Seeing All of
Life in Jesus
Sermons for Sundays in Advent, Christmas Day, Sundays after Christmas
by Rev. Ken Behnken
Fourth Sunday in Advent
4. THE SEARCHING WORD – Calling Us to Fruitful
Discipleship. Luke 13:1-9
Luke
13:1-5 – There were some present at
that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with
their sacrifices. Jesus answered,
"Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other
Galileans because they suffered this way.
I tell you, No! But unless you
repent, you too will all perish. Or those
eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them – do you think they
were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, No! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
A
Chinese proverb says, "To forgive the unrepentant is to draw pictures on
water." It makes sense, doesn’t
it? Repentance has to be more than a
temporary, shallow, "I’m sorry."
Dietrich
Bonhoeffer coined a phrase for those who want to enjoy Jesus’ forgiveness but
aren’t interested in hearing his call to repentance and new life. He call it "cheap grace" –
forgiveness without discipleship. Any
reading of the New Testament reveals immediately that "cheap grace"
is a half-measure that does not fulfill God’s goal in reaching out to save
sinners. This says to us that
Christians who are comfortable with being "half-way" about Jesus –
wanting to be "believers" but not committed to being disciples –
should not fool themselves and just take comfort in hearing the Gospel over and
over, as if their half-measure of cheap grace is all they need. They need to dig into the Word fully, to be
afflicted by the Law of God, so they can see how much they need the turn-around
of sincere repentance. Then their being
comforted by the Gospel will have full meaning in their lives.
All
of us prefer cheap grace at times. How
pleasant it is to hear and accept the Bible’s "Jesus loves and forgives." How difficult it is to hear and accept Jesus’ "Those who want to follow me must deny
themselves, take up their own crosses as my disciples, and follow me." We all need to know and experience for
ourselves that the Word who is the Inviting Word of Life and the Renewing Word
of Life is also the Searching Word of Life as he calls us to fruitful
discipleship.
The
Psalmist wrote, "O Lord,
You have searched me and known me; You are familiar with all my ways." And he ended his psalm: "Search me, O God, and know my heart;
test me and know my thoughts. See if
there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." Well,
God truly is the Searching Word of Life in what he says to us today. What could possibly be more searching
– forcing us to have a good look at ourselves – than to hear Jesus say, "Unless you repent you will all
perish"?
Jesus said these words as part of his
response to some people who had spoken to him "about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their
sacrifices." That incident
is not recorded anywhere but here, but it fits the pattern of political
mistakes that put Procurator Pontius Pilate on unsure footing with his
superiors in Rome. Perhaps these
Galileans had broken some Roman regulation and Pilate decided to teach the
rebellious Jews a lesson. But how foolish
of Pilate to have them slain while they were offering sacrifices in the temple. That only added fuel to the fire of Jewish
resistance.
The
one who brought it up to Jesus was not so concerned about Pilate’s folly as he
was about the fate of those Galileans.
Why had this happened to them?
Jesus knew what his concern was, and responded, "Do you think that these Galileans
were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this
way?" That was the common view of such
tragedies among the Jews of that day:
if people suffered severe illness or difficulty or tragedy it must mean
that they had grievously sinned against God.
But Jesus said, "I tell
you, No!" And he added, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish."
Then
Jesus himself cited another tragic accident.
The tower in Siloam stood inside the southeast section of Jerusalem’s
wall – and on one occasion it or a portion of it had fallen on people below,
killing eighteen of them. What about
them? "Do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in
Jerusalem?" Jesus
asked. And again answered his
question: "I tell you, NO! But
unless you repent, you too will all perish."
These
were powerful, searching words for those who heard them! And they are powerful, searching words for
us today as we hear them from the lips of the one who is the Searching Word of
Life. Clearly, he is saying to each one
of us: "Don’t look at other
people to judge their situations and their hearts. Look at yourself. Search
your heart and life. Unless you repent,
you too will perish."
"Repent"
means so much more than just saying "I’m sorry." It calls for a change of heart and mind that
shows itself in a change in life-direction.
That’s the impact of Jesus’ "Unless
you repent, you will perish."
He is telling us, "Don’t come to me with that cheap grace mentality. Yes, I lived and died for you so you might
be forgiven fully and freely. But
doesn’t that call you to more than just ‘believing’ in me? Doesn’t it call you to a faith in which you live
all of life in relation to me as your Savior and Lord?"
Later, the
one who is the Searching Word of Life stated the dynamic of this pointedly through his
Apostle Paul: Christ’s love compels us! He
died for all so that we who live in him might no longer live for ourselves but
for him who for our sakes died and was raised."
