Lent 3C am
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3rd Sunday in Lent, Year C
3rd Sunday in Lent, Year C
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in Your Sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Brothers and sisters in Christ: Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
This morning I want to focus on the Gospel lesson that we heard from St. Luke. It’s a fairly short reading, but it has a lot to teach us.
Right away in the first verse, we find some of Jesus’ followers bringing him some terrible news: something terrible has happened to some Galileans. I don’t know about you, but the way Luke describes it here isn’t really clear to my 21st-century brain. So I did a little digging. Here’s the back story:
The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel Chapter 13
All that we know about it is what Luke has preserved about this crime of Pilate’s. Luke’s interest lies in the answer that Jesus gave, hence he does not record the crime in detail. These unfortunate men were Galileans, which is mentioned as being of interest to Jesus who came from Galilee and seems to imply also that Jesus was now not in Galilee; he was, in fact, in Perea. Pilate mingled (the aorist to express the fact only; we should use the past perfect) the blood of these Galileans with their sacrifices.
Ordinarily, only the priests were allowed in the court of the priests which extended about the Sanctuary and had in it the great altar and the brass laver; but certain sacrifices required that the laymen who brought them had to enter this priests’ court for laying the hands on the sacrifice, for slaughtering, and for waving. While they were thus engaged, Pilate had his soldiers rush in and cut down these Galileans, thus literally mingling their blood with that of their θυσίαι or slaughter sacrifices. This was a typical act of Pilate’s who perpetrated many outrages during his ten years in office.
Pilate definitely had a tyrant side to him. And knowing how important personal and ritual cleanliness is to the Jewish faith and culture, this was truly an atrocity of the highest order. For a Jew, this would be an absolutely awful way to die. Terrible, terrible news, and it would certainly have hit home for Jesus, as he also came from Galilee.
What Jesus says in response is a bit startling: “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.” As both Paul and Ezekiel explain in the other lessons today, God has shown His wrath throughout the history of Israel. In many cases where Israelites died or were killed, it was because God was punishing them for their disobedience, for their idolatry, for their abject sin - rampant sin that went unchecked and outgrew their faith. So anyone who knew their Scriptures would likely think that these Galileans had done something to deserve this kind of death - in God’s Temple - because they had stirred God’s wrath. Jesus explains it: they’re not any worse than any other Galilean…and they were no worse than you are. And unless YOU repent, you will all die in similarly horrible ways.
Well that’s fairly disturbing. And then Jesus brings up another relatively recent event: “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?” Clearly, as with the Galileans’ tragedy, Luke assumes that everyone knows what happened here. You might recognize the name “Siloam” from the pool of Siloam, where John’s Gospel account tells of Jesus restoring a blind man’s sight, and then telling him to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. It was a recognizable landmark in the city of Jerusalem, and the tower mentioned here most likely was situated next to it. Truth be told, we don’t know much about the event itself, only that the tower “fell”; it was not purposely destroyed.
But, as before, the event is not what the evangelist wants to focus on. He wants to focus on Jesus’ teaching: “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Word-for-word what he said following the horrible death of the Galileans at the hand of Pilate. The difference in the two events is clear: Pilate deliberately killed the Galileans, but the 18 who were killed by the falling tower were clearly victims of a random accident - it was not deliberate or evil, just tragic. And yet, Jesus’ words in response to both events is the same: “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Then Jesus turns to a short parable - the Barren Fig tree. I was blessed to have heard a study of this passage by one of the more respected theologians in present-day Lutheranism - Dr. Jim Nestingen. Dr. Nestingen addressed this study at the national clergy gathering in 2020. What stuck out to me the most was his instruction to all of us pastors. I know I won’t quote him perfectly, but it went something like this: “In this parable, Christ has described your job as pastors. You’re to be a manure-spreader. So go out there and spread manure!” Dr. Nestingen comes from the mid-West, and farming is as much at the core of his person as is his faith.
Most of you here know a lot more about farming than I do…so you understand exactly what Nestingen meant, and you know what Jesus meant in his parable. If a plant does not bear fruit, it could be that it needs some special care, some extra nurturing - fertilizing the soil, making sure it has the proper amount of water and the proper amount of sunlight. Not too much, not too little. Proper care of a plant or a tree just might help it to do what it’s meant to do: to bear fruit. After all, what is a fig tree that does not produce figs?
Ok, let’s make it practical now: who is represented in this parable? The man who planted the tree is clearly God. Now for the harder question: who is the vinedresser and who is the fig tree? I hope you guessed that Jesus is the vinedresser. His role in the divine story is to be the intercessor, and that’s definitely happening here on behalf of the fruitless fig tree. So that’s not too hard to see, either.
The fig tree, however, might have a few possibilities. First, let’s take note that it’s a fig tree planted in a vineyard. Not in an orchard of fig trees, or even of other trees, but in a vineyard. This is deliberate on the part of the man who planted it. Of the various ways to look at this, the best way to think of it is this: the vineyard is the world, and the fig tree is the church, which means the people who make up the church—and brothers and sisters…that’s us. If you know anything about fig trees, you might know that they are naturally very fruitful. It’s unusual for them to *not* bear fruit. So this is an appropriate representation of “any one or all of God’s people. He looks for fruit from them.” [H. Louis Baugher, Annotations on the Gospel according to St. Luke, ed. Henry Eyster Jacobs, vol. IV, The Lutheran Commentary (New York: The Christian Literature Co., 1896), 257.]
