Advent Lutheran Church

"Lord, Let it Alone for One More Year"

Selam!  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

If you met Jesus in person like these people in our gospel reading, what would you ask him? I suspect you would ask him some question, or share with him some stories that bother you and try to make sense of them.  The people brought Jesus a report about Pilate killing Galileans and mingling their blood with the blood of their sacrifices.  They wondered what those people had done wrong.  I don’t think this is an old story that we only read in the Bible. Our world is full of such stories, day after day.

If the African slaves in America meet Jesus in person, they would ask him, what had we done wrong that you let us suffer in such a way?

If the holocaust survivors and the 911 survivors meet Jesus, they would ask him “what had we done wrong that you let us suffer in such a way?

If the Rwanda genocide survivors would meet Jesus they would ask him “what had we done wrong that you let us suffer in such a way?

If the Darfur people, the New Orleans Hurricane Katrina survivors, and the Haiti earthquake survivors meet Jesus they would ask him “what had we done wrong that you let us suffer in such a way?

The lists goes on and on from north to south and from east to west. There would be no nation or family or individual that had no questions about suffering. On the one hand, everyone would like to get the answer for the big “why” or “how” questions.

On the other hand, everyone has an opinion why these people suffered, and these opinions are very diverse from political leaders to religious leaders. For instance, I am sure you all have heard the recent comment by Pat Robertson about the Haiti earthquake. He judged the people that the disaster came because of their sin. This is not his first time and he is not the only person to give opinions after every tragedy.

Luke gives us a pair of stories that call us to repentance, and a parable that illustrates the patience and love of God.  What makes the first story unique? The Galileans came to the temple to make their sacrifices to God.  While they were in the temple, or in the holy place, Pilate's soldiers killed them. In other words, they profaned the altar with human blood.

Imagine murder here in the sanctuary on Sunday morning.  Imagine human blood mingled with communion wine. By the way, this is not uncommon in some parts of the world for the people to be killed while they are worshiping God. Where was Dr. George Tiller, when he was shot and killed? Was it in his clinic?  No, it was in the Reformation Lutheran church on Sunday where he was serving as an usher.

Luke does not tell us who these people are and why they are telling Jesus this story.  Perhaps they are looking for a divine commentary on why these Galileans suffered such a terrible fate. It seems that they wanted to know the relationship between their death and their sin. 

Whoever they are, these people expect either a sympathetic or a judgment response from Jesus. Jesus, however, responds in a completely unexpected way, saying, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?"   He exposed the unspoken assumption of the people. In the Jewish tradition, sin and judgment are closely linked.  He rather said, "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did".  Jesus denies that the Galileans suffered because of their sins. However, he did not deny that all who are listening to him, including us, are sinners and need to repent.  He did not deny that un-repentance would have a consequence - not a kind of consequence heard in the story - but a consequence of living without God.

However, even as he is challenging these people, Jesus does not condemn them, but instead shows them the way.  He shows them the right way, challenging them to know that driving in the wrong way has a consequence.  Jesus is challenging his listeners to look into themselves so that  they will know they  all are sinners, and he calls them to repent so that they might escape the consequence.

Jesus adds one story about the eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them.He implies that the collapse was accidental.  However, the issue is the same like in the first story, “Did God target these eighteen because of their sins?”  Jesus response is "No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did" it is the same response that Jesus gave to the first story.  Jesus denies that the eighteen were worse offenders than others, but again uses the opportunity to call his listeners to repentance. 

Repentance is a major emphasis in Luke’s Gospel. It is not a nagging call, but is instead a word of grace.  The call to repentance of sins always carries the promise of forgiveness.  To give more sense of God’s patience and love, Jesus, told the parable of the fig tree. Since a vineyard is a common metaphor for the people of Israel, the people whom Jesus is telling the parable would understand its connection with the people of God.

Sometimes, when we share our story as a victimized people, we would expect God to stand with us no matter what. We all know God is a God of Justice. God will bring all to justice in his own way in the appointed time. However, sometimes we all would be surprised how God would respond to our cases. Our ways and God’s ways are so different.

We have one interesting story in the book Joshua, which I believe, would be appropriate to connect with the way Jesus responded to the people. It is in chapter 5, where Joshua and the people were preparing for the battle of Jericho.

¹³Once when Joshua was by Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing before him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you one of us, or one of our adversaries?” ¹⁴He replied, “Neither; but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped, and he said to him, “What do you command your servant, my lord?” ¹⁵The commander of the army of the Lord said to Joshua, “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.” And Joshua did so.

What was Joshua’s expectation? Because he saw an angel of the Lord, he expected the angel to stand for them, to fight for them.  I like the angel’s response. Neither; but as commander of the army of the Lord I have now come.”  “Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy.”

Brothers and sisters, let us always remove our sandals, our wrong direction, our wrong perspectives. The place where we stand, where we live, where we work is holy, because God is always with us, and because God is everywhere.  Therefore, repentance is not a one-time event, it is a continual, renewing process.  Let us not take any side to the left or the right. Let us remain to be on “Neither” side, but only on God’s side.  Let us only do our mission as a called and sent people for a mission.

There is no one who is clean of sin.  Jesus said “"No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did" As God’s people, God expects us have fruits in our lives. The fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.  Sometimes we may hear some voice that says "Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?"   We also hear the promise that says, “ Sir let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.”

The hope for producing the fruit primarily is not on the tree but on the gardener. Let us offer our life to the gardener in repentance, let him dig and put the manure. Amen