Written Sermon 3/23/25

Pastor John Eich

Good Shepherd Lutheran Church Alma, MI

Luke 13:1-9

Now is the Time to Repent

1At that time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2He answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered these things? 3I  tell you, no. But unless you repent, you will all perish too. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the  tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse sinners than  all the people living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no. But unless you repent, you  will all perish too.” 6He told them this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted  in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any. 7So  he said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years now I have come looking for  fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down. Why even let it use  up the soil?’ 8But the gardener replied to him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year  also, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. 9If it produces fruit next  year, fine. But if not, then cut it down.’” 

As I reflected on today’s gospel for this sermon I thought about the  Russian war on Ukraine, the more than 46,000 killed in the Gaza crises,  the six million covid deaths worldwide, and the 42 killed in severe storms  last weekend. Why? 

Not much has changed since the time of Jesus. Tyrants are still acting,  and tragedies are still happening. I want to know why these things  happen, don’t you? I want some explanation and a way to make sense of  it all.  

We’re tempted to try and connect the dots and we can’t help but wonder  what they did to cause it. They must be guilty of something. God must be  punishing them for something we don’t know about.  

Sometimes we may wonder if our troubles are punishment for our sins.  What did I do wrong for this to happen? But Jesus stops this thinking in  its tracks. The answer is that I have done all kinds of things wrong. I am a  sinner before the Lord. But this is not the reason why a hailstorm  destroyed my car. This is not the reason why I’ve had a flat tire on the  road. God is not karma. Now, we certainly experience consequences for  our sinful decisions. But calamities, sicknesses, and disasters are not a  direct way that God punishes us. 

Jesus doesn’t offer an explanation of why Pilate mingled the blood of  Galileans with their sacrifices, or why the Tower of Siloam fell killing  18. No, Jesus says, those Galileans were not worse sinners. No, he  insists, those people in Siloam were not more guilty than you. Don’t focus  on the cause, says Jesus. Rather, consider your response. And how  should we respond? Jesus says,“repent.” 

This call to repentance seems strange because we normally think of  repentance of something we do when we’ve done something wrong. But  that thinking is too small. Jesus is talking about repentance more  broadly. Don’t just repent when you’ve messed up, Jesus says. Repent  when any bad thing happens. 

Because bad things are so common in this broken world, repentance  becomes more than just a response to felt guilt. The Greek word for  repent could be translated more exactly with ‘assume another mind and  feeling, recover one’s senses, or have a change of spirit. Repentance is not  a bargain with God for the temporary relief of guilt. Repentance is a  turning away from anything that is not right in His sight and turning  toward the One who can make all things right. Each disaster should make  us renew our repentance. 

Which is where Jesus’ story of the fig tree comes into the picture. Jesus  continues his call to repentance by telling a story of mercy and patience  in the light of coming judgment. The fig tree deserved to be cut down and  destroyed. It had not produced fruit for years. But the caretaker asked for  mercy. He tended, nurtured and cared for this tree, patiently cultivating  it so that it might bear fruit. But if it doesn’t, then it will be cut down. Judgment is inevitable. That much is certain. 

This story is about repentance. And that’s been true all through this  season of Lent, as we have tuned our ears to listen to Jesus. Here, he says  it plainly – not once, but twice: “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you  will all perish just as they did.” As God tends you the fruit of His work is  repentance. If there is no repentance then there is only death and  destruction. 

The question isn’t so much, “Is what I’m doing something that’s  deserving of death?” because the answer is “Yes! Absolutely. Every sin  deserves the death sentence.” Death, in all its forms, is a preaching of  God’s law. And Jesus’ most sincere desire is to save you from it. That’s  why He keeps nurturing to cause us to be fruitful in repentance. 

For as much as people might like to find a reason for with the troubles of  others, remember, Jesus has a reason for you – to bring you to repentance, to assure you of his forgiveness, and to show you the back  door to heaven. When life happens…repent! Bear fruit!  

Yet the time for God’s patience will run out. We usually think of that as  the end of the world, the final judgment. And that’s true. However, it can  also happen at any time by death. That’s God warning through these  tragedies. Don’t wait. Death can come unexpectedly as it has to some  over the last couple of weeks. Like a twelve-year-old girl dying within  days after contracting a virus. Or a one-year-old boy dying from a rare  brain cancer, or 42 people killed by a storm. Jesus is warning all of us to  take these troubles to heart. Live a life of repentance, aware of the brevity  of life. Don’t waste time, don’t put off repentance, there might not be a  tomorrow. There might be a life-ending tragedy around the corner.  

Should that thought cause us to look over our shoulders constantly  expecting the sky to fall? NO, not at all. But neither should we go through  life ignoring the fact that those things can happen. And we do try to  ignore it, to not think about it and to not even plan for it. When you see  those tragedies, remember the fleeting nature of life. Put off sin, and turn  to your Savior because he promises to forgive you. 

Notice how Jesus doesn’t tell us whether that fig tree did finally bear  fruit. That’s because He is letting us know that we have a choice. He’s not  offering a cause and effect explanation, he’s offering a choice between life  and death. While God does this work, you and I have a part to play. We  can’t make our faith stronger on our own, but we can put ourselves in a  position to be surrounded by his Word, to be in a place where God will do  the work he’s promised. So, tending to the tree of our faith means  immersing ourselves in his Word. 

Every moment is a burning bush moment of divine presence, hope, new  life and more life. The only question is whether we will “turn aside to see  this great thing.”  

But God’s grace is still here is this parable to lift our hearts from the  abyss of impending doom. The vineyard worker doesn’t just sit and watch  and see if the tree figures it out. The vineyard worker goes to work on  that tree – digging around it, fertilizing it, doing everything necessary to  make this tree does what fruit trees do. He holds off destruction and goes  to work. That’s exactly what Jesus does for you and me. He brings us to a  realization of our sin through his law, and then proclaims and promises  his perfect rescue in the gospel. He turns us outside of ourselves, bearing  fruit for the glory of God and the benefit of our neighbor. Repent! Bear  fruit! But do you see the only way both of those things happen? Only in Christ – he brings us to see our sin and our sin’s forgiveness in him.  Christ himself is the one who makes us fruitful. 

So God assures us time and time again, sometimes in direct conflict with  our internal dialogue and emotions, that he loves us. While, yes, we have  sinned, and yes, we do deserve eternal punishment in hell for those sins,  Jesus took our place. Jesus paid the price we owed. Jesus has saved us  through his perfect life that he applies to us and his death on the cross  that removed every single one of our sins. Now, the soil can breathe and  have nutrients rush to the roots. 

And what is the result? What could the result be but joyous thanksgiving  to God? When we can see and appreciate how great the love of God for us  is, how could we possibly respond in joy to him? To be clear, any  response, any good works we do are not done to earn God’s love or  forgiveness; those have been given to us as a free gift. No, the fruit we  produce is the result of thanksgiving to the God who loves us. 

In the end, it’s not the fruit that is the ultimate concern, but the fruit is a  sign of the tree's health. The good works in our life are not the goal, but  they are useful to gauge the health of our faith. The faith that clings to  Jesus as the only and complete Savior from sin is what is most vital. A  healthy tree will produce good fruit; a healthy faith will produce thankful  fruit, and we want our faith to be healthy as we look forward to the rescue  from this life that God will provide. 

God grant us his Holy Spirit to see in every trial, tragedy, or triumph in  this life, an opportunity to turn in repentance and faith to our Savior who  forgives us and makes us fruitful.