Let’s not forget - Jesus has just been talking about how important repentance is. For those who don’t repent, death awaits. And then Jesus jumps right into the fig tree parable. In this culture, “the image of sitting under one’s vine and fig tree symbolizes prosperity and peace.” [Arland J. Hultgren, The Parables of Jesus: A Commentary, ed. David Noel Freedman and Astrid B. Beck, The Bible in Its World (Grand Rapids, MI; Cambridge, U.K.: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002), 243.] So as Jesus is telling this, the contrast between prosperity and peace over against fruitlessness and the cutting out of the tree would have been startling.
For the people of God represented by this tree, it is sin that keeps it from bearing fruit as it should. The problem is not with the man who planted it, or with the vinedresser…and actually not even with the vineyard - it’s with the tree. And based on the context that Jesus is telling this parable, the fruit Christ is looking for is repentance for the forgiveness of sins.
It would be easy to look at this parable and the verses before it and think “that the Father is severe, that Jesus alone is merciful,...” but that kind of thinking would be wrong. Why? Because “...the Father accepts the intercession, and Jesus [accepts] the cutting down.” We can’t get into a one-dimensional thinking where there is never any wrath because of the mercy we have in Christ…but we also can’t think think that there is no mercy when we witness God’s wrath. Both wrath and mercy are real qualities of God. [R. C. H. Lenski, The Interpretation of St. Luke’s Gospel (Minneapolis, MN: Augsburg Publishing House, 1961), 730.]
Thankfully, despite God’s wrath, we *do* have an intercessor in Christ. The entire basis for the intercession is Jesus’ sacrifice on our behalf - the sacrifice of his very life to pay the price for our sins. To pay the debt that we could never pay. God’s grace toward us is always through - and because of - His Son. But let’s not forget that Jesus came to do the Father’s Will. He is not acting against the Father. He is doing what the Father sent Him to do. And so in addition to interceding for us, he is also doing what is necessary to help us bear fruit…including some really extra special attention, such as a vinedresser would do for a poorly producing fig tree.
This intercession is not just a request for more time. It is also an opportunity for this vinedresser to do some extra work to give the tree extraordinary care. “Until I dig around it and put on manure.” And it is the vinedresser who will do this work. “It is Jesus who uses every means of grace; we only receive and by receiving come to the fruitage of repentance and a new life.” [Lenski, 731] What are the “means of grace”? The Word, the Sacraments… these are those things that Jesus is giving to all of us to help us bear fruit - to bring us to repentance. To save us from death and bring us to eternal life.
The events at the beginning of this lesson serve to show us that we never know when death comes. And because we don’t know when or how we will die, we have a task - to repent before that time comes. “If it is not a cruel ruler, nor a sudden accident, yet whatever it is that cuts you off from this life [of faith], if you go unrepentant, unreconciled to God, you shall perish in the fullest, deepest sense of those words.” [H. Louis Baugher, Annotations on the Gospel according to St. Luke, ed. Henry Eyster Jacobs, vol. IV, The Lutheran Commentary (New York: The Christian Literature Co., 1896), 256.]
True repentance, then, is eliminating those things that lead us away from God and toward death. This season of Lent focuses on such repentance, fasting from these things that cut us off from God. It is 40 days in which we are called to think about repentance every day - if we don’t already. And this would be a good start to a lifelong practice of repentance: “The life of the Christian disciple is to be characterized by continual, daily repentance and renewal. Each day is a day of grace, allowing a fresh opportunity for repentance and a renewed life of discipleship, living out the fruits of repentance.” [Hultgren, 246]
The Augsburg Confession (Article XII) describes what this looks like: “true repentance is nothing else than to have contrition and sorrow, or terror, on account of sin, and yet at the same time to believe the Gospel and absolution (namely, that sin has been forgiven and grace has been obtained through Christ), and this faith will comfort the heart and again set it at rest. Amendment of life and the forsaking of sin would then follow, for these must be the fruits of repentance...” [Theodore G. Tappert, ed., The Book of Concord the Confessions of the Evangelical Lutheran Church. (Philadelphia: Mühlenberg Press, 1959), 34–35.]
As we do this repentance “thing”, and we make use of the means of grace - God’s Word and His Holy Sacraments - we can hear His promise of forgiveness, and the hope of eternal life with Him, which we enjoy because of His Son. This morning we have heard now His Word. Shortly we will come to His Table and receive that blessed Sacrament and taste the very forgiveness He has promised us…assured us. Let us use all of this (this time and this fertilizer) to grow in our faith and our discipleship. This is how we will bear fruit for the kingdom - exactly how we are supposed to during this season of Lent, and exactly how God wants us to, as his vinedresser has hoped for, and has worked on us to achieve. Let’s continue to give him opportunity to fertilize us and help us to bear this fruit.
May the peace of God which passes all understanding keep our hearts and our minds in Christ Jesus our Lord. Amen.