Month: October 2023

IS TRAGEDY JUDGMENT?

Luke 13:1-9 NET.

¹ Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ² He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things? ³ No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish as well! ⁴ Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? ⁵ No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all perish as well!” ⁶ Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷ So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?’ ⁸ But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. ⁹ Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.'”

Every year bad things happen, but it just seems like 2023 has had more than its own share of disasters and tragedies. It seems like the glue that holds the planet together is starting to wear off. I’m reminded of Gilligan’s Island. If you never watched that show, it is about some people stranded on an island and trying to get back to civilization. In one of the early episodes, the professor comes up with a glue, and Gilligan uses the glue to reinforce and repair their ship. Unfortunately, the glue wears out after time, and the whole ship falls apart.

That is the image that came to mind when I thought of how to describe what is happening on this planet. Some of the disasters are natural and some of them are the evil that people do to others. Some are just failure of leaders to lead, failure of parents to parent, failure of people to accept who they are. When you add all these things up, you cannot help concluding that God is trying to get our attention.

I think the crowds that Jesus was teaching in today’s text had the same kind of feelings about the time in which they were living. They had come out to the Judean countryside to see the prophet from Nazareth because they wanted to hear what he had to say. But many of them probably felt like their world was falling apart, and wondered if anything could be done about it.

A horrible crime (1-2).

The crowds had heard about a horrible crime committed by the governor of Judea – Pontius Pilate. Some Galileans had offended him, so he had them murdered while they worshipped in the temple, and he mixed the blood of their sacrifices with their own blood. By so doing, he had desecrated the temple and committed a human atrocity. But he was the guy in charge, so he got away with it.

Now, the crowds could not get their heads around the unfairness of that event. Some thought that there must be more to it. They conjectured that these Galileans must have been guilty of some secret sin which had to be punished, and that is why God allowed the tragedy to occur. After all, it wasn’t something that happened all the time. This was a terrible and tragic incident. Something like this had to be caused by some terrible hidden sin. There must be a reason.

When people experience horrible crimes, we wonder if they are being judged. The Hamas attack on October 7^th killed hundreds, wounded thousands, and left the fate of hostages in question. Israel’s retaliation has resulted in the displacement and death of numerous Palestinians. People on different sides of the political divide are quick to place blame on either Israel or the Palestinians.

I suppose some of that kind of automatic blaming was happening among the crowds in Judea in the first century. But it seems that the real question they were trying to figure out was whether God was behind the tragedy at the temple. Was God punishing those Galileans specifically?

A horrible accident (4).

Jesus brings up another tragedy as he is speaking to these curious and bewildered people. He reminds them of the time when the Tower of Siloam fell on eighteen unsuspecting people in a neighborhood south of the old city of Jerusalem.

When a terrible accident occurs, resulting in much loss of life and much human suffering, we are tempted to ask the question that seems to have been on the minds of the crowd in today’s text. Is tragedy judgment? Do terrible things like this happen because God is targeting people with his wrath?

Before we quickly answer “no, of course not” we must come to grips with the fact that the Bible records many events in which God does take an active and immediate role in dispensing judgment upon human evil. There was another tower, called Babel. There was a flood in the days of Noah. Etcetera, etcetera.

Also, let’s not forget that there will be a Judgment Day in which all who have ever lived will face the consequences of their actions. God is a judge, and Jesus will sit on his great white throne. Jesus is going to judge everyone when he returns, but he has a different point to make here.

A call to repent (3,5.)

Jesus asks the crowd to listen because those terrible tragedies of his day were not designed to judge the victims. They were warnings from God that everyone needed to heed. The victims of today’s tragedies are reminders that all of us deserve that kind of treatment. All of us have sinned and fall short of God’s glory. We all like sheep have gone astray. We all deserve to be victims.

The word that Jesus uses for what we all deserve is perish: ἀπόλλυμι. It refers to the action of being destroyed. Luke had recorded the fact that a demon had asked Jesus if he had come to destroy him (4:34). He used it to describe the murder of Zechariah (11:51) and the drowning of all the people who did not find safety in Noah’s ark (17:27, 29).

