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ONEFamily Outreach is primarily supported by your donations and by trainings, workshops, retreats and concerts. Download More Studies | Download Music | Books and Products | Book Jerry “Why does he even use up the ground?”Luke 13:1-9March 14, 2004 Lent 3c Luke 13:1-9[Lk 13:1] Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. [2] And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? [3] “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [4] “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? [5] “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” [6] And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. [7] “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ [8] “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; [9] and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ “ (NAS) Luke 13:1-4[Lk 13:1] Now on the same occasion there were some present who reported to Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. [2] And Jesus said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? [3] “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. [4] “Or do you suppose that those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them were worse culprits than all the men who live in Jerusalem? [5] “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” (NAS) The Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrificesWe have scant records of two incidents during Pilate’s time, which increased the Jews hatred towards him (if that were possible). It is with some speculation that we suggest that these incidents in this story are related but the connection makes sense. The water supply in the city of Jerusalem was insufficient for the population and Pontius decided to improve it with an aqueduct. That wasn’t the problem; the problem was that he was going to pay for the municipal improvements with temple funds. It wasn’t that this expenditure would break the temple bank, not even close, the issue was using temple money for civic improvements. I don’t mean to be facetious but this could be a scenario in most churches today. Churches weren’t meant to be receptacles of money or grandiose entertainment multiplexes. We were called to be centers of justice and hope. Many churches today are doing abysmally poor at this call to human compassion with sizable budgets for new construction, sound and media equipment, and cushioned pews. Yet, when it comes to giving time or money to local needs in any serious, ongoing manner that involves relationship (an imperative to Christ); they respond like the religious leaders who felt robbed of their treasure wealth. Does God treasure ritual worship and ornate buildings above His people? Amos 5:21-24[21] I hate, I reject your festivals, nor do I delight in your solemn assemblies. [22] “Even though you offer up to me burnt offerings and your grain offerings, I will not accept {them} and I will not {even} look at the peace offerings of your fatlings. [23] “Take away from me the noise of your songs; I will not even listen to the sound of your harps. [24] “But let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.” (NAS) Was Pontius wrong in building an aquifer to assist the public and to demand that the largest business in Jerusalem pay for it? I don’t think so. Still, his style left a lot to be desired. Philo of Alexandria once said of Pilate that his conduct was: “Full of briberies, violence, robberies, outrages, wanton injuries, executions without trial constantly repeated, and ceaseless and supremely grievous cruelty.” Pilate himself purportedly said that he would “as soon swat a fly as kill a Jew.” Apparently, there was to be a protest of the Pilate’s new policy and his “robbery of the temple tax.” It seemed that Galileans (famous for their trouble-making) were once again at the heart of it. Josephus tells us that Pilate had Roman guards dress as part of the crowd and on a certain signal; they were to take out clubs (not swords) and pummel the leaders. What happened shocked even Pilate and probably was the primary incident that drove a wedge between Pilate and Herod (later Christ’s death would later rejoin them in treachery). The guards didn’t just beat the leaders; they pummeled them to death. It was the beginning of the end for Pontius Pilate. Within years, the Governor of Syria ordered him back to Rome where he stood trial for crimes in office. Those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fellBecause Jesus mentions both of these incidents it seems that they would be interrelated. One group would have been doing actions approved by the religious by staging a protest against Rome. However, the other group may have been a work detail that was working on the aqueduct as it passes near this pool. A tower fell over and killed 18 workers in the process. The Jews have detested these workers. They were taking pay, out of the temple, and using their skills to work for their oppressor. Rightfully, they would think, that was God’s money and every penny should have been put back into the temple treasury. To the Jews, including the Apostles, this group “got what was coming to them.” As much as we would like to believe that we deserve to watch the bad guys get theirs; Christ points out to us that we don’t even know whom the bad guys are! However, Jesus says that they could be certain that if the Jews kept acting in such a worldly manner, striving after worldly goods and power, the entire nation would be crushed. This was less prophecy than fact. Later, Jesus would prophesy with clarity about the demise of Jerusalem but for now prophecy was not his point. His point was much plainer; violent means lead to violent ends and violence is no respecter of good or bad it would consume them all. Three things become apparent in these two stories: 1. Bad things happen to good people in a world that is filled with sin; 2. We don’t have the depth to judge good and bad; 3. A nation that chooses violence as its means and worldly power as its ends brings destruction upon the good and bad alike. “You will all likewise perish.” “I tell you, no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”Here is the cry to radical personal change, which is always a theme of the Gospel. It is the base of the word, Repent [GSN3340 metanoeo]. We already know that repentance is deeper intimacy with God, shifting our paradigm in our relationships, and seeing through the Godly eyes of compassion not the mortal eyes of man. Jesus was calling his disciples individually to prayer, but also his nation corporately to prayer. This was an ancient call to the Israelites; to repent as a nation: II Chronicles 7:13-14[2Ch 7:13] “If I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, or if I command the locust to devour the land, or if I send pestilence among My people, [14] and My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin and will heal their land. (NAS) Their ultimate deliverance was not from Rome-but from corporate and individual sin. Isaiah 58:1-12[Isa 58:1] “Cry loudly, do not hold back, raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression and to the house of Jacob their sins. [2] “Yet they seek Me day by day and delight to know My ways, as a nation that has done righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask Me for just decisions, they delight in the nearness of God. [3] ‘Why have we fasted and You do not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and You do not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire, and drive hard all your workers. [4] “Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. [5] “Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the LORD? [6] “Is this not the fast which I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke? [7] “Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into the house; when you see the naked, to cover him; and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? [8] “Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. [9] “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, [10] And