Jesus Calls Us to Repent!

Luke 13:1-9 This Lenten season we are journeying through biblical gardens to see God’s salvation in Jesus Christ at work in our lives. 

On Ash Wednesday we visited the Garden of Promise where the very first Gospel promise was made:  that God would send the seed of a woman—a Savior—who would crush Satan and undo his terrible work and make a way back for us to God. 

Last week we visited the Garden of Proclamation where we learned how the seed of the Gospel comes to us through the preaching of the Good News of Jesus and how the Holy Spirit has called us to faith in Jesus.

This week we are visiting the Garden of Repentance where we will hear what God expects of those who hear the Good News of Jesus:  that we would have a radical change of heart, mind, and direction—away from sin and towards Jesus Christ.  We have that opportunity tonight—an opportunity that others have not had.  The Bible says:

There were some present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or 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?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.  

            In the last week or so a madman has hijacked a plane with hundreds of passengers and taken it (and them) to places unknown.  When the passengers got on that plane they were looking forward to a vacation- or returning home- or making some important business deal. 

None of them was thinking to themselves:  this is the day that I will die and face Almighty God and hear his righteousness judgment on my life.  But that is exactly what happened

In the last week or so an entire apartment building exploded and burned into a fiery pile of rubble, robbing a number of people of their lives and injuring many others. 

None of them was thinking to themselves:  this is the day that I will die and face Almighty God and hear his righteousness judgment on my life.  But that is exactly what happened.

As recent as these stories are, sadly they are nothing new.  They have always happened because this world is broken by sin and death and evil.  There have always been evil men who want to destroy the lives of those around them.  There have always been accidents and natural disasters that sweep away human life as if it were nothing. 

That is the world we live in—that was the world of Jesus’ day—and people talked about those tragedies just like they still do on CNN and Fox.

In one instance Pilate ordered Roman soldiers to enter the temple in Jerusalem while services were going on and killed the worshipers.  You can imagine the horror of that scene—the blood of the dead mingled with the blood of the sacrifices they were making.  Not only tragic violence—but a religious abomination.

In another instance there was a construction accident in Siloam where a tower being built collapsed and killed the workers trying to make a living—robbing their families of husbands and fathers and destroying their future. 

And I dare say that in both of those events not one of those who died was thinking to themselves:  this is the day that I will die and face Almighty God and hear his righteousness judgment on my life.  But that is exactly what happened.

Now you can imagine all the questions that people had about these events.  All of those “why’s”.  Why did it happen to those people and not others?  No doubt there were some who stayed home from work that day—some who couldn’t make it to worship, why had they survived?  Why had Pilate done what he did?  What did he hope to gain?  Why had the supports of the tower given way? Who was responsible?  And where was God is all this?  Why had God seemingly chosen the dead for their horrible fates?

Even though there was no Fox or CNN there was still a 24 hour news cycle filled with people asking questions and debating the stories of the day.  And so they turned to the resident expert, Jesus.  What did he think about all of it?  What does Jesus have to say when we are confronted by the tragedies that befall others?  This is what he says:

Do you think that those who suffer tragedy are worse sinners that everyone else?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”  Jesus doesn’t give an answer to the question why those and not others.  He doesn’t answer the questions about why evil men do what they do.  He doesn’t answer the questions about personal responsibility.  He doesn’t answer the questions about God’s providential wisdom and guidance of the universe. 

Instead he turns our attention away from questions about others—away from questions about God—to ourselves and our own personal spiritual situation.  He calls us to repentance while there is still time—so that we are prepared for the hour of death and the judgment of God.

Now what does Jesus mean by “likewise perish”?  Does he mean that a tower will fall on us or a mad man will kill us if we don’t repent?  Of course not! 

What he does mean is that unless we take this God-given moment to repent (and indeed every God-given moment throughout our lives to live in repentance) death will catch us unaware and unprepared just like it does for those who are killed in tragedies.  And THAT IS a tragedy!

Many if not most of the questions we have about the “why’s” of life will never have an answer in this life other than we live in an broken and dying world.  And we will miss the importance of the tragedies of others for us if we spend all our time asking questions for which there is no answer in this life.

Instead, what we can do- and what we should do- is take that moment to repent and in this way be prepared to die and face Almighty and God and receive his righteous judgment.  And so what does it mean to repent? 

It means to have a complete change of heart, mind, and direction is life.  It means that we are sorry for our sins—not just sorry that we got caught—not just sorry that we are suffering the consequences—but that we are sorry we have offended our gracious and loving God. 

And then we turn to Jesus for forgiveness-- and the strength to live a new and different kind of life.  That’s what it means to repent and it is the totality of our life with God.

Jesus then told a parable about what a life of repentance looks like and the spiritual fruit that springs from it.  “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.”

This is where we pause for reflection.  In the Garden of Promise God sowed the seed of our salvation by promising to send his Son Jesus Christ.  In the Garden of Proclamation the Holy Spirit has called us to faith by the preaching of the Gospel and caused the seed of salvation to be planted in us.  But we need to ask ourselves:  is the fruit of repentance found in our lives?

Is there a heartfelt sorrow in our lives over the evil that we have done and the good that we have failed to do?  Are we fighting the good fight of faith against the world, our flesh, and the devil?  Is the seed of the Gospel flourishing and bearing the fruits of a true and living faith and the good works that follow?  That is certainly what God expects and yet, too often, what he fails to find in our lives.  And yet our gracious Lord is patient! 

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?’

We hear those words “cut it down” and God doesn’t seem very patient, does he?  But we need to hear what came before:  for THREE YEARS I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree.  What farmer is going to cultivate, irrigate, and fertilize a field full of plants that never shows a harvest for three years?  No one!  What gardener is going to tend and baby along a tomato plant that never sets or bears fruit?  No one! 

And yet the owner of the garden has patiently been waiting for fruit from his fig tree year after year- even when there was no sign of a crop. 

The point here is not that we get three years and not a minute more or less to get our life together with God.  The point is that God is patiently looking for the spiritual fruit from our lives that he has every right to expect and yet too often fails to find..

The Good News for us is that God does not expect that we could bear spiritual fruit from our own resources but instead supplies the spiritual nutrients we need for a faithful, fruit-filled Christian life.

The gardener answered the owner, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

            God has created us and given us this body and life.  He has redeemed us by the blood of the Savior he sent in his Son Jesus.  We do not have to worry that having created us and redeemed us that now he somehow going to leave us to our own devices and resources when it comes to producing the fruit of repentance.   

            Instead, Jesus Christ, the good gardener, intercedes for us and comes to us in Word and Sacrament to provide every spiritual nutrient we need to grow into vibrant, fruitful Christians.

We need to make regular use of these God-given, gracious opportunities for repentance so that the day of our death and God’s judgment does not catch us unaware and unprepared.  Amen.