Luke 13:1-9

Lent 3 (7^th March 2010)

Text: Luke 13: 1-9

 

Sometimes, I wish we could be like some free or independent Churches where preachers are given a free hand to preach from any text in the Bible on any Sunday. But we are a denomination with a set lectionary, where Bible readings for one whole year are already determined for us.  Today we don’t have a proclamation verse because we can’t find an appropriate verse from our two readings.  But we have an interesting reading in Luke 13: 1-9.  I say that it is interesting because the Jews didn’t expect Jesus to tell them this sort of parable. 

We all know that the Jews were the chosen people of God. The Jews understood what that meant and what it felt like to be God’s chosen people.  All of us will feel proud of ourselves if we know that we are special or chosen for a special purpose.  The Jews were no different: they felt superior (felt good about themselves) because they knew they were special people in the eyes of God.  Now, imagine their surprise when they heard that Jesus making a statement ’…unless you repent, you too will all perish."   Repent of what?  Were they not chosen people of God?  Imagine if you have been working for many years in a company, and the management made a ruling - asking you to undergo a test of competency or something like that.  You too will ask, “For what?”

Jesus had great difficulty preaching to the crowd about the judgment of God, because his listeners couldn’t understand why the chosen nation had to be judged.  And right in the middle of his sermon on judgment, Jesus was asked a very odd question about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners then 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 of 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.”

As Jesus told the crowd of the oncoming judgment, there were those among the listeners who were still thinking that they would not be included in the judgment.  They believed that that judgment was meant for other people, and not them. After all, Galilee was not something that Israel was proud of. It was full of “mixed” people, Jews and Gentiles; and if something bad were to happen to them, they deserved it because they didn’t qualify to be chosen people of God.

That is when Jesus decided to drive in the point and introduce a new paradigm.  In verses 6-9, he said: “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 of 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.”

Let us look at this simple story of a fig tree.  Why was that fig tree in a vineyard?  Didn’t it look a little out of place surrounded by all of those grapes?  Fig trees normally grow wild, but it was not uncommon in Jesus’ day for fig trees to be planted in vineyards.  Fig trees work perfectly in those patches of rocky ground that is good for nothing else. Besides, there isn’t anything better to hold up a trellis than a sturdy old fig tree. In some vineyards, the grape vines were allowed to wind themselves up fig trees. It had even been said that the “choicest wines come from grapes that grow at the top of fig trees.”

Why did Jesus choose a fig tree for this parable rather than a regular grapevine?  First, we need to remember that the fig trees grew wild in Palestine. In other words, it will not be in a vineyard unless the owner intentionally puts it there. So this particular fig tree was there because the owner of the vineyard wanted it to be there.

Jesus wanted his Jewish listeners to hear that fig tree represented them.  And they were there in that vineyard of the Kingdom of God not because they wanted to be there: they were in the God’s Vineyard because he has chosen them to be there. God wanted them in His Kingdom and He wanted them there for a purpose.  If you look back to Exodus 19: 3-6, this was what God said to Moses at Mount Sinai, “This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel: ⁴ ‘You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself. ⁵ Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine, ⁶ you will be for me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.' These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites."  God gave explicit instructions to Israel through Moses what their responsibility would be as God’s chosen people.

God’s purpose for Israel was to make them a nation of priests, a holy nation. Israel was to expand their borders until the nation of Israel encompassed the entire earth. They were to be a light on a hill and the salt of the earth enlarging God’s kingdom, but they fell short and they lost their focus. Instead of sharing with other nations the Good News of God, they stopped others from receiving the Good News.  Instead of bringing other people into the household of God, they made all sorts of rules and regulations that kept others out.