if you give yourself to the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then your light will rise in darkness and your gloom will become like midday. [11] “And the LORD will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. [12] “Those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.” (NAS) Who will cry out for corporate repentance today? Who will echo Christ’s call to the nations: “But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Yet, all corporate repentance begins with personal repentance. We cannot change systems if we haven’t changed ourselves. Individually our hearts must embrace the humility of David in Psalm 51: Psalm 51:1-13[Ps 51:1] Be gracious to me, O God, according to Your lovingkindness; According to the greatness of Your compassion blot out my transgressions. [2] Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity And cleanse me from my sin. [3] For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. [4] Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge. [5] Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, And in sin my mother conceived me. [6] Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. [7] Purify me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; Wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. [8] Make me to hear joy and gladness, Let the bones which You have broken rejoice. [9] Hide Your face from my sins And blot out all my iniquities. [10] Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. [11] Do not cast me away from Your presence And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of Your salvation And sustain me with a willing spirit. [13] Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners will be converted to You. (NAS) When will I teach transgressors God’s way? Only once my Lord has purified me, once I had come face to face, in humility, with my transgressions and asked the Lord to make me whole. Only once I have stripped myself of pride and then not “return to the vomit” [2 Peter 2:22] to become falsely prideful again. Look at David, broken in sin, defamed before the court, he finally quits justifying his own sin, he finally quits passing the blame off to others and he finally embraces his utter failure as God’s king. Only then is he ready to lead and only then is he of any true worth to God. When all is said and done there is only one fruit we have to offer others: Grace through repentance. The bottom line for us is not to state to others, “Unless you repent.” Our faith journey must always begin with, “Unless I repent.” Luke 13:6-7[6] And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. [7] “And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’” (NAS) “Why does it even use up the ground?”Soil was at a premium in Israel. It was not unusual for a vineyard owner to give a little bit of his soil up for a fruit tree but the tree took up the best soil, the deepest soil, and required the most water. A fig tree doesn’t grow fruit until three years after planting, the owner in this story, had given the tree “due season” to bear fruit and yet the tree bore no fruit. It took up valuable space and resources. The owner questioned why the tree was allowed to “even use up ground.” God had given the Israelites the choicest ground. Their land possessed everything necessary to make themselves a great nation, indeed, a light to all nations. They were strategically positioned to send the fruit of God north and south, east and west; but instead, in-fighting continued to make them a worthless fruit tree. Everyone one of us and all of our churches will have to answer (from God’s perspective) this same question; “Why does it even use up the ground?” Even when only two or three people gather in Christ’s name the potential for justice exists. Some churches have access to huge amounts of capital, some to vast resources of labor, and others to square meters of empty realty and building space. God’s judgment will be harshest for those who had much but gave little. Can we answer this question from God’s point of view? “Why did I (we) even use up the ground?” Luke 13:8-9[8] “And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; [9] and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’ “ (NAS) “Let it alone, sir, for this year too”Remember when Abraham pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah (Genesis 18), bartering for the lives of even fifty and finally ten good men? We tend to think of Abraham as the good man, bartering with a harsh God. But think of all the lives that were crippled by the evil men of those two cities. Their sin did not just impact themselves, it impacted the next generation and that would have continued endlessly had God turned away. God was allowing Abraham to view His mercy. He wouldn’t wipe out the city if there were even a chance of fifty men with compassion—even ten would have sufficed. Yet, there were not fifty or even ten. These evil-doers longed to rape the angels that God sent among them to save Lot and his family. Their decadence knew no boundaries. Jesus was God’s last chance. He was God’s, “For this year too…” “Give me one more chance to help this people bear fruit, I will pour my energy into them, I will give them all of my attention. Then, if they do not bear fruit next year, fine, then cut them down and give the precious soil to another tree.” God has given us all that is required to be fruitful. He will give us our allotted time and “this year too.” Yet, it is obvious that God expects fruit. We shouldn’t be hazy about this demand for the fruit that God expects is clearly stated in scripture: Proverbs 11:3030 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who is wise wins souls. (NAS) Fruit is none other than planting the tree of life in the lives of others. We are to become compassionate gardeners to others just as our Lord was to us. But, the greatest fruit that we could ever plant is the “shoot” that will spring from the stem of Jesse: Isaiah 11:1-101 Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, and a branch from his roots will bear fruit. 2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and strength, the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD. 3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, and He will not judge by what His eyes see, nor make a decision by what His ears hear; 4 But with righteousness He will judge the poor, and decide with fairness for the afflicted of the earth; and He will strike the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips He will slay the wicked. 5 Also righteousness will be the belt about His loins, and faithfulness the belt about His waist. 6 And the wolf will dwell with the lamb, and the leopard will lie down with the kid, and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little boy will lead them. 7 Also the cow and the bear will graze; their young will lie down together; and the lion will eat straw like the ox. 8 And the nursing child will play by the hole of the cobra, and the weaned child will put his hand on the viper’s den. 9 They will not hurt or destroy in all My holy mountain, for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD as the waters cover the sea. 10 Then it will come about in that day that the nations will resort to the root of Jesse, who will stand as a signal for the peoples; and His resting place will be glorious. (NAS) The greatest fruit is a nation of peace received from the Author of peace and passed on to our children. Will we author peace in our lifetime? Or, will we be among the crowd in the temple square demanding our rights, our sovereignty? The question is not just, “Are we becoming a nation committed to sustainable peace for all our world’s inhabitants?” The question goes deeper; “Who have I given peace to today?” There could be no more frightening eulogy to my life than: “Why does he even use up the ground?” Sign up for Weekly Study: |