The Third Sunday in Lent

March 23, 2025

Luke 13:1-9

God’s Surprising Strategies—

Always Present: Always Patient!

1Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

6Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7So 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 up the soil?’

8“ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ ” (NIV1984)

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Have you ever considered yourself “better” than someone else? While you, of course, would never be so crass as to put it that bluntly, have you ever looked at someone who is struggling— struggling at school, or struggling at work, or struggling with their everyday life— have you ever looked at them and said or at least thought to yourself, “I’m not surprised. I just hope they get their act together before it’s too late”? When you see someone who is caught in the trap of addiction— whether alcohol addiction or drug addiction— what do you feel in your heart? Do you feel empathy for them, wishing there was something you could do to help them, or do you feel disgusted and wish they would stay away from you? When you see a fellow Christian who is speaking or acting in a way that reveals that their faith is weak and/or immature, do you look down on them because you can’t imagine your faith being so weak and so immature, or, do you say with the apostle Paul, “But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect” (1 Corinthians 15:10)— and then try to help them grow stronger in their faith?

The sermon text that we have before us today addresses a common misconception. That misconception is this: Those who are experiencing hardships in their life— those are the people who really need to repent. Obviously, God is not happy with them. On the other hand, those who have a comfortable life have nothing to be concerned about. Obviously, God is pleased with them.

With that common misconception in mind look at the opening portion of our text. Luke writes, “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.’”

While this is the only place in Scripture we hear about this tragic event, it certainly doesn’t surprise us to hear that Herod massacred these Galileans. Herod was well known for being ruthless when it came to protecting his power and maintaining his control over the people. If for whatever reason Herod felt that his power and/or his control was being challenged he had no qualms about flexing his muscles for everyone to see— even if that meant killing some Galileans while they were bringing their sacrifices to God.

The central question, however, was not why Herod did this. The central question was why did these people think it was necessary to bring news of this tragedy to Jesus? Were they hoping that Jesus would publicly condemn Herod’s cruelty? Did they believe that those who died in such a tragic way were actually being punished by God for some horrible sin they committed? Whatever their motivation may have been, Jesus’ response is directed at the people who told Him about this tragedy. He said to them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” We can sense the shock and the frustration in Jesus’ voice. “Do you think,” or we might paraphrase, “Do you actually think” that this great tragedy was the direct result of some specific horrible sin? Jesus’ answer is, “No!”

Let’s pause here for a moment to recognize that this is how we feel all too often, isn’t it. When we see that some great tragedy has come into a person’s life, when we experience a great tragedy in our own life, it is very easy to view that tragedy as God’s punishment for some great specific sin that has been committed. In fact, both Satan and our own sinful nature will automatically try to convince us that whatever tragedies we endure in our life are proof that God is angry with us. Their goal, of course, is to drive us to despair. Their goal is to drive us away from the cross on Calvary’s hill.

Jesus Himself then goes on in our text by taking that very same truth and applying it to a different yet closely related event. From looking at a tragedy that resulted by the hands of sinful people, Jesus asks about a tragedy that was the result of an accident. He says, “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.”

Once again, this is all we know about this tragic accident. Once again, someone might wonder, “Did God put those people there? Did He plan for these eighteen people to be at that particular place at that particular time so that He could punish them for some grievous sins they had committed?” Once again, Jesus’s answer is an emphatic, “No!”

While the presence of suffering in this world is indeed the direct result of Adam and Eve’s Fall into sin, we should not automatically conclude that the presence of suffering in a person’s life, the presence of suffering in our life, is God’s punishment for a specific sin that has been committed. Therefore, whenever we see a tragedy that has taken place, our response should not be to assign blame. Rather, we are to see in that tragedy further evidence of the reality of sin and further evidence of our own personal need for repentance. That’s why Jesus so emphatically responded to both of these tragedies by saying, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

Think about it, my friends. How many of us have been moved to contemplate our own mortality while attending the funeral of a loved one? The somber mood at a funeral is usually only partly the result of seeing our loved one in a casket. The other part of that somber mood includes wondering, “When will my day come?” When we turn on the news and see a tragedy has taken place because of the sinful actions of a sinful human being— a young person brutally murdered by gang members while he was out on a date with his girlfriend to celebrate Valentine’s Day, thousands of people being killed in a senseless war— when we see a tragedy take place because of the sinful actions of a sinful human being instead of simply saying, “I’m glad that wasn’t me or someone I love!” we would do well to see that tragedy as a reminder that we need to repent because we never know how much time we have left on the face of this earth.

