Patience and Mercy. Lent is a time of reflecting as the time grows short. The darkness of Good Friday is coming. It is at hand. It is a time for repentance. It is the time that we bring purple into the church. It is the color of penitence. In our Gospel reading this morning, we have a large focus on repentance that covers the canvas of our text, that it may be difficult to find much Gospel and grace in it. We can very easily see this as all gloom and doom. But it’s also a time about bearing fruit, and the kind of fruit that will last.
Repentance is needed for a world that is out of order. In our Gospel reading for this morning. Some people come to Jesus and they tell him did you hear about those people in Galilee who were making a sacrifice and they were killed by Pilate. Their blood was mixed with the sacrifice?! Can you believe how messed up they must have been and how terrible Pilate is!? Jesus just look at them! Those people! Those people should repent!
Jesus response comes as a shock. He says, “Do you think that the Galileans were any worse than anyone else?” I tell you no! the second time around, he brings up anoher example just in case they were not clear about natural uncontrollable events that would be seen as an act of God. Where the tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 people. He says, “Do you think that they were any worse than anyone else? I tell you no! We are reminded of the time when Jesus found the boy blind at birth and the disciples want to know who sinned, him or his parents. Jesus said, it is not because they sinned that this happened. There is no such thing as being able to decipher why some people suffer and others do not. This world is broken, all people are broken, and sinners.
This is where the big shock comes. Jesus says them and says after each example, “but unless you repent, you will all perish likewise.” Jesus essentially says to these questioners, “you want everyone else to repent. But I tell you that you need to repent of the evil that is inside you. It will kill you.” Whether or not those people repent is not really your business, what is more important is that you repent. Because you have sin within you!
Can you imagine the shock that they mush have experienced. Hear they are expecting Jesus to agree with them about how terrible those people are. And he doesn’t want to hear it and turns the question on them, “Those people are you!” You must repent or you will all likewise perish.
But we say, those people! We can understand that right? Those people. How often and how easy it is to think of those people. It’s kind of like driving your car down the interstate, some guy tails you for miles then flies by you and you a couple miles down the road you get a sense of enjoyment from him being pulled over! Can you believe those people! It’s like saying, “Hey Jesus, can you believe that less than 10% of people in LA go to church on Sunday!” Those people! Or “Jesus can you believe that there are neighbors to this church right here who are either sleeping in or sitting on the couch lounging around while we are having church? Those people! Can you believe them Jesus!? Those people!
But Jesus says, “when it comes to repentance, those people are my business and they do not concern you. “Those people” are you. I care that you repent and live!” This is why it might be a helpful practice for us all, that whenever you get a “those people” thought enter into your mind, we look in the mirror and see that those people, are us. We are all sinners, and repentance is never the wrong answer.
Then he goes on to tell them a story about a vineyard owner who has a fig tree in his vineyard. The only problem is is that this fig tree is not bearing any fruit. The owner of the fig tree tells the vinedresser to cut it down! He has every right to cut it down, it is just sucking up the nutrients in the ground that the vineyard could be getting.
The fruit here is the fruit of repentance. Turning from sin to the Lord. The Lord’s own people will not repent and he seeks it from them. The Lord is seeking the fruits of repentance which is faith in Him. If they do not, they will face judgment.
But in our text this morning, we have another perspective. This perspective is of the vinedresser. The vinedresser speaks of mercy and says, let me cultivate it, dig around it put down some manure and then if it does not grow after a year, you can cut it down. The Vinedresser speaks of grace and mercy.
And in fact this is what we find Jesus doing for Israel and the whole world. He stands in the place of us and takes the full brunt of the unrepentant and faithless tree of Israel. He takes the full brunt of God’s wrath and judgment upon himself in our stead to show grace and mercy.
We know this fact firsthand. That is what he has done for us. We because of our sins deserve to be cut off from God. But, Jesus took the full punishment of being cut down, cut off, separated from God on the cross. He took upon himself the judgment that a fruitless tree deserves. He experienced separation from God for us that we will not have to go through it. Through our Baptisms we have been joined to Christ in his death and but we also have been joined to him in his resurrection. His connection to the Father is now our connection as well.
Jesus, like taking care of a tree in a vineyard, has nourished us in this church and fed us with his Word which has been preached and proclaimed. God has proclaimed his word through faithful preaching and teaching in this place. God has grafted people into His family through the Baptisms at this font. God has strengthened faith given us fellowship with one another at this table with Holy Communion. The richest blessings of his love given to us, his people. God has watered and fed us with his word, the essentials for life. He has done it all with the care of a vinedresser taking care of his tree.
But not only is Jesus sacrifice for us. It is for “those people.” His sacrifice on the cross is for everyone. It covers us all. He loves those people. He the people outside of these church doors. Our fruit then is produced through God’s nourishment in Word and Sacrament. Namely faith. As we bear fruit in keeping with repentance, let us then love this community around us. God uses us, you and me, to nourish this community. The “Those people” of this world, because we are those people. Christ’s undeserved grace is for you! And He uses you to share it others at work, at home, in all things.
