Luke 13:1-9
There were some present at that very time who told him 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.”
And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And 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?’ And he answered him, ‘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.’”
Grace, mercy and peace to you from God, our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus, Christ, amen. Times are a bit turbulent right now. We see in the news there are all sorts of tragedies happening all over the world we read in our politics, and I don't know about you, but I am nervous, and have been kind of nervous. So about, oh, six weeks or so, the news is filled with all sorts of people getting upset, all sorts of people saying all sorts of things. And on top of that, natural disasters happen everywhere, or problems all over the world. And that's forgetting all the problems that happen here in our own lives, whether we get sick or hurt or whatever, and often, when those things happen, there is one question we ask.
We ask, Why? Why does God allow fill in the blank, whether it's all the craziness that is happening in our politics, natural disasters that happen all over the world, or a fall in your own household, our gospel reading today addresses this question At least a little bit. Let's take a look.
The beginning says there were some present at that very time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. To understand what is going on here, you need to understand the scene that all of them would have understood with that sentence. So when the Galileans were offering a sacrifice, there was a group who would have gone to the temple to offer a sacrifice. There, they would have killed the animals and then the blood gets splashed all over that stuff. Aren't you glad we don't do that today? Yeah, gross. And so part of the normal worship would be, you bring an animal, you collect the blood, and it is offered in some way, often splashing it on the altar. So the situation is, Pontius Pilate. Sees a group of people he wants dead, and He sends Roman soldiers into the temple to kill them. And what happens is, in the midst of this sacrifice, they die, they are killed, and their human blood is mixed with the animal blood desecrating the sacrifice.
And then you go, Well, why? Why are they telling Jesus about this? I think there is an implicit question in this sentence, the question is, what did they do wrong that God judged them in this way? Why would that be the implicit question you may ask. Well, the Jews understood their history, and their history is filled with this kind of judgment on sinners. You can go back to the times where this kind of judgment happens around the tabernacle or the temple. Look at Aaron's sons who brought strange fire into the tabernacle and were struck dead because of it.
You can think about ELI, the high priest that young Samuels gave him a prophecy that he would die along with his two sons, because Eli would not, would not discipline them in their efforts and role as priests, and they were killed. The two sons and Eli, when he heard the news, fell backwards and died. Or what about the times when they were wandering in the wilderness and Israel sinned, and God sent punishments to turn them from their sin? It could have been snakes that came in and bit the people, or the time after Jericho, when someone took the stuff that they weren't supposed to and the ground opened it up beneath them, the Old Testament is filled with this kind of punishment.
And it would be especially significant to them that this destruction happened while they were offering a sacrifice. So they come to Jesus with this question, why did these Galileans suffer in this way. And we know the implied question is there because Jesus doesn't answer it explicitly. He declines and even mentions it a little bit in verse two, 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.
So I think we often have similar questions, when events of the world go wrong, whether it's a natural disaster, somewhere far away or something difficult going on in our own lives, we ask the same question, why Is God punishing me for something? Is God punishing them for something? There are lots of why, questions like that. Why does a hurricane strike one city and not another? Or a tornado goes through a town and takes this house, but not that house, and leaves it completely untouched? Wouldn't we love to get answers to those questions. In fact, we have so many why questions that aren't even a big that big a deal.
In Bible study, I get a lot of whys. They say, Why is it like this? Why did God choose to do it that way. Why did he choose bread and wine? And I always respond the same way. I say, Wow, that is a great question. Maybe you should ask God, because Jesus doesn't answer our why questions, and he declines to answer their why question too. He says, Do you think that those Galileans were worse sinners than other Galileans because they suffered in this way? No.
And then he turns it on the people who are there, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. He simply declines to answer their question and turns it somewhere else. And what this helps us to understand is that there is a hidden part of God that we know nothing about, that God is so big and so vast, his hidden will is simply not given to us, and that's why we don't have answers to the why questions. In fact, we don't have answers to nearly every why question when it comes to God, Jesus, instead, he turns us to what we call the revealed will of God. Don't worry about what the what those Galileans were doing. Don't worry about their sin or their punishment. Worry about yourself. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
And isn't that what we really need to hear? We don't really need to know why someone else had something bad happen to them, why a hurricane happened, or an earthquake or sickness or disease or accidents or whatever it is. What we need to do is repent, turn to Jesus and be forgiven. What we need is a Savior who went to a cross to die for us and rise for us so that we can have eternal life. All of the why stuff, all of this knowledge, it would be nice, but it's not necessary. What Jesus wants us to do is turn repent, be forgiven, and trust in Him, and Jesus helps clarifythat point by turning to something that wouldn't be as religiously significant for the people in the next passage he goes, or those 18 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.
See, what he does is he turns from the religious example to like a random example that there was a tower that fell on a bunch of people. It has nothing to do with the temple or with worship or anything like that, and so they wouldn't have attached any specific religious significance to it, these 18 people who just happened to be standing where the tower fell. Were they worse sinners than anyone? No, Jesus says, Unless you repent, you will likewise perish. And for us, when we see these things happen in the world, when there is an accident, a disaster, pain, something like that. Jesus wants to remind us that this should be a clear example of being in a broken world, a world broken by sin, so that it is filled with pain we cannot create a solution for that as human beings.
We cannot fix it or turn it away. We can't end the curse that is on all of creation. Only one person can do that, Jesus, Christ Himself, because we know the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life. And so these disasters are designed to point us not to this world, but to a Savior who will make all things new. And that is why Jesus answers the question this way.
He wants us to turn to the one person who fixes the brokenness of creation, the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, because He is coming to fix all this natural disasters, gone. Cancer, forever gone. Diseases, sickness, addiction, everything gone on the day that he returns, and that is our hope as we groan and hurt under the pains of this world. We look forward to a day that Christ will make all things new. The challenge for us is that so often when these disasters happen, it leads people to doubt. It leads us to look at these things and say, If God were really on my side, this wouldn't happen. Or how can a good and loving God do this to me? We need to reframe these things, because God never promised that following him would be filled with with happiness or joy. In fact, he kind of promised the opposite, that we would follow a Savior who went to a cross, the joy, the certainty comes in the resurrection and the power of our Savior on the day he returns. And so what we do is, when we see these bad things, we say, Oh no, the world is filled with sin. Who can save me? Only Jesus. Then Jesus finishes up his his analysis with a parable, the parable of a fig tree. I've got a couple of fig trees in my backyard, and I know what it's like to wait for them to fruit, and it's especially frustrating when you you watch a fig tree grow. Mine are about this tall right now, and they start to put out the figs, and you get out there and you're like, ooh, it's almost ready. Ooh, it's almost ready. And then it falls off and the ants get it.
But this gardener, he's got a. Big tree that's been grown for three years, no fruit at all. And what do you do with a tree in a garden that doesn't produce? You pull it out and you put in a tree that will in this situation, this parable, the lesson is very simple. Time is short, just like it's short for the fig tree. He's got one extra year, and if it doesn't produce, it's gone. And Jesus is reminding us that time is always short for all of us any moment, any second, could be our last. Now is the time to repent. Now is the time to turn to Christ and ask for forgiveness. And it's the same for the people you know, time is short, any moment could be their last, and it is our time to help them turn and repent so they can be saved, because that is what Jesus wants for each and every one of us, for every single human Being in the entire world, salvation and eternal life, and we can help them see that when these terrible things happen by saying, I have the answer. It's not fixing the problem resurrection from the dead in Jesus Christ, because he came to be in our suffering, he came to be filled with the pain of death that we too face by going to the cross and suffering that brutal, terrible, horrible death, and he did it so we could be with him in his resurrection. And people are looking for an answer a reason. We can give it to them. We can give them that hope. When the world seems random and horrible and terrible, they can hold on to Christ and nobody else can offer that. That's the gift that we have. Jesus says, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And he wants us to turn to Him for that forgiveness so we can have life with Him in His name. Amen
Find us on Youtube, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify.