At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 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 the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
Luke 13:1-9 is a pronouncement story concerning repentance. The passage provides me an opportunity to reflect upon suffering, repentance, and the value of divine patience. Implied in the exchange is the assumption that our allegiance and loyalty to God is at stake here. How can we worship and serve a God who allows such suffering to occur in this world? How are we to worship a God who has created such an undeniably chaotic world where the innocents are victims of random acts of violence? What does God have to say for himself in the face of such suffering? Interestingly, Jesus turns the questions back upon us. What do YOU have to say to God?
Luke 13:1-5 is a pronouncement story concerning repentance. The source is unique to Luke.[1] In context, this section (12:1-13:9) began with Jesus speaking about judgment in 12:1-3, 13-21, end-time events in 12:4-12, 35-48, 54-56, and end-time divisions in 12:49-53. In these discourses, Jesus emphasizes the importance of discerning the times. If one can see what time it is, then one knows the importance of not being a hypocrite in 12:1, of not being worried when brought before rulers in 12:8-12, and of being continually watchful in 12:35-48. In 12:56, Jesus says that the crowd can interpret the earth and sky, but not the present time. They need to understand in what time they live.
The man had an illness for many years that kept him very weak. The slightest amount of physical activity made him tired and out of breath. Finally, family took him to the hospital. I found about it and rushed there as quickly as possible. His son, a teenager, saw me coming down the hospital hallway. He was a big boy, broad shoulders and tall. So strong. Now, he felt so helpless. He took me by the shoulders in his big hands, looked at me with tears in his eyes, and said, "George, why did God allow this to happen?" I had no answer. It was not the time to talk intellectually about such an emotional issue. It was time to listen, to hear the pain, and to become aware of the help of God even amid suffering which we do not understand. I might wish to have done better. Yet, at least I did not respond the way Jesus did.
1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. So far, this is the only ancient text to refer to this incident. However, the incident is typical of the bloody, brutish reputation Pontius Pilate had cultivated during his reign. It may be that when Pilate siphoned money away from the temple treasury for an aqueduct project he wanted, he created this fiasco. However, scholars remain puzzled as to why some in the crowd inform Jesus of this event. Are the informers attempting to trick Jesus into saying something evil about Pilate to bring a charge against him later? Alternatively, are they attempting to provide Jesus with a real-life example of the type of judgment about which he has been speaking?[2] 2 He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than, the comparative “para” underscoring the belief that those killed were more sinful and more deserving of death than all other Galileans? Regardless of why they brought forth the incident, Jesus relates it to the theme of judgment. His response to the informers suggests that those who told him about this event believe that somehow the Galileans were culpable for their own fate and, therefore, worthy of the judgment of death. The belief that one's sins cause one's suffering and death appears in various places in Jewish literature (cf. Exodus 20:5; Job 4:7; 8:4, 20; 22:5; cf. John 9:2-3). The response of Jesus, however, suggests he rejects such a claim. Among the many problems of this idea is that suffering is so widespread among other living things in the prehumen world and cannot result from human sin.[3] The Galileans' status as sinners has nothing to do with their fate. 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent (μετανοῆτε), the word occurs in the second person plural, demonstrating the communal nature of repentance; you will all perish as they did.Interestingly, Jesus also does not condemn Pilate for engaging in such behavior. Rather, he asserts the imminence of judgment by calling for repentance. This event foreshadows judgment that will happen at the end of time. Yet, Jesus undercuts the thinking of those who think that one can assign judgment to one group or the other based on the degree of sinfulness. If we go back to 12:56, those able to discern the times includes realizing that the present is not about looking upon the sinfulness of others, but looking at the needy condition of repentance in which each of us live. The focus shifts from why this happened to the Galileans to the repentance necessary to prevent a similar event from occurring to his audience. Jesus has reversed the issue by saying that his hearers are similar sinners to those killed. Therefore, all will receive judgment at the end of time. Therefore, all need to repent. 4 Alternatively, those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam, the name of a reservoir close to the southeast corner of the walls of Jerusalem, although a tower or its fall has no confirmation in other sources.[4] Perhaps, these people lost their lives while trying to strengthen the Jerusalem water supply. [5] When the tower fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Jesus draws the same conclusion from this event as he does the first event. Those who died in this accident were no more sinful than any others living in Jerusalem were. The degree of sinfulness is not the criterion upon which to judge these incidents. Trying to outguess God's divine time lines of life and death for each of us is not a human capability. Nevertheless, men and women can make sure they stand before God repentant and trusting in divine love and mercy. Luke now adds the voice of mercy.
