Luke 13:1-9 (Lent 3)
St. John, Galveston 3/23/25
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    In this morning’s message, I’d like to direct your attention primarily to the first part of the Gospel reading for today from Luke 13. Jesus made reference to two well known historic events. One involved some Galileans, who were offering sacrifices to God when Pilate had them put to death and mixed their blood with the blood of their sacrifice. The other was about some people who were killed when the tower of Siloam crumbled and fell on them.  

    “There were some present at that very time who told (Jesus) about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

    The people mentioned in these two incidents were apparently considered by some as deserving of their misfortune. It’s an age old tendency for people to think of those who suffer trials or tragedy as being under God’s judgment or discipline, and to think of those who prosper as being in God’s favor. There’s even a tendency to rejoice in the suffering of those we consider deserving of adversity. Lest we think that doesn’t happen today, I heard a report the other day on the radio about Tesla stock. Apparently, it’s taken a bit of a down turn over the last several months. Perhaps it because of the key roll it’s founder is playing in the current administration. At any rate, a noted politician was quoted as rejoicing over the decline in the price of Tesla stock. It’s kind of an odd thing to rejoice over, don’t you think? I mean, by and large, the owners of the companies stock are American citizens, people we really should want to see prosper and do well. There’s nothing new under the sun, Solomon would say, in that, even today we tend to feel vindicated by other people’s suffering.

    It’s one thing though to relish in the misfortune of others over some difference in political viewpoint, or ideology. It’s quite another thing to view people’s sufferings as an indictment by God, while considering one’s own good fortune as a sign of God’s acceptance and favor. The tendency for us to do just that is as old as the story of Job. I’m sure you’ll recall Job’s great suffering. Everything in his life was touched by disaster, his children, his property, his possessions, even his health. Job’s counselor’s believed that the only way he could ever be restored, that is, the only way he could be made right with God, was for him to figure out what he did that displeased God. Once he figured out the cause of his misfortune, he could confess it to God, and God would then take away his suffering. It was a rather simple formula. Adversity, suffering, are the direct result of sin and disobedience. And, since Job’s counselor’s believed that to be true, a lack of suffering had to be a sign of God’s favor.    

    Some people asked Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices. Now, this was, no doubt, an exceptional situation in the minds of those who brought it to Jesus’ attention. After all, these Galileans were in the act of worship, offering a sacrifice to God when they were struck down! Pilate, as you heard, ordered that they be put to death and their blood be mixed with the blood of their sacrifices. What kind of sinners must they have been!? The same was the situation with the people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them. People wondered about them because the pool of Siloam was a place people went to to be healed by God. Eighteen people went to the pool one day to receive a blessing, and instead, they were killed by a falling tower. What kind of sinners must they have been!?

    Our judgment regarding adversity and prosperity is completely wrong. There is not necessarily a direct connection between suffering and prosperity and one’s relationship to God. In regard to suffering, it is, in all of it’s forms, a call to repentance, to acknowledge our own shortcomings, and failings before God. And so, when the people brought up the sufferings of these other two groups of people, Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”

    The parable that Jesus told right after He talked about these two incidences, the one about the fig tree that wasn’t bearing fruit, was about a very specific kind of fruit in the life of a Christian, namely, the fruit of repentance. The tree in the parable wasn’t bearing any fruit. In other words, there was no repentance coming forth from the tree. The man ordered that the tree should be cut down. The vinedresser, however, pleaded with the man that the tree might be allowed another year to produce fruit. The man, out of His seemingly infinite patience, relented. The parable ends with these words spoken by the vinedresser, “Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” I have a sign on my boat dock at home that says, “free beer tomorrow.” In some ways, we can think of God’s patience toward us sinners in a similar way. He will eventually come to judge the living and the dead, but in the meantime, He repeatedly and graciously forgives our sin and calls us to repentance.

    Trials and adversity are a call to repentance, but they’re also used by God to produce in us godly faith and trust in Him. As odd as that may seem, the disciple is never above his master. And so, Jesus calls us to Himself, saying, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me.” From those various crosses that we bear, God produces in us a sure foundation of faith and hope. Which is to say, there is ultimately a godly purpose to everything we endure in life. There are many passages in the Bible that assure us that our trials are never meaningless.

    For instance, in 1 Peter, we are assured that God uses our trials and sufferings to purify our faith, to make it stronger. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 4 to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, 5 who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. 6 In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, 7 so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

    And again, in the Book of Romans, God assures us that our sufferings produce in us perseverance and hope. “Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

    And so, trials are never meaningless, because they have been sanctified, they have been made holy, even filled with meaning and purpose, by the cross of Jesus. Indeed,

“Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure
By the cross are sanctified;
Peace is there that knows no measure,
Joys that through all time abide.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +