is such a thing as putting something to rights, as fixing it, as getting back on track. You can fix a broken leg, a broken toy, a broken television.
So why can't we fix injustice? It seems to slip out between our fingers. Sometimes it works; often it doesn't. Innocent people get convicted; guilty people are let off. People hurt others badly and walk away laughing, while sometimes the victims spend the rest of their lives coping with sorrow, hurt and bitterness. We have all been hurt, and we have all hurt others as well. The rich use the power of money to get richer while the poor get even poorer. Countries invade other countries and get away with it. Brutal tyrannies and Holocausts and Apartheid have all been a part in our lives.
And not just human injustice, but nature too seems so unfair. A few weeks ago a tectonic plate did what tectonic plates do and more than four times the number of Americans killed in the entire Vietnam war were killed in Haiti in a few short minutes.
"It's not right!" we say. The funny thing is we know what is right; what is fair; what is just, but still don't do it. Aristotle saw this as a wrinkle in the system, a puzzle that we all know what we ought to do; but we all manage, at least some of the time, not to do it.
Pilate massacred a group of Jews from Galilee as they worshiped in the temple. It's not fair! A tower in the southern part of Jerusalem collapsed and 18 people were killed. Our world is broken and gone terribly awry! We feel the injustice of it all. Why should it have happened? How can we put it to rights?
Was it because those people had sinned? Were they worse sinners than we? "No," says Jesus, "you are all sinners." Today we might call it a "wake up call." Jesus called it a "call to repentance." "Do you think these people were worse sinners than you? No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." St. Paul tells us in the Epistle reading, "Now these things happened to them as an example, and they were written down for our instruction."
Then Jesus tells a parable to illustrate the point. A man had a fig tree in his vineyard, but when he came to get the fruit the tree had none. For three years the tree had borne no fruit. It wasn't fair! Injustice! It was broken! That broken tree in this parable is you! It is the sinner whose relationship with God is broken, who does not produce fruit for God. It is you who have hurt God, who have hurt others, and who have been hurt by others. It is you and me who have ravaged the lives of people around us, even loved ones and friends. It is we sinners whose life has been ravaged by others, even loved ones and friends. You are the tree.
Jesus asked, "do you think that those who were killed in these disasters were worse sinners than you?" He is asking you, because, yes, you so often do think that those others are worse sinners than you. You are quick to condemn and judge others, while ignoring your own sins and defects. "Therefore," says our Epistle, "let anyone who thinks he stands take heed, lest he fall." When we condemn others and point our fingers at them, we usurp God's throne, for only God is the judge. Only God has the right to condemn. By judging others we make ourselves gods by doing what God alone has the authority to do. When you judge others you are sinning against the First Commandment!
Likewise when we are the victims of injustice, when we suffer at the hands of others or by natural causes, we say, "The way of the Lord is not just," but it is our way that is not just! God has not turned away from his people; his people have turned away from God. That is why we hurt God and that is why we hurt others by what we say and do. God says, "I will judge each of you according to his ways."
The unfruitful, broken tree is you. The man who owns the tree is God. He is ready with his axe to cut down the tree. As John the Baptist shouted, "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." And Jesus said, "I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away."
That brings us then to the vinedresser himself: the vinedresser is Jesus. Jesus pleads for us, as he did on the cross; "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do." Jesus pleads for you; "Father, do not cut down this tree. Let me stand in the way of your judgment. Let me see what I can do that he might produce fruit." Jesus is the vinedresser pleading on behalf of the tree that it not be cut down. O yes, the tree was unfruitful. The tree did not bear the fruit of repentance and faith, just as you so often do not bear the fruit of love, joy, peace and patience. You so often fall short of the perfect holiness of God. You so often sin, so often turn your backs on God and hurt him, you so often hurt others and judge them. But Jesus is the vinedresser who stands between you and the axe of God. "Let me see what I can do. Let me work on the tree and fertilize it with my Word, the gospel and nourish it with the sacraments, and trim the branches of sin from its life, then see what will happen."
That is the love of our Lord. Jesus took our place. As the axe was about to come down on us, Jesus hung on a tree and he became the fruitless tree in place of us. Jesus stood in the way of the axe. The axe of God came down. He cut down the tree at the base. And Jesus, the fruitless tree, was cut off and cast into the fire, the everlasting fire that is not quenched night or day. Jesus was cut down and thrown away in place of you so that you can stand. Jesus, in your baptism, gives you the fertilizer of his righteousness and in you sprouted a new tree; a fruitful tree. In the preaching of the Word and in the Sacrament of the Altar you are nourished; the trees are pruned and fertilized so that they bear much fruit. And you become trees planted by the rivers of water that bear fruit their fruit in season and whose leaves to not wither.
Jesus, by sending the Holy Spirit produces in you the fruit of the Spirit: love for your neighbor; joy of salvation; peace with those whom you have hurt you; forgiveness for those who have hurt you.
Yes, it's not fair! It was not fair that Jesus died on a tree shaped into a cross. He had done nothing wrong. He was innocent of all charges. His entire life was a life bearing the fruit of love. So much love that he took the axe blows instead of you. He saved you from punishment and ultimate destruction. You are freed from you sin. You are released from the injustice you have done.
Yes, there is a fix for injustice. Yes, things can be put right. Jesus has put you right with God. He reconciled you to God. The brokenness and hurt have been fixed by Jesus death.
Jesus calls you to repentance. "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die?" and again, "If the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right he shall live by this." "None of the sins that he has committed shall be remembered against him."
Jesus is the fix for injustice. He has restored your relationship with God. Jesus is restoring your lives and creating you new in the image of God. In your baptism you die to sin and rise a new man, a new and fruitful tree.
Jesus, by his resurrection, is restoring the world to justice. He is fixing what is broken. He is releasing the creation from the power of sin and death. He is restoring all things. He is creating a new world, and a new Eden where man shall dwell forever in peace and harmony with God and with one another. And he does it through you. You have been reconciled to God so that you can be reconciled to your neighbor. You are God's ambassadors of reconciliation and peace. In Christ God reconciled the world to himself, and in you he is calling all people to be reconciled with God and with one another. You are ministers of reconciliation and of a new world; the world we now only dream of where things are put right, where things work out, where societies function fairly, where we not only know what we ought to do, but we actually do it. Amen.