This passage invites us to ponder the random acts of suffering and violence in this world. Jesus responds to two random acts of violence. Pilate brought one about, among the millions killed by oppressive dictators who think nothing of killing some of the population in order to keep them in line. The other was a random act of nature, among the millions in human history who die the result of earthquakes or tornadoes. There were the typical questions. Were some who experienced random acts of violence greater sinners than others were? Jesus is quite clear. No, they are not. Yet, he reminds them "unless you repent, you will all perish as they did." They may want to question a God who allows such random acts of violence. Jesus, however, turns the issue back to them. Such deaths really ask a question of those left behind. Trying to discern the reasons of life and death is beyond human capability. However, each of us can be sure that we stand before God repentant and trusting in God's love and mercy.
Some will offer the opinion that philosophy deals with two types of questions: Those to which everyone already knows the answers and those to which no one knows the answers. In that sense, religion asks the same kinds of questions. Of course, Jesus does not appear to be interested in such speculations. The question is not how can bad things happen to good people like us? The question is not whether we deserve what happens to us. The question is how we stand before God.
All of us have dealt with such questions before. It may take a bit of intellectual courage and theological sophistication to admit it, but most of us know there is a certain amount of randomness to life. We know, in our more rational moments, God who makes suffering and tragedy bearable. Many of us have said, "I don't know how I would have gotten through this without God's help and the prayers of God's people." We also know that it does not make any difference if one is a Christian or not. The people of God know that such random suffering falls upon all human beings.[6] Most of us understand that Christianity does not provide give us a way around tragedy, but rather gives us a way through it.
The deeper question is whether we can trust God in joy and pain to be our God. Can we love God without linking our love to the cards life deals us? We seem to want answers to our questions. Instead, when we look to Jesus and to the Bible, what we get is a God who wants us to repent, to reorient ourselves toward God. What Jesus says here does not have the design of scaring us as to alert us to the truth that death could happen at any moment. Are we ready?
The biblical call is for human beings to repent. In fact, Christianity has little to say to people who do not know anything of which they need to repent and who feel no need to receive forgiveness.[7] Among the most natural things we do is sin by failing the tests of life. Of course, we will do so. Let us be clear, though, that most of our sins are not as bold as scarlet. Most of our sins are gray. They are not dramatic acts of rebellion and violent self-affirmation. Rather, they are the colorless, tired sins of omission, inertia and timidity. Thus, we always need to have respect for admitting we are wrong, seeking forgiveness, and repenting. When we do, we rise above “nature” and respond to the call of God to envision lives of faith, hope, and love, as Paul will discuss in I Corinthians 13.[8]
The New Testament uses three basic word groups to talk about repentance and conversion. Epistrepholiterally means, "to turn around." Behind this Greek word stands the Hebrew word shub, which appears about 1,050 times in the Old Testament. Like epistrepho, shub often has the simple secular meaning of physically turning around. But in about 120 cases, shub has the very important theological meaning of Israel's turning from sinful rebellion against Yahweh to total submission to God's will expressed in the covenant. Similarly, epistrepho also has a theological meaning and refers to turning from the ways of Satan to faith in and submission to Christ.
Metanoia (often translated repentance) presents a second crucial word group. This Greek word means, "to change one's mind." According to the Theological Dictionary of the New Testament, Jesus' call to metanoiademanded an "unconditional turning to God" and an "unconditional turning from all that is against God." "It involves the whole walk of the [person] who is claimed by divine leadership."
The third (less common) word group is metamelomai. It means to change one's mind or regret something.
These three word groups carry slightly different meanings. However, for our purposes, we can focus on the common reality to which they point. They all refer to that process of radical transformation of thoughts and actions (initiated by divine grace) that happens when a person is drawn to faith in Jesus and submits to him as unconditional Lord. Regret for past sin, the experience of forgiveness, baptism, and a life of growing discipleship are all a part of biblical conversion.
Biblical repentance and conversion involve a radical transformation of our relationships with both God and neighbor. One can hardly improve on the way Rene Padilla put it in his plenary address at Lausanne: "Repentance is much more than a private affair between the individual and God. It is the complete reorientation of the life in the world...in response to the work of God in Jesus Christ."[9]
Luke 13:6-9 is a parable concerning the barren fig tree. The source is material unique to Luke. Some scholars think of it as another version of the cursing of the fig tree in Mark 11:12-14, 20-22 = Matthew 21:19-22. However, more than likely, the two stories are not the same.[10] In the context of Luke, the Galileans died by malice, the people of Jerusalem by chance, and the fig tree by being unproductive. It correlates to the call for repentance in 13:1-5.