Jesus followed his warning with a parable that illustrated how serious a matter it is.
Luke
13:6-9 – A man had a fig tree, planted
in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find
any. So he said to the man who took
care of the vineyard, "For three years now I’ve been coming to look for
fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any.
Cut it down! Why should it use
up the soil?" "Sir," the
man replied, "leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and
fertilize it. If it bears fruit next
year, fine! If not, then cut it
down."
It
was not unusual for the owner of a vineyard to plant a fig tree in it. The large leaves of the fig tree would
provide shade for the workers when they needed a break from the hot mid-day
sun. But it was not enough for the fig
tree to just be there. It was expected
to benefit the owner of the vineyard by producing its delicious fruit for him to enjoy.
It’s
not hard to understand that God is the owner of the vineyard and Jesus is the
man who takes care of it for the owner.
You and I see ourselves as the fig tree. Both God and Jesus want us to produce the appropriate fruit in
our lives – fruit for which Jesus lived and died and rose again as our Savior.
Notice
the patience and concern of the vineyard’s caretaker. He just couldn’t bring himself to cut down the fig tree without
giving it another chance to produce its fruit.
That’s the loving patience and deep concern of Jesus as he looks to us
to live up to his purposes for us in his vineyard, his kingdom.
The
caretaker says he is going to dig around the tree to encourage it to
fulfill its purpose. That’s our Lord
Jesus working in our lives with his Word, breaking up the hard soil of our
spiritual apathy that hinders our reaching his goal for us. That’s Jesus removing the underlying rock
that keeps us from putting our roots down deep into him. That’s Jesus rooting out the weeds, the "cares and pleasures of this life",
that compete with him and his purposes for us in our lives.
The
caretaker says he is going to fertilize the tree to stimulate it to
fulfill its purpose. That’s our Lord
Jesus nourishing us continually with his Word and Sacrament. Again and again he announces to us the full
and free grace of God. It is grace
because it is his saving work in us.
We cannot effectively cultivate ourselves. Jesus must break up the hard-packed soil and remove the
underlying rock and root out the weeds – and he works to do so through the
power of his Holy Spirit. It is free
because the grace of God is based completely on what he has already
accomplished for us through his suffering and death and resurrection. Our salvation is an accomplished fact, to be
received in humble faith.
The
grace of God in Jesus Christ is free, and we praise God for that, for we could
never earn it. But Jesus’ warning and
his parable let us know that it is not cheap. It cost God dearly. And
now, day by day he comes to us, his fig trees, looking for fruit. His purpose is always that believers be disciples
who catch the spirit of their Master approach to life.
What
is the fruit that we are to offer our Lord for his greater glory? It surely begins with a response to his
love: we offer ourselves to him in
heartfelt worship and praise. Just as
surely, it goes beyond what we do here in church on a Sunday morning. In the Upper Room Jesus told his
disciples: "A new command I give you:
love one another as I have loved you.
By this all will know that you are my disciples, when you love one
another." The love Jesus displayed, the love he calls
us to imitate, is a love that puts the welfare of others first and is ready to
serve them in Jesus’ Name. That’s
the fruit God looks for in our lives, fruit that glorifies him and shows we are
Jesus’ disciples.
Having
heard Jesus’ searching words this morning, is it time for a spiritual inventory
in your life as it is in mine? What may
we do to serve our neighbors more effectively in Jesus’ name? How may we do more to help the needy of the
world? How may we be more pointedly
loving and serving to those in our family?
How may we contribute our time and effort to facilitate our church’s
proclamation of the Gospel to our community?
In other words, how may we set ourselves to producing the fruit that God
desires of us – the fruit Jesus died to make possible in us? Our Christmas celebration is near at
hand. As we celebrate the birth of the
one who "became poor so we might
become rich" it’s a good time for us to ask ourselves all these
questions.
There’s
an old saying, "Find a need and fill it." Look into yourself to see how God has blessed you. Then look around to find a need that God’s
love has equipped you to fill. Take the
step thoughtfully and deliberately – and prayerfully. Ask God’s Spirit to guide you and empower you, and he will!
But don’t delay and just continue the status quo. Jesus’ warning was "repent or perish." The fig tree was given a year’s reprieve to allow it to live up to its purpose. The crucial time will come also for us as God’s fig trees. Then it will be either fruit or fire.
The Searching Word of Life has warned us and cultivated us and fertilized us again today. What will be the results when he comes to check on us "next year"?
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