FRUIT OF REPENTANCE - by Revd Gilbert Wong

Texts: Luke 13:1-9; Isaiah 55:1-9

11 March 2007

Introduction

One Indonesian jetliner plunged to sea from 35,000 feet, killing everyone on board. Another's fuselage split in half after a hard landing. This week, a Boeing 737 careened off a runway and burst into flames, leaving 21 people dead.  Three accidents in as many months have raised urgent concerns.

Some recent natural disasters in Indonesia

• March 6: An earthquake strikes Sumatra Island, killing at least 52 people and damaging hundreds of buildings.

• March 3: Landslides triggered by days of heavy rain kill at least 40 people in eastern Indonesia.

• Feb. 1: Rivers in the capital, Jakarta, burst their banks, submerging parts of the city in water up to 12 feet deep, killing 57 and displacing 450,000.

• Dec. 29, 2006: A ferry sinks in a storm, killing more than 400 people in the Java Sea.

• Dec. 23, 2006: Heavy rain touches off floods that kill more than 100 people and displace over 400,000 on Sumatra.

• July 17, 2006: An earthquake triggers a tsunami off Java island's southern coast, killing at least 600 people.

• June 19, 2006: Floods and mud flows kill up to 300 people in southern Sulawesi province.

• May 27, 2006: An earthquake in central Java kills at least 5,800 people and injures more than 36,000.

• May 2006: A series of explosions spew hot ash down the slopes of Mount Merapi, forcing 15,000 villagers to flee.

• May 2006: A mud eruption at a drilling shaft on Java displaces more than 11,000 people and inundates villages and factories, spewing a million oil drums of muck a day.

• Jan. 4, 2006: Some 200 people are killed in a landslide on Java.

• March 28, 2005: More than 900 people are killed and tens of thousands are left homeless when an earthquake hits Nias, Banyak and Simeulue islands off the coast of Sumatra.

• Dec. 26, 2004: An earthquake sets off a tsunami that kills more than 160,000 people in Indonesia, mostly in Aceh province on Sumatra.

What are we to make of all these endless disasters?  Are they God’s judgements or something else? 

Sermon Sentence:  Jesus encourages us to stop trying to figure out what went wrong in someone else’s life so that we might repent of those things that are wrong in our own lives.

Historically, (show next slide), we have murderous scenes from biblical times to modern times.  And today in our Gospel reading, things are similar too.

A Murderous Scene

There are two similar murderous scenes in our Gospel reading.  Let us look at them in turn.

In verse 1, we are told that “there were some present who told him (Jesus) about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices”.  It means that Pilate’s soldiers slaughtered them in that holy place where they were worshipping and profaned the altar with human blood.  Imagine that!

Those Galileans who stood there telling Jesus about this murder and sacrilege were obviously hoping for some sympathetic words from Jesus.  BUT Jesus responded in a completely unexpected way, saying, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?”  Jesus expresses the unspoken assumption of these Galileans.  In their minds is simply this:  these Galileans who had suffered such terrible death must have been the worst sinners.  Don’t we think that way some times?  Some Christians associate suffering with sins.  It is an easy way to explain the reason for suffering.  When someone suffers, we simply say he or she has sinned.  Full stop.  This was what the Galileans were certainly thinking. 

Acts of God

Jesus says, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did” (v.3).  Jesus denies that the Galileans suffered because of their sins, but calls his listeners to repent lest they suffer for theirs.  What happened to the Galileans is history, and nothing can be done about it.  The fate of Jesus’ listeners, however, is still negotiable. 

Jesus does not condemn them, but instead shows them the way.  His purpose is to redeem.  While not all tragedy is the result of sin, sin sometimes leads to tragedy.  Jesus’ listeners have sinned (as we all have), and he calls them to repent so that they might escape disaster.

Some Middle Eastern students studying this passage are amazed that nobody physically attacked Jesus on the spot.  By calling for repentance, Jesus appears unsympathetic to the national cause - uncaring about Roman atrocities.  In Nazareth, townspeople tried to kill Jesus when he spoke well of Gentiles (4:16-30).  The same could easily have happened on this occasion.

But Jesus continues to speak courageously by saying in v. 4 “Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think that they were worse offenders than all other livings in Jerusalem?”  Here, Jesus uses another accident but give it the same verdict as he did with Pilate’s atrocity.  Did God target these eighteen because of their sins?  Jesus moves the sin and suffering debate from the context of suffering at Roman hands to suffering at God’s hands – from a massacre to an “act of God”.

“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did” (v. 5).  This is the same response that Jesus gave to the first story.  Jesus denies that the eighteen were worse offenders than others, but uses the opportunity to call his listeners to repentance.  Again, his purpose is not condemnation but redemption.  The call to repentance shows that it is not too late for his listeners. Salvation is still possible.

Repentance

Repentance is a major emphasis in this Gospel (3:3; 3:8; 5:32; 13:3, 5; 15:7; 16:30; 17:3; 24:47).  It is not a nagging call, but instead a “word of grace.  The call to repentance of sins always carries within it not only the threat of divine retribution but, more important, the promise of forgiveness (Nickle, 145).