6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, an important food source in ancient Israel and a familiar metaphor of the spiritual condition of Israel, planted in his vineyard. The owner visits his fields to survey their fruitfulness. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. Jeremiah 8:13 has no figs on the fig tree as a sign of judgment from the Lord. Isaiah 5 is about the vineyard of grapes that the Lord tended but bore no fruit, a sign of the disobedience of Israel. 7 Therefore, he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years, indicating the patience of the owner, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ The patience of the owner (God) is ending imminently in judgment. 8 He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, stressing the imminent nature of the judgment, until I dig around it and put manure on it. The solution of the gardener is to offer the fig tree both the grace of more time and the goodness of a richer environment. It implies hope. The fig tree will receive grace. In the same way, human beings have a brief period until divine judgment. 9 If it bears fruit next year, judgment is still coming soon, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ” We should note that the parable ends without the reader knowing if the owner will extend the time or if the extension of time and enriched soil worked. The mercy of the gardener and the owner is a great gift. It will not last forever. The parable takes on the nuance of the human life marked by unproductivity. The focus of the parable is still repentance, the same as 13:1-5. Those who need to repent (bear fruit) have a time-frame within which to do so, another sobering indication about the shortness of the time at hand. The connection between fruit and repentance echoes the call of John the Baptist in Luke 3:8-9, who calls upon his audience to bear fruits worthy of repentance and one throws into the fire a tree that does not bear fruit. The parable reiterates the call of John the Baptist. The additional year allowed by the owner highlights the owner's merciful response and, by extension, God's willingness to be gracious. The restraining of divine wrath is a sign of divine patience that has conversion as its goal. With the themes of time, repentance and mercy, this parable provides an apt summary of Jesus' discourse on judgment up to this point.[11] What time is it? The question arises from this parable. The time is at hand for repentance and judgment. To place this saying in its context in Luke, the fate of the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with that of their sacrifices, like that of those who perished in the fall of the tower of Siloam, becomes a symbol for the coming fate of all who will not repent. The fig-tree parable identifies Jesus' hearers as being in the last season of opportunity to change their ways.[12]
It may seem insignificant but this one sentence from Jesus, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, is an essential reminder to how God does the important, painfully slow work, of changing lives. When examining these words, most people immediately jump to the verbs, to the action. The vinedresser (Jesus) wants to dig and fertilize. In relational terms, we could think of this as the essential components of truth and love. To bring about change, God tills the soil of our hearts and minds with truth -- ripping out the weeds of lies and the old roots of sin and making way for us to plant good things. God then adds in the fertilizer, or in real terms love, the truth of the gospel and the promise of unrelenting divine compassion in Christ, which serves to enrich our soil, begins to take root and spurs on new growth. Life change takes truth and love.
Jesus does not say that no accounting or judgment is ahead for us. We are accountable for the lives we lead and the choices we make. Yet, the inevitability of divine judgment occurs in the context of divine mercy. That is why Jesus relates the parable at this time. The fig tree is hopelessly barren and ready for judgment. Yet, the parable implies an exaggerated hope. A period of grace, though brief, can be a time in which fruitfulness can redeem the tree. God offers mercy, with the understanding that repentance is to follow. The parable speaks of a God with amazing forbearance whose nature is to give us the time we need to repent of our sin.
This passage further demonstrates John the Baptist's words at the beginning of the gospel, "Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (3:9 NRSV). Judgment is at hand. John the Baptist may have thought of that judgment coming now. Jesus says that while judgment is coming, divine patience is present now, giving an opportunity to repent.
This passage opens the door for a discussion of waiting and patience. We can discuss how time, love, and patience combine. Given the certainty of judgment in 13:1-5, we can understand why Jesus relates the parable at this time. The fig tree is hopelessly barren and ready for judgment. Yet, it implies an exaggerated hope. There is a period of grace, though brief, in which fruitfulness can redeem the tree. The parable offers mercy, with the understanding that repentance is to follow. The question we need to ask is not about the kind of God we worship. Rather, we need to ask about what we have to say to God
I have a boyhood fascination with outer space. It has stayed with me. I like the idea of exploring and finding out new things. In this case, I learned that 40% of the attempts to have a Mars mission have failed. A reporter asked one of the leaders of the Curiosity mission what would happen if this mission failed. He said we would pick up ourselves and explore again, for something in us accepts the challenge to explore. We want to know our surroundings, understand what is out there, and answer the question, Are we alone? Today, the challenge of exploring what is out there still fascinates me. Back then, I suppose I wondered a bit more about whether we might sometime find evidence of life out there.
