SERMON SYNOPSIS                                                     March 7, 2010

By Florence Wolf                                                             Sermon by Buck Tohill

 

In Luke 13: 1-9, we find Jesus speaking to a crowd of people.  They told Jesus about some Galileans who had been killed by Pilate.  They were taken by surprise at His response.  They had expected their news about the Galileans to spark anger against Pilate.  Instead, Jesus posed two questions.  He asked them if they thought that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than other Galileans or if those eighteen who had been killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—did they think that they were worse offenders than all others living in Jerusalem?  Jesus answered His own questions.  “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.

 

Interestingly, scholars think that the killing of the Galileans may have been a trumped up event, something designed to entrap Jesus.  One such scholar, whose students come from the mid-east, is surprised that Jesus was not attacked at this point because His answer would have seemed callous to those who were seeking sympathy for the dead Galileans.  Instead of addressing the cruelty inflicted by Pilate, Jesus’ dialogue redirected the focus of the conversation back to them. 

 

Repent, or you will perish like they did.  Some may believe that Jesus was implying that God allows us to be killed as punishment for our unrepentant ways and that death—whether it is caused by a cruel dictator, or by some natural disaster—is a result of our own inadequacies, but that is not what He was saying.  Jesus was saying to those who would listen, “You still have time.  Their life is over.  They can no longer turn their lives around, but you can.”

 

We don’t know if Pilate ordered the death of the Galatians.  We have no other historical source that supports the event, but he was capable of doing so.  A Roman soldier, Agrippa I, called him merciless.  Pilate was accused of many acts of cruelty.  He was likely guilty of the atrocities, but Pilate’s guilt was not what Jesus chose for the focus of his discussion.  He wanted to impart information crucial to the lives of His listeners.  People die and, whether they are murdered or whether their death is the result of a random act of fate, it is too late for them to seek God after they die.  Jesus wants to tell us and them, “Repent now, before you die, and before it is too late. 

 

Jesus finished by telling a parable.   He said, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.  So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years 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?’  He 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.’ ”

 

This last story would have diffused the anger of the crowd by using what a modern humorist might call “insult humor.”  Symbolism within the metaphor would surely have left the common people grinning.  The unproductive fig tree represents the leaders in Israel.  The vineyard symbolizes Israel.  The man who owned the vineyard is God.  The gardener is the advocate or the Holy Spirit.  “Give it another year,” He says, speaking of the unproductive fig tree.  “I’ll tend it.  I’ll take a fork and loosen the soil around its roots and put manure on it.”

 

The Spiritual thrust of the whole gospel lesson, one which is still as applicable today as it was then, is that we are going to die.  Jesus would like to buy us some time to turn to God before we die.  Our death can be by the hand of another human being, or it can be an act of fate, but none of us will die because God is ticked off at us.  Most importantly, we have an advocate.  He will root for us and, if necessary, shake the ground under our feet.  He will do anything He can to get us to produce good fruit.  Amen!