FOR GOD SO LOVED...Week 3

Sermon Notes, March 24, 2019

Rev. Garry McGlinchy

Pastor Garry’s sermon, the third in the Lent Series, was titled “For God So LOVED…Week 3.”  The scripture reference was Luke 13:1-9.  One of the observations that I have made through the years is that humans excel at throwing each other under the bus.  Since the Eden debacle, human beings have become experts in passing blame onto one another.  In fact if the world ceased to exist, on our tombstones would be the words, “We didn’t do it!” 

Another observation is that there is always someone more than willing to declare that the sins of the deceased are the cause of the disaster.  Even when we are the cause for the destruction, like crime and war, we often declare them to be acts of God.  Every time some great calamity occurs, someone somewhere declares that God is punishing people for their sins.  For example, after Hurricane Katrina, many religious leaders declared that the sins of the residents of New Orleans were the reason for such destruction.  It was declared an “immoral city,” and they claimed that God caused the hurricane in order to spark a revival in the area.  After the shooting in Las Vegas, people were quick to point out many of the same issues, declaring that lawlessness was an example of God’s second coming and people were being judged for sin.

Apparently not much has changed through the millennia.  Today’s text in Luke points to two different events in which it seems people were looking to find the sins of the people.  The first was about the Galileans who had been killed at Pilate’s hand.  The second was about the eighteen who died when a tower fell on them.  And the way Jesus addresses them seems to imply that others were talking about them, discussing them, probably in much the same way we discuss these issues today.  Are these catastrophes due to sin in the lives of the victims?  And why would God allow such suffering to take place? 

These are not new questions, and while some of us are quick to declare the wrath of God with surety, Jesus’ response is different.  Jesus declares with authority that it is not the fault of the victims, and that they are not being punished for their sins.  Then He does what He does best: He turns the question around.  The question of calamity then becomes less about the victims and more about ourselves.  Catastrophes happen, but we are the ones who are called to repentance.  We are the ones who are called to be prepared in case of disaster.  We are the ones who are called to bear fruit.

WHEN DISASTER HAPPENS.  The text references two great disasters.  The first is when the Galileans are killed at the hands of Pilate.  We really don’t know much about this event because it isn’t recorded in secular history.  We DO know that Pilate was a Roman ruler placed in charge over Jerusalem to keep the peace at the center of Jewish worship.  We also know that there was an incident, prior to Jesus, where Pilate sent soldiers out to kill pilgrims coming to worship out of fear of insurrection.  We also know that Jesus was a Galilean, so this news would be something He was probably familiar with at the time.  We can infer that, most likely, these Galileans were Jews who were coming to Jerusalem to worship, but Pilate thought they were insurrectionists there to stir up trouble, so he murdered them, thus mingling their blood with the blood of their sacrifice.

The second disaster referenced is the tower of Siloam falling and killing eighteen people.  Unlike the first, this seems to be purely accidental.  Siloam was a neighborhood south of Jerusalem.  There also is little known about this even other than what we read here in the text.  We can infer, however, that whether by earthquake, time, wind, or faulty building, a tower fell, killing eighteen people in the collapse.  These great disasters seem to be referenced in very much the same way that we see disasters referenced today.  They seem to be fairly common knowledge.  They were probably events that people were talking about and speculating about among themselves.  The questions began to arise.  Why?  Why did this happen?  Did they deserve these horrors?  What is the purpose of suffering and death?  Sound familiar?  These are not unlike the questions we ask when disaster happens.

JESUS’ RESPONSE TO DISASTER.  He definitively declares that it is not the fault of the people killed.  Though people were saying it was due to their sin, Jesus states definitively that it was not.  He does not blame the victims.  He turns the questions around to those asking the questions. 

Instead of focusing on the victims of the disasters, He focuses on the response of the people talking about the disasters.  “Repent” often means to view things with new eyes, to have a new heart, to turn in a new direction.  The focus, then, is not on what others had done, but on what those who are talking are doing.  Are they people of repentance?

Then He tells a parable.  The story about a fig tree focuses on the production of fruit.  If a tree does not bear fruit, you do not just kill it; rather you tend it and give it another opportunity to grow when given the right nutrients.  If the fig tree still doesn’t produce fruit, even with the right nutrients, then it is to be cut down.  This is not about the people who died; rather, it is a parable about the people who are listening.  They are to bear fruit.  They are to flourish in the ways of God.

OUR RESPONSE TO DISASTER.  When disaster happens, are we quick to blame victims?  Do we examine the sins of those who have died?  Do we ask why is this happening?  How often do we examine our own hearts? 

The parable of the fig tree is a lesson for us.  We are people who are supposed to bear fruit.  The fruit we are supposed to bear is the fruit of the Spirit: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, gentleness, and (the hardest fruit to bear) self-control. (Galatians 5:22-23)  If we are not bearing the fruit of the Spirit, what must we do to ensure that we are repenting and being fertilized for growth?

Maybe there are things in our lives that need to be pruned away.  This is a key part of Lent, stripping things away, things that are keeping us from life with Jesus.  Maybe we need to add fertilizer, spending more time with the scriptures, in prayer, or in a small group.  Maybe we need to spend more time in self-reflection instead of focusing on what others are doing, or not doing.

We often worry and fret over the lives of others without examining our own hearts.  Jesus’ words are hard here.  He’s pointing out how the focus should be less on what others have done and more on the type of people we are supposed to be.  We are supposed to be people of repentance who bear fruit of love and grace to the world around us.  We tell our children, “Worry about yourself.”  It would be good for us this Lenten season to do the same.  Take time to repent of the things that are holding us back from a full relationship with Jesus, and to grow the fruits of love, grace and peace that God is asking us to grow.  Because when the day comes for us to stand before the Lord, we will have no one to throw under the bus…No one else to blame but ourselves.