Jesus’ message was that destruction is coming, and it is coming to all sinners. When tragedy happens in our lives today it is not the destruction which is coming. Today’s tragedies are terrible things, but they are not the ultimate wrath of God. If anything, they are warnings from God who sees the Day of Judgment coming and wants us all to escape it. There is only one way to escape the coming wrath: repentance.

Verses 3 and 5 of today’s text are the same in this English translation. In the Greek, Luke uses two synonyms. In verse 3, he uses ὁμοίως – similar in some respect. In verse 5, he uses ὡσαύτως – in the same way. If there is any distinction between those two synonyms, I imagine it has to do with the fact that God’s coming judgment looms over all sinners, but not because God is unexplainably cruel like Pilate was. Judgment is coming because all are sinners and deserve judgment.

All human beings are destined for destruction, and all are called to repent. Unless we repent, we will all perish as well – just like the unfortunate victims of Pilate and the accident at Siloam.

But Jesus uses this conversation to bring up an even more important truth. He uses the parable of the unfruitful fig tree to do that.

An age of grace (6-8).

In his parable, Jesus introduces two characters, and he does not explain who they represent. The first character is the vineyard owner. He had planted a fig tree in his vineyard, but he inspected the tree for three years in a row, and each year – bupkis.

The second character is the worker. The worker appeals to the owner for one more year to prepare the fig tree so that it produces fruit.

We have seen already in the preceding conversation the reality of universal sin and the need for universal repentance. Given that teaching by Jesus, it stands to reason that Jesus is not bringing us a new subject here. The vineyard owner is God and the fruit he expects is repentance. At the end of that year, if there is no repentance, there will be judgment. The tree will be destroyed.

We are living in an age of grace – where God bears with us even when we deserve punishment. That is why disasters and tragedies like those mentioned in verses 1-5 only happen periodically. They are not God’s judgment on us but are warning signs from God for us. They are designed to get us to repent. They are alarms going off in our otherwise peaceful lives to let us know that something is not right, and it needs to be attended to. The fig tree is not performing, and the blacksmith is sharpening the axe.

I don’t know who the worker is in the parable, but I – personally, take it to be those of us who count ourselves as saved. We have a responsibility to do all we can to encourage the lost to come to Christ before it is too late. We can have a wrong attitude about the lost all around us. We can be grateful that we are saved but not care much about those who are not saved.

That is not the way I want to be. I want to be like the worker who pleads for just one more year. I want to pray “LORD, give me time to reach my neighbor for Christ. I want you to come today, Lord, but there are so many who are not ready. Tragedy is about to come to them, and they do not know their fate. Their destiny is permanent destruction, and they are not ready. LORD, give me time to reach them!”

The final verse in the parable is a sobering reminder.

The end of grace (9).

This age of grace in which we live is like the four years described in Jesus’ parable – and we are living in the final year. This age of grace is limited. It will come to an end. Jesus taught that at some point in time “the sign of the Son of Man will appear in heaven, and all the tribes of the earth will mourn. They will see the Son of Man arriving on the clouds of heaven with power and great glory. And he will send his angels with a loud trumpet blast, and they will gather his elect” (Matthew 24:30-31).

Why will all the tribes of the earth mourn his coming? I’ll tell you why. They will mourn because the age of grace will be over. There will be no time to change their mind. The Son will come and they will not just be left behind. They will be destroyed. They will perish.

Knowing their fate, we can understand why Jesus said that some will weep in mourning and gnash their teeth in anger when they see Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and all the prophets in the kingdom of God but they themselves are thrown out. They missed their opportunity. They refused to repent and now they must face the results of that failure. The vineyard owner will give the word, and the tree will be cut down and cast into the fire.

Our God is a God of grace. We should be thankful for the time he is giving us to reach our families, our neighbors, and other nations for him. He loves us and he loves them. But he will not tolerate evil in his universe forever. He is making all things new. He intends to purge this world of all those things that don’t belong. The barren fig trees will not stay forever. Their days are numbered.