We need to live lives of repentance, because we never know when a tyrant will rise up against us – or a wall will fall on us – or our plane will crash – or we will fall off the roof – or a truck will crush our automobile – or a spasm will stop our heart.  Neither the Galileans who were killed by Pilate nor the eighteen who were crushed by the wall had the opportunity to repent.  Their end came swiftly – without warning.  So it may be for us.  Repentance helps us in life and in death – helps us to live as forgiven people – help us to face death without fear. 

A Theology of Balance

Pastors often encounter people who have suffered tragedy that they imagine to be caused by their guilt.  This text calls us to balance two opposing ideas:

On the one hand, tragedy sometimes strikes randomly as it did in the case of the Galileans and the eighteen people of Jerusalem.  In such cases, it has nothing to do with guilt.  The tornado that destroys a nightclub also destroy a church – kills both the town drunk and a Sunday school teacher.  However, our repentance stands us in good stead when we experience unavoidable tragedy.  It prepares us to live victoriously in the face of tragedy, and it also prepares us for death.

On the other hand, sin sometimes leads to tragedy.  Drunk drivers kill innocent people.  Abusive people injure their spouses and children.  Not all tragedy is the result of sin, but some is.  Perhaps the best way to visualise this is a small circle inside a large circle.  The large is all tragedy.  The small circle is tragedy caused by our sin.  We cannot prevent random tragedy – that which lies outside the small circle – but Christ calls us to repent so that we might avoid the self-imposed tragedy of the small circle.

The pastor’s difficult task is discernment – when to reassure people that they have not caused their own suffering and when to emphasize the need for repentance.

The parable of the barren fig tree

We should not confuse this parable with the cursing of the fig tree in Mark 11:12-14.  The two stories have little in common other than a barren fig tree.

A description of this vineyard in verse 6, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.”  A vineyard is a common metaphor for the people of Israel, and the fruit to be expected from the people of Israel is Godly living.  Jesus’ listeners would understand this connection as Jesus tells this parable.   In this sense the words of Jesus is verse 6 is clearly understood by the hearers.

"For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none" (v. 7a).    Leviticus 19:23-24 forbids the eating of fruit from a newly planted tree for three years, and requires that the fruit of the fourth year be "set apart for rejoicing in the Lord."  It is only in the fifth year that the owner can benefit from the harvest.  We don't know whether this is the third year of the tree's life or the third year that the owner could have harvested (the seventh year of the tree's life).  In either case, the owner believes that this tree has had time to demonstrate whether it will be fruitful or not.

"Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?" (v. 7b).  The owner has waited long enough.  Judgment Day has come!  Israel's history provides numerous instances where God used an axe to prune their sins.  They know both the sweet taste of God's providence and the bitter taste of God's judgment.

The gardener replied, "Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.  If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down" (vv. 8-9).  The plea is to leave the axe in the shed long enough to give the tree just one more season –– one more chance.  Yes, three years is a long time, plenty of time for the tree to bear fruit.  However, the owner has three years invested.  One more year will not break the bank.  The payoff could be a fruitful tree in only one year –– a significant gain for one year's patience.  That is the argument, but we have the sense that the gardener is motivated less by the pocketbook than by the heart.  The gardener planted the tree –– watered it –– fertilized it ––watched it grow.  He does not want to lose it. 

The gardener, if the landowner agrees to leave the tree another year, will not leave the tree's salvation to chance.  He will loosen the soil to insure that water finds its way to the roots.  He will fertilize the tree with manure.  If the tree is redeemed, it will be work of the gardener that saves it.  This should "give courage to those of us who wonder if our repentance is adequate....  (Our) repentance and reformation do not occur apart from the watchful care of God" (Cousar, 218).

Fitzmyer notes that the Galileans died "by the malice of some human being" and the eighteen by chance, but the tree "will die expressly because of inactivity and unproductiveness.  In the long run this becomes 'the greater sin.'  The guilt that comes from one's own procrastination or lack of decision is greater than that implied by death at someone else's hands or unexpected calamity" (Fitzmyer, 1005).

Bailey notes that the word "manure" appears only here in the New Testament, so Jesus almost surely uses it with purpose.  As noted above, Bailey believes that verses 6-9 are intended to speak to Israel's leaders.  "If the fig tree represents the scribes and the chief priests, and the parable talks of the need to cast on some manure, then we have a clear case of what the comedians call 'insult humour.'  What they need is a little manure spread around them.  The original audience no doubt found the imagery humorous" (Bailey, 84).

Church of the Ascension, 13 Francis Thomas Drive, Singapore 359339
Mailing Address: Toa Payoh Central Post-Office P.O. Box 162 Singapore 913106 
Tel (65) 6283 3988 Fax (65) 6283 3220 Email: [Church Office][Website Editor]
All Rights Reserved
[Home] **