The same holds true for the natural disasters that we see taking place all too often. Whether it’s a wildfire that destroys thousands of homes and businesses or flood that ruins entire neighborhoods or tornados that devastate entire towns— we would do well to see all of these events as reminders of Jesus’ words, “Do you think that these people were more guilty than you? I tell you, no! Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

The fact that we will all die is not because we have all committed some specific heinous sin. The fact that we will all die is— because we all sin! Every single day! That’s why Jesus calls all of us to repent— every single day!

Jesus then uses a parable to illustrate the seriousness of His call to repentance. Look at verses six to nine of our text. Jesus says— to us!— “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 up 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.’”

This parable is where we get our sermon theme for today: Always Present; Always Patient! With that theme in mind, I would like us to look at this parable from a very specific perspective this morning. That perspective is this: The vineyard is God’s church. The man who owns the vineyard is our heavenly Father. The man who takes care of the vineyard is our dear Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. The fig tree is: You, and me, and every child of God!

On the day you were baptized God “planted” you in the vineyard of His church. He did this purely because of His great love for you! Like gardeners everywhere God “planted” us in the “vineyard” of His church with the expectation that we would grow and mature and produce “fruit.” To be more specific, God expects that we will “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance” (Matthew 3:8). This means that God expects that every single day we humbly acknowledge our own sinfulness and humbly trust that in His grace and in His mercy we receive His forgiveness. Day after day, week after week, year after year our heavenly Father is present in our lives with a patient and hopeful expectation that He will see “fruit” in our lives. Day after day, week after week, year after year the heavenly Father examines our life with a faithful and hopeful expectation that out of love and thankfulness for the forgiveness He has given to us and the mercy He has shown to us we will share that forgiveness and that mercy with the people around us— especially our brothers and sisters in the faith.

When our heavenly Father see us living faithful and fruitful lives, He smiles! But, if our heavenly Father examines our life and says, “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any,” He may say concerning us what the owner of the vineyard said in Jesus’ parable, “Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?”

These are some very powerful words, my friends. Not only do these words remind us that our heavenly Father loves us so very much that He “planted” us in the “vineyard” of His church, not only do these words remind us that our heavenly Father is patient with us— giving us plenty of time to produce “fruit” in our lives— but these words also remind us that if we take advantage of the Father’s patience, if we ignore His call to produce the “fruit of repentance” in our lives, He will get to the point where He says concerning us, “Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?”

Thankfully, Jesus’ parable assures us that we have Someone who “speaks to the Father in our defense— Jesus Christ, the Righteous One” (1 John 2:1). Jesus is the Gardner who asks the Father to give us just a little more time. Jesus is the Gardner who assures the Father that He will “dig around” us and “fertilize” us in an effort to lead us to produce the “fruit” that the heavenly Father is expecting to see in our hearts and in our lives.

How does Jesus do this? He uses two “tools.” First, He uses the powerful message of His holy Law to “dig around” us and reveal to us the “root” of our problem— sin. While we may not enjoy it when Jesus uses the Law to reveal our sin, while it may be painful to see how often and how far we have “fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), it is necessary for Jesus to use the Law to reveal the “root” of our problem before He can use the second “tool”— the glorious message of His Gospel!

Through the glorious message of the Gospel contained in His holy Word and His holy Supper Jesus “fertilizes” our faith! He “feeds” our faith with the only spiritual “food” that has the power to give us the spiritual nutrition we need to grow and to mature and to produce the “fruits” our heavenly Father is expecting to see! At the same time, Jesus gives us a warning here in our text, doesn’t He. That warning is found in His words, “If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”

Since God’s patience— as great as it is!— is limited, today is a very good time for us to examine our own hearts and our own lives. Can we humbly yet confidently say that as the heavenly Father examines us, He is able to see the “fruits” that He is expecting us to produce? Is He able to see that we kneel at the foot of the cross of His Son (Pointing to the cross) on a regular basis and ask Him to be merciful to us, a sinner? Is He able to see how we gladly use the time, the talents, and the treasures that He has given to us to serve Him and to serve others? Is He able to see that we gather together on a regular basis to praise His holy Name and to receive His Son’s holy Supper? Is He able to see that one of our daily priorities is to read and study the Word that He has given to us. Whether it’s you or me there is undoubtedly room for improvement when it comes to both producing the “fruits” that our heavenly Father expects us to produce as well as allowing His Son to “dig around” us and “fertilize” our faith with the powerful message of His Law and with the precious message of His Gospel.

Have you ever considered yourself “better” than someone else? There are only two people who can honestly answer that question. Those two people are: the person we see in the mirror and the Lord our God. Thankfully, no matter what the answer to that question might be, we can be assured of this: The God who is always present in our life is the God who is always patient with us!

To God be the glory!

Amen