Such truths remind us of our need to remain diligent in proclaiming the gospel of grace. The offer of salvation through Christ is a limited-time offer. Our task is urgent because a day of destruction is coming that will dwarf all other tragedies – old and new. As that day approaches, we need to make it our priority to prepare this world for its coming king.

REFOCUS

Luke 12:54-59 NET.

⁵⁴ Jesus also said to the crowds, “When you see a cloud rising in the west, you say at once, ‘A rainstorm is coming,’ and it does. ⁵⁵ And when you see the south wind blowing, you say, ‘There will be scorching heat,’ and there is. ⁵⁶ You hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky, but how can you not know how to interpret the present time? ⁵⁷ “And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? ⁵⁸ As you are going with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, so that he will not drag you before the judge, and the judge hand you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. ⁵⁹ I tell you, you will never get out of there until you have paid the very last cent!”

We have been exploring the commands of Christ as they appear in the Gospels. I was tempted to push the pause button on this series because for the past couple of weeks we have had a lot of things happen here locally and nationally and globally, and I wondered if God wanted me to address some of those things. But when I looked at the text for today’s I had planned for today’s message, I discovered that it is quite relevant, and I found it very helpful.

We should remind ourselves about the unique background of this section of Scripture. Jesus is teaching his apostles, and they are surrounded by a large crowd in the Judean countryside.

Jesus commended the crowds for their ability to predict the future (54-55).

They could look at the signs in the sky and the present climate and tell what the weather was going to be. I must admit, I am lazy when it comes to things like that. I wake up every morning and I look out the window sometimes, but that doesn’t tell me anything. I usually go to the weather app on my phone to find out what the temperature is generally going to be for the day. I need to know this because at this time of year you might need to wear a long-sleeved shirt, or you might need to put on a short sleeve shirt. You cannot put the shorts and T-shirts away quite yet. I haven’t pulled out my coat yet, but I have worn a sweatshirt a couple of times, so that must be handy.

The crowds that Jesus was addressing probably contained a large percentage of farmers, and farmers must keep up with the weather. It makes sense that they would know what signs to look for so that they could predict what was going to happen soon.

If Jesus had been talking to a crowd on modern-day Wall Street, he probably would have commended them for knowing when to buy and when to sell. If he had been talking to a group of football coaches, he probably would have commended them for knowing who to put on defense and who to put on offense. If he had been talking to a group of chefs, he probably would have commended them for knowing what ingredients to buy, and how to mix them and cook them to perfection.

In each of these cases, the people are commended because they can focus on the task at hand so they can produce a positive change and bring them success. There is nothing wrong with having that skill. We all need to learn how to focus on what is important. The problem is that we cannot always discern between things we think are important and things that really are important.

Jesus criticized the crowds for their neglect of a present crisis (56).

Jesus called them hypocrites. He had formerly warned them of the hypocrisy of the Pharisees, but it seems that there was one area in which all the crowds had already succumbed to hypocrisy. Something was going to happen to the people in that Judean crowd that was more important than a change in weather. The crowds were totally oblivious to that coming crisis. They should not have been. They should have been able to look at themselves, their culture, their relationships, their actions, and seen things as they really were. But they were blind to it.

What could Jesus have been referring to? Some scholars suggest that Jesus was warning them of the conflict that was brewing between the Jews and Rome. Jesus does go into detail explain what was going to happen within one generation after his crucifixion, later in his eschatological discourse (Matthew 24-25, Mark 13, Luke 21). He warns them that the Jews would experience trouble on a scale worse than they had ever experienced before.

But I don’t think that is what Jesus is getting at here. Remember that he had just been telling these crowds that he was not going to bring peace to earth, but rather division. He was going to polarize the world and disrupt families – turning people against each other.

The present time that Jesus drew the crowds’ attention to was the time in which everyone was going to have to make a choice: Jesus or not Jesus. That choice would split families and communities and nations apart.

But it isn’t as if Jesus was telling everyone “Y’all are going to have lots of problems from now on, and it’s all my fault.” No, Jesus tells them that this terrible age of division, discord, and polarization is coming upon them because of their neglect.

Jesus criticized them for the neglect of a growing debt (57-59).

He says they are on their way to the debtor’s prison. They have amassed a debt they cannot pay, and they are going to court to lose their case. The thing about debtor’s prison is that when you are in prison, you cannot work to pay the debt. So, the debt will just get bigger and bigger, with no hope of ever getting smaller.

It is not an entirely hopeless situation, though. Jesus tells them that they are still on the way to court, so there is still hope for them to settle out of court. But that is not what they are doing. Instead, they are looking at the clouds. They are looking at the south wind blowing. They are taking care of business as usual while the opportunity for them to be released from their debt is flittering away. Every day they are getting closer to that fate they cannot escape.

Now, what is this debt that the people in the crowds of Judea are ignoring? What is this danger that is looming in their future that they have chosen to put on a back burner and focus on something else? They need to refocus. They have spent their entire lives majoring in the minors. They put all their time and effort into the scientific understanding of meteorology (the study of the weather). Meanwhile, a storm worse than they could ever imagine is coming their way and they are not prepared for it in the least. And they are not the only ones.

We need to put our focus on what really matters!

Many are in the same shape as these crowds in the Judean countryside. They spend their lives focused on secular pursuits and popular pastimes and dare not give the slightest attention to eternity. A debt of sin is growing ever so enormous they have no ability to pay. The payoff of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Oh, but I’m not talking about natural death. When we die the natural death, it is in payment for our ancestor’s sin in the Garden of Eden. Everyone in Adam dies because of Adam’s rebellion. The payoff of that sin is out there in the cemetery.

But wait – there’s more. Each of us is born in sin, and every one of us sins our own personal sins. The payoff of those sins is death as well. That means we deserve to die twice. The debt of our ancestor’s sin sends us to the grave. The debt of our own personal sins keeps growing, and thus to pay off that debt we each must die a second time.

Thus, the Bible tells us of a lake of fire into which all of God’s enemies will be thrown after Judgment Day. The lake of fire is the second death. It is a real death, just like the first death, with one exception. No one will be resurrected from the second death. It is permanent. It is complete. It is final. The apostle Paul calls it permanent destruction. Peter calls it destruction. Jesus calls it destruction.

Now, the message we are hearing from Jesus as he teaches the crowds on the Judean countryside is this. Refocus your life on what really matters. The present time is all we have to decide for Jesus or to reject him. To put off that decision is to make it. To focus on anything else is to set ourselves up for the tragedy of a life spent on the wrong purpose. We are on our way to the judge right now. The verdict is already a given. We have a debt of sin that we cannot repay. We have a destiny that we cannot afford to ignore. Our only option is to do something about that debt now before we get into the courtroom.

Oh, but there is nothing we can do. All our righteousness is also sin. All our attempts at being good fail to measure up to the holiness required to come into the presence of the Judge. We don’t have what it takes, and neither does anyone else on earth.

But the good news of the gospel is that there is a man who does have what it takes. He is not on earth, but there is a man in heaven who can pay the debt we cannot pay. In fact, he has already paid for it. He shed his own blood on the cross for our forgiveness. While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He took our sins on the cross with him, and as he lay dying, he cried out “It is finished.” Paid in full.

The only thing Jesus asks of us is that we repent of our sins and put our faith in him. He did the work; all we must do is trust him. He paid the price; all we must do is believe it and declare it. Yet the crowds still waste their lives on the wrong focus. They have a limited time to deal with the issue that really matters, and they continue to waste that time.

The question Jesus asks of the crowds is a question that we need to ask as well. Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? Consider your sins. Consider the fact that you cannot pay for your sins because even your good deeds are inherently sinful. Consider the only solution for your sin problem. Now, ask yourself, is there anything more urgent that your need to repent? Is there anything more worthy of the focus of your life?