Sermons

Third Sunday in Lent
Sunday 11 March at 8am

Maureen Williams
Readings: Luke 13:1-9 Isaiah 55 1-9

In the Church Bible, the heading at the beginning of today's gospel reading gives a stark warning - 'Turn from your Sins or Die'. Jesus uses three cautionary tales to teach about repentance and judgement - and God's mercy and grace. If you were at the Ash Wednesday service three weeks ago, it may remind you of words you heard then which also urge us to- 'Turn away from sin - and be faithful to Christ'.

Repentance means a change of mind and a change of direction - away from the destructiveness of sin and towards God. In the previous chapter, Jesus had been teaching the people about the need for a spiritual weather forecast, which would help them to know the meaning of the present time. If they read the signs of the times correctly they would see the urgency of the right kind of change.

But signs can be misread. We can get it wrong. How would we interpret atrocities like the vicious killing of the Galileans by Pilate's soldiers in the temple or disasters like the killing of the eighteen people when the tower fell on them in Siloam? The Jewish response was to view this in terms of punishment. Disaster was divine retribution and suffering was the proof of sin. The victims must have been outstandingly sinful to bring this on themselves because people got what they deserved. In the story of the healing of the blind man in John chapter 9, the disciples showed that they were thinking in much the same way when they asked Jesus who was to blame in causing his blindness. Was it the man himself or was it his parents?

When disaster struck in the twin towers in America in 2001, in the train bombings in Madrid in 2004, or the bombings in the London Underground a year later, one of the first question people asked then was 'Who is to blame?' The authorities had practical reasons for needing to know, but to some extent all of us wanted to know the answer. There is something in the human psyche which makes us feel more comfortable if we can identify 'good' and 'bad' as 'us' and 'them'. It is a normal human reaction to try to process the news in our minds in a way in which we can distance ourselves from disaster.

Both responses raise the question of God's justice. Jesus turns the question back on the questioners. It is not that these are just punishments or the death of innocent victims. Those who are asking the questions must look to themselves, because they are sinners too. If they do not repent, they will die.

In chapter 3 of his letter to the Romans, Paul reminds us that we are guilty too. 'All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.' (Romans 3:23) And in the first reading, Isaiah's injunction to Israel is for us as well. 'Turn to the Lord and pray to Him, now that He is near.' We need to turn to God and call on His mercy, because his judgements and standards put us all in the same category. His judgement will rightly fall on us unless we do some serious repenting.

Repentance, judgement, and finally, a parable about God's mercy and grace. In the story, Jesus urges everyone to repent. In the parable, he is saying that for those who change their ways, there will be mercy and forgiveness.

The owner of the vineyard is God. Jesus is the gardener. In the Old Testament, figs are included among the blessings of the Promised Land. The Jews would look forward to the time when everyone would sit under their own vine and their own fig tree. Any mention of a fig tree would bring comforting thoughts of peace and prosperity as God's people.

But this tree, in spite of its roots, has produced leaves but no fruit. It was of no use to anyone. But here we see God's mercy and grace. The gardener gets a stay of execution for the fig tree. With more work and care it is given more time and new chances to produce fruit.
Could this be a warning to us? What should we be doing in the way of digging around and fertilising our own spiritual lives? Do we feel the need for more sustenance, water and feeding to give us more spiritual growth? Do we sometimes feel we have drifted away from the path that Jesus called us to follow and that our closeness to him is not what it was?

The miracle of the Christian life is that God can revitalise our roots. He can fill us again with the life-giving Holy Spirit to give us refreshment which will lead to true growth in our lives with the fruits of the Spirit that He wants us to show. (If you want to remind yourself what the fruits of the spirit are, read Galatians 5:22 + 23.) We need these life-giving fruits for growth in our church, in our relationships with our families and friends, in our everyday lives at home and at work.

Our lives need to be connected to Jesus, receiving God's love, because without this we will shrivel spiritually and, like the fig tree, our faith and relationship with God can die. But God, in His mercy, is willing to give us, and the world, more time.

The world asks why God doesn't do something about - famine, drought, war, refugees and so on? Where was He when the tsunami struck? Our suffering world asks reasons from a God of justice and mercy. But that mercy is giving us, and those who still do not know Him, more time to repent and change our ways.

Let us take the opportunities in our prayer time, when we are reading our bibles, in this service, in the quiet, in the beauty of nature, in the presence of our families, to know Jesus' presence, to continue to allow Him into our lives so that His fruit will grow in us - for in that way lies life in all its fullness.

© St Edmund's Church, Roundhay