Repentance and Relief: Luke 13:1-9 - Third Sunday in Lent

¹At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.²[Jesus] asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?³No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. ⁴Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? ⁵No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
  ⁶Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ ⁸He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. ⁹If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ” (NRSV)

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Of all the villains in the Bible, none are as infamous as Pontius Pilate. He was an evil man, though he was hardly the worst. Pharoah in Egypt, Herod the Great, King Nebuchadnezzar, King Ahab and Queen Jezebel would be my top picks. But their names don’t appear in the Apostles’ or Nicene Creeds…

Pilate’s official title was the Roman prefect over Judea and Samaria. Even though Judaism was a legal religion under Roman Law, Pilate despised the Jews. He set up graven images of Caesar all throughout Jerusalem. He seized money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct—and when the people protested, he sent his soldiers to beat them with clubs. And yet, Pilate wasn’t as bad as he could’ve been. If Pilate persecuted the Jewish population to the point that they revolted, (which they had done before), he would get the blame. 

In today’s Gospel, as Jesus was teaching the crowds, they told Jesus how Pontius Pilate murdered some Galileans who were offering sacrifices at the temple. I presume they mentioned this to Jesus because they were struggling to make sense of this atrocity.

Throughout the Bible, we witness many instances when God strikes people down for improper offerings and sacrifices (see Joshua 7:1, 1 Samuel 13:9, Acts 5:3). Conventional wisdom held that Pilate’s brutality was actually God’s judgment against those Galileans. 

The same could be said about the eighteen people who died when the Tower of Siloam collapsed. But Jesus makes it very clear that their deaths had anything to do with the victims being “worse sinners.” contrary to what the religious would have leaders said.

This was good news for a people living under Roman occupation, when life expectancy was low, and a simple fever could prove fatal. Contrary to conventional wisdom, God was not waiting behind every danger and threat, ready to strike you down if you fall into sin. 

But that does not make life any less fragile, or the world any less dangerous. This is why Jesus says, “unless you repent, you will perish.”

Your sin is the greatest danger to your body and soul. It’s more dangerous than Covid, than Putin, even death. What makes sin so dangerous is that it separates you from the God who gave you life.

One way sin does this is by weighing your soul down with so much guilt and shame over the things you’ve done or haven’t done that you start to believe that you are beyond redemption. When Jesus speaks the words “worse sinners,” you immediately think of yourself. How can you turn back to God when you believe God has turned his back on you? How can you do good works when you believe that you’re no good? 

The other way that sin separates you from God is by puffing you up self-righteousness and ambition. This is what happened with Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden. You relate to the world as though everything and everyone exist exclusively for your benefit. Nothing in the world matters unless it matters to you. When Jesus speaks the words “worse sinners,” you immediately think of everyone who’s ever hurt you, offended you, or gotten in your way.

If sin cannot drive you to do bad things, it will drive you to believe bad things, and not do good things.

And then, when you factor in the stress of the global pandemic, rising prices, political discord, and the threat of World War 3, things really go off the rails. 

Society cannot hood itself together if everyone’s looking out for number one and fighting over the pettiest little things. We cannot live together if we’re constantly judging each other while taking no responsibility for ourselves.

Sometimes, I feel like we are perishing, because we’re so anxious and desperate. Instead of clinging to God, we cling to whatever idols we think will give us security, pleasure, power, and prestige. We are so close to giving up on hope; giving up on love, giving up on ourselves, giving up on God.

And yet, Jesus speaks a beautiful promise through the words “repent or perish.” You can hear it in the words of our Lenten chorus: “return to the Lord your God, who is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love.” 

You can’t save yourself from sin, any more than you can keep yourself totally safe from all the dangers and threats in the world. But Jesus saves sinners. Repentance isn’t so much something you do as it is what you stop doing. You surrender the sorrow, fear, and shame because your soul cannot bear it anymore. You surrender the ambitions that keep you under constant pressure; you surrender the idols and all empty promises; you surrender the self-righteousness that keeps you at odds with everyone. In that moment of surrender, you will be born anew. Your nothingness will be filled with God’s everything. 

The greatest change God will bring about in your life and in your world begins in your heart. When you cling to God’s promises, you will have peace when all around you there is chaos. God’s love for you will stir up mercy and compassion in your heart, and you’ll open your hands in blessing to those in need. People will even be drawn to you because of the love and hope you have in Christ. Best of all, you will live in the blessed assurance that people like Putin or Pilate are no match for God. In fact, the power of Jesus’s love working within you makes you more powerful than even them. When you are one with God you will not perish.

Finally, did you hear in Jesus’s parable what the gardener said to the landowner about the fig tree that wasn’t bearing fruit? The landowner wanted to cut it down, but the gardener said, “let me put manure on it, and we’ll see what happens in a year.” 

That’s Jesus’s polite way of saying that God will use the stinky, smelly, “crap” that happens to you in life to bring about a change in you so that you bear the fruits of faith, hope, and love. Even when life stinks, God’s gracious power is at work. When you are one with God you will not perish.

That through the crime of Pontius Pilate and the horror of the crucifixion, God brought about the salvation of the world. Think of what our amazing God can accomplish in your life. Think of what our amazing God can accomplish through your life.