In Jesus day, a fig tree was planted as a sapling in a pot.  After it was kept there for 2-3 years, it was replanted in a garden.  According to Leviticus 19:23, the fruit from any tree during the first three years after planting has to be thrown away, and the fruit from the fourth year was given as an offering.  So, three years was ample time for the tree to bear fruit.  During this time as the owner waited for fruit, the vinedresser would care for the tree, making sure that it received enough water, was pruned carefully and fed with fertilizer.  But it seems that none of these techniques helped the fig tree in the parable to bear fruit.  So the owner told the vinedresser to cut down the tree.

Jesus was talking about Israel: it had been given every opportunity to bear fruit. The nation had been given enough time.  But instead of reaching out to bring other people into God’s kingdom, they seemed to be building higher walls, which kept the other nations out of God’s kingdom.  In that parable the owner gives the tree one last chance: one year grace period to bear its fruit.  If it does not produce fruit, it will be uprooted. 

So this parable is a warning to Israel: that God is giving it one last chance as God’s chosen people in His kingdom.  That grace ended for the nation as a whole one-year after Jesus’ crucifixion, when they killed the first follower of Jesus - Stephen.  We know they rejected the grace, and therefore judgment has to come upon them.  

Why must the barren tree be uprooted from its place in the vineyard?   It is because a barren tree steals the nutrients that the grapes need to flourish.  Second, it occupies much needed space within the garden that can be well used by a tree that actually bears fruit. Third, it blocks the sunlight from the younger plants growing at its base.  So a tree that bears no fruit must be uprooted and replaced by one that will bear fruit.

Jesus was telling his listeners that the nation of Israel failed in its mission and it would therefore, be replaced by another group of people.   The gentiles would now be chosen to do the do the work.  And before Jesus ascended to heaven, he commissioned them to “go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you” (Matt 28:19, 20). The mission the gentiles were chosen to carry out at Ascension is our mission today, to bear fruit, to expand God’s kingdom. That was formerly the mission of Israel. But because it failed, the responsibility is handed over to the gentiles, who were adopted into the kingdom of God. And that is our mission also – to bear fruit.

God’s greatest desire is that each of us makes the decision to become a fig tree in His garden that will bear fruit.   So we have this picture of Jesus passing by each of us to see our fruit that we are to bear for the Kingdom of God.  What does Jesus see in us, when he comes to inspect the fig trees in His garden, looking for that ripened fruit of the Spirit? Does he find the fruits of righteousness in us? Does he see the souls that we have brought to the Lord?  Does Jesus see the good works that we have done?  I wonder how many times He has passed by each one of us, and was grieved because there was no fruit.  He grieves when he sees the empty pews are increasing in number each week.  But remember that in the parable of the fig tree, there came a time when the owner of the vineyard said his gardener, “It’s time to cut that tree down and replace it with another one!”  

Yes, we are still here.  May be it is because someone is praying for us, pleading for God to give us another chance. We may be here because God, in his grace, gives us the second chance.  We can thank him for giving us another chance, but we cannot continue being unfruitful trees in the Kingdom of God.  Paul gave us a warning in Romans 11:19-21.  He wrote, “You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."  Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid. For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.”

  There will come a time when the Father will say, “That’s enough!”  A day is coming when every unproductive fig tree will stand before God’s great judgment throne.  There will be no more room for repentance then. There will be no more opportunities to hear the Word of God. There will be no more fertilizing power of the Holy Spirit!  That will be the day when the axe will fall and the tree will be cut down. Then the Father will say to his angels, “Cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."

While I was writing the conclusion of this sermon yesterday afternoon, I had this picture of Jesus passing by along the aisle of the church, and yet I didn’t feel any joy inside or the desire to welcome him.  I was just watching as he looked around the pews of seated congregation.  Did he see any fruit?  Will he do something out of his grace and mercy, to help us to become productive and flourish once again?  Or will it be his last visit?   

My heart was heavy with some burdens as I prepared this sermon, and it still is even as I stand here – it is a feeling of gloom and sadness that I haven’t felt in a long time. So I beg you, please pray hard for our Church.  We still have this opportunity to turn things around, but we can never be sure we shall always get our second chances in the future.  We don’t know when the last one will come.