Fortunately, the mission of Curiosity did not fail. In the late summer of 2012, the Mars rover "Curiosity" landed on the surface of the planet. It took just seven minutes for the rover to enter the atmosphere and touch down successfully. Its pictures remind me of parts of the American West.[13]
However, whom I am thinking about today are the NASA staff. They had to wait a long time. Many people throughout the world tuned in and took notice of this amazing feat. However, many likely did not think of the engineers who spent roughly 8½ months simply waiting. They waited and hoped they would not lose every dollar spent or crush the dream of Martian discoveries. 8½ months is a long time to wait for a culture that has grown accustomed to immediate gratification.
You could argue that waiting is a lost art in our culture.
Would expectant moms want a way to speed up the process?
We are all part of an impatient, "now" culture. Our culture cannot fathom living in the days when sending a letter from the East Coast to the West Coast took several months, and the Pony Express, which guaranteed delivery from St. Louis to Sacramento in 10 days or less.
We want the laptop that boots the fastest. AVG is a program I have that every once in while asks me if I noticed that it helped me boot my computer a second or so faster.
Even hospitals are now posting the turnaround times in their emergency rooms on highway billboards.
We are a people who increasingly expect -- and demand -- a world without waiting, which can make being a follower of Jesus Christ incredibly frustrating.
We want the moment when “rover has landed” rather than the 8 ½ months of waiting.
Luke 13:6-9 is a parable of the patience of God. God us like the gardener, who nurtures the soil of a plant so that it will produce fruit. The time in which we live is a time of mercy from God and repentance and bearing fruit for us.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must be among the few who practice the lost art of waiting. We must wait so that the trees -- the people we love or the church we love—we are not among those who cut it down or abandon too early. We must learn to wait so that this world, this nation, this church, and we as individuals, can be fruitful and beautiful works of God.
Waiting is not an easy aspect of discipleship. Are you ready for some important truth regarding repentance?
First, we must wait with the golden rule in mind. Jesus tells us this:
"Whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets" (Matthew 7:12).
The point here is to make us pause before we judge others. We need to love the face we see in the mirror. Jesus taught us to love our neighbors as ourselves. We feed and clothe ourselves. We seek friendships. God made us in the image of God, so we need to love ourselves properly. We love ourselves when we forgive ourselves.
Now, let us turn such reflections toward others. We may know the son who we wish would get his life together today; the daughter who we wish respected us now; or the unbelieving spouse who we wish were with us this morning. We have been praying for them, working on them, being patient with them, and we long for something that would change them. Maybe, we are angry that God has not finally "landed the rover" with them. No, we need to do to them, as we would wish others did to us.
Second, we must wait with God's goodness in mind. We may not understand how God could wait one more minute.
The longer you are a part of God's family, the more you begin to realize that God is not bound to our obsession with “now” and instant gratification. Our Father who art in heaven, whose name we hallow, and to whom we belong and by whom we are beloved through Jesus Christ the Son, seems to have no trouble with things taking time. This is especially true in the way God chooses to deal with sinful, broken people. Bishop Coyner at our Life Together conference (2016) referred to the message on the grave marker for the wife of Billy Graham, Ruth Graham: “Construction is complete … Thanks for your patience.”
I think we need to hear some truth regarding forgiveness.
One of the problems many of us modern and post-modern folks have with Lent is that it talks of divine forgiveness. Many of us no longer believe we are sinners who even need forgiveness. After all, we make errors of judgment. We live under the deprivations of heredity and environment. We do the best we can under the circumstances. We do not really sin, and therefore have no real need of forgiveness.
One of the most powerful statements we need to ponder would be this: "For me Christ died." We need to let that sink in today. We are the types of people for whom the Son of God needed to die for us receive new life. We are dust, but God has already blessed immensely and immeasurably, no matter how long we wait.
Lastly, we must wait with an end in mind. Here is uncomfortable truth. Notice the vinedresser asked for a year, but he did not demand forever. Jesus' point in the parable was that eventually time would run out for the unfruitful trees, the unrepentant Israel, and God would prune them -- judge them -- accordingly. Eventually something will happen. The rover will land. God will act, often in unexpected ways we do not understand.
This parable can help us in dealing with sick and destructive relationships. Of course, relationships are often difficult and require work. We also need to have proper boundaries that can give us some guidance in discerning how long we should stay in certain relationships. We may need to learn that it is time to let go. We cannot wait forever. It may well be OK to wish them well, pray for them, and move forward with our life. The key point here is that the relationship ought not to be a prison.
David Head offers a tongue-in-cheek rewording of the old Prayer of General Confession from the former Book of Common Prayer. It is a humorous comment on our situation:
Benevolent and easy-going Father: we have occasionally been guilty of errors of judgment. We have lived under the deprivations of heredity and the disadvantages of environment. We have sometimes failed to act in accordance with common sense. We have done the best we could in the circumstances; and have been careful not to ignore the common standards of decency; and we are glad to think that we are fairly normal. Do thou, O Lord, deal lightly with our infrequent lapses. Be thy own sweet Self with those who admit they are not perfect; According to the unlimited tolerances which we have a right to expect from thee. And grant us as indulgent Parent that we may hereafter continue to live a harmless and happy life and keep our self-respect. Amen.[14]
We need to trust the slow work of God. We are impatient, wanting to reach the end immediately. We would like to skip the intermediate stages. We are impatient as we are on the way to something unknown and new. Yet, if we are to make progress at all, we will make it by passing through some stages of instability and that passing through the stages may take a long time.[15]
Waiting is inevitable. Sure, we boot our computers and share our data faster. However, babies still take nine months, Mars is still 350 million miles away, and God is still giving broken people bountiful amounts of truth, love and time. For everything that happens right now something else remains a "not yet." Our existence on this planet involves waiting. This means that if you have not learned to wait, you have not learned how to live.
May we be a people who afford others the same luxuries and patience we have received from the Lord. May we hold on to divine goodness even when God seems to wait too long. May we trust that though we tap our toes impatiently, eventually a good and gracious end will come. Until then we wait. Amen.
[1] For the Jesus Seminar, Luke creates the story in order to introduce Pilate and foreshadow the destruction of Jerusalem.
[2](Laurence E. Porter, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids, Mich.: Zondervan, 1979], 1210); Joel B. Green, "The gospel according Luke," NRSV, ed. Harold Attridge [San Francisco: HarperCollins]1880).
[3] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume II, 165.
[4] (John Nolland, "Luke," Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 35b [Dallas: Word Books, 1993], 718)
[5] (Laurence E. Porter, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids, Mich. Zondervan, 1979], 1210.)
[6] Augustine (City of God), who lived at a time when barbarians sacked Rome, noted that Christians suffered just as much as non-Christians. Their faith in Christ did not make them immune to pain and tragedy. Augustine wrote:
Christians differ from Pagans, not in the ills which befall them but in what they do with the ills that befall them.
[7] C. S. Lewis (The Case for Christianity) once said: Christianity tells people to repent and promises them forgiveness. It therefore has nothing (as far as I know) to say to people who don't know they've done anything to repent of and who don't feel that they need any forgiveness.
[8] Charlie Allnut (Humphrey Bogart): What are you being so mean for, Miss? A man takes a drop too much once in a while, it's only human nature.
Rose Sayer (Katherine Hepburn): Nature, Mr. Allnut, is what we are put in this world to rise above.
--Dialogue from the film, The African Queen (1951)
[9] (Ronald J. Sider, One-Sided Christianity? Uniting the Church to Heal a Lost and Broken World [Grand Rapids, MI: HarperCollins Publishers, 1993], pp. 103-104.)
[10] (Laurence E. Porter, New International Bible Commentary, ed. F.F. Bruce [Grand Rapids, Mich. Zondervan, 1979], 1210)
[11] Pannenberg, Systematic Theology, Volume I, 440.
[12] (John Nolland, Luke, Word Biblical Commentary, Vol. 35b [Dallas: Word Books, 1993], 719).
[13] You can have a panoramic view of Mars from Curiosity.
[14] (David Head, He Sent Leanness, p. 19.)
[15] --Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, The Making of a Mind: Letters From a Soldier-Priest, 1914-1919 (London: Collins, 1965), 57.
liked Head's prayer. Would be great to use that in a service and then preach on the issues it raises. I also liked the concept of don't wprry about others worry about yourself and your relationships to God. -Lyn Eastman
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