We’re about halfway through the Gospel of Luke and the tension is rising. Last week, we heard Jesus say that he came to bring division on the earth. We see in our world today, division on grand scale and much of it ultimately comes back to a question over whether people will accept Jesus and his Way or not. Whether it be geopolitical conflict, abortion, LGBTQ, Islam, or even in the Church on fundamental doctrines, the level of hostility to Jesus who is the Word of God, and to the Holy Spirit who leads into all truth, makes clear we are fighting evil but we do need to remember it is against evil principalities and powers not flesh and blood, the people who Jesus died for.
Mostly Jesus has delivered his harshest words against the religious leaders because of their hypocrisy, their love of money and power while forgetting justice and the mercy of God. Some of his comments feel a little too close to home.
But at the end of Chapter 12, he calls the multitudes hypocrites too for being able to make a weather forecast but not able to read the signs of the times. We are in an age like that today. We see end time signs such as disasters, climate change and the rise of self-centeredness yet we’re more interested in forecasting the share market and sports results. Jesus asked his disciples how many will be ready when he returns ?
Today’s passage touches on that difficult subject of suffering to which we may not get a fully satisfactory answer but gives some clues. We also get an overall picture of what the Lord is doing and what they may tell us today.
Luke 13:1-5
There were present at that season some who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered and said to them, “Do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse sinners than all other men who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, no; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”
The archaeologist and New Testament scholar Sir William Mitchell Ramsey called Luke an historian of the first rank. Excavations at Siloam have found evidence for a tower. We don’t know why Pilate had the Galileans killed at the temple where they were sacrificing but we can easily believe what Luke reported because it was in line with other events in Pilate’s brutal rule that eventually saw him recalled to Rome. Pilate’s act recalled Daniel’s chapter 11 prophecy about the abomination that makes desolation in the temple, so the people must have wondered whether Pilate was the Antichrist. You don’t mock God like that and get away with it but in the present, the people suffered.
And in their suffering, the people were asking, where is God in all this or had they deserved it. If you really are the Messiah, won’t you fix this?
But why would a loving God allow innocent people to die in accidents like the tower of Siloam?
Tragedies happen every day. The sudden death of someone often causes people to reflect, sometimes in judgment, sometimes with doubt and fear. Our natural thinking tells us;
- Suffering is proportional to sinfulness.
- Tragedy is a sure sign of God’s judgment.
- Bad things happen only to bad people.
- A good and all powerful God would not allow suffering so either he doesn’t exist or he isn’t good.
Without the help of the Holy Spirit, we don’t judge well.
The Pharisees preached a message that sinners suffer and the righteous are blessed, it was the same thinking as the friends of Job. If you were cursed with sickness and death, it meant God was against you.
In the story of Job, something else was happening in the spiritual realm that his friends did not understand and was leading to a double blessing on his life. There was far more to the story than met the eye. Remember that.
And Jesus did not provide comfort, he said unless you repent you will all likewise perish. He was emphasising the spiritual need we all have of being prepared - our lives can end at any time and are we ready to meet our Maker?
Now remember his audience was made up of his disciples, the religious leaders and the multitudes and he did speak to each group differently but on this case he seems to be addressing all three groups in the same way.
This message "Repent or Perish" is not meant to alienate people who are already struggling. God so loved the World that he gave his only Son, that whosoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
This message is to bring people back to God so that they may receive all the blessings he has for them.
Jesus wants to raise you up to be a son or daughter of God but you have to leave your old life behind because the wages of sin is death. That’s a fact. You must be born again.
Every one of us needs to repent of something. Salvation and repentance go hand in hand. Pointing the finger at someone else might make me feel better but it doesn’t change the fact that I’m a sinner too and if I don’t repent of my sins, then I too am going to Hell. That was the sobering point Jesus made to his audience.
Luke 13:6-9
He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’ ”
What kind of fruit is God looking for in our lives? People who have come to Christ because of our witness. People should look at us and want what we’ve got i.e., the fruit of the Spirit -
Galatians 5:22-23
But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.
These are questions for us all to ask ourselves with the help of the Holy Spirit. Ask him to help us see our true reflection.
There is an expiry date on God’s patience. We can cross lines with God. One more year is all the fig tree got. One more year that God was going to do all he could to turn the person’s life around so that they would produce fruit. Most people aren’t aware of their precarious position without Christ. We don’t know if we have one more day, let alone one more year. Plenty of people woke up today not knowing it will be their last. Repent now while you still can!
Part 1 of the passage today is a story about the severity of God but it is immediately followed with part 2 which shows the compassion of the Lord. Justice and Love are 2 sides of the same coin. Quite often, we preach one and forget the other. I think there’s a reason these 2 passages are side by side - God was pruning things in that generation to bring fruit, people needed the eyes to see what was really happening.
Luke 13:10-13
Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
Eighteen years - there’s that number again, same as the eighteen killed by the falling tower of Siloam. Eighteen connects the two parts of today's passage.
This woman had suffered for a very long time. Without a doubt, she would have prayed to God many times for healing for herself and her faith had been battered.
This woman had a spirit of infirmity. It was an evil spirit that had made her disabled. Once Jesus was asked whether a blind man’s sins or those of this parents had made him blind. It could have been either but Jesus said neither of those reasons but rather that God would be glorified.
How should Christians discern which of the 3 causes of suffering is reponsible ?
- Of personal sin
- Of someone else’s sin
- As allowed by God for his glory
We start with compassion to see the person made whole in Christ.
Jesus set the woman free and the spirit of infirmity left without any noise and the woman was able to stand straight again and glorified God. We don’t always know why people have suffered physically or mentally.
But Jesus had compassion and we need to have compassion also.
But what happened next was very strange.
Luke 13:14-17
But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.” The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
I’m sure we have all have witnessed such hostility to Jesus. It happens all over the World. In New Zealand and in the UK, you can get in trouble with the law these days just for praying for a person. How foolish of the leaders of this country !
Shouldn’t the religious leader have been glad that the woman was healed. There should have been joy, not anger ! At the very least that was one less woman that he would have to minister to. One less burden. More time to spend on other important tasks. But no, instead he’s concerned that the healing was done on the Sabbath. That is a very strange reaction on his behalf.
How many times does the Church shoot itself in the foot by criticising the success of other ministers of healing and prophecy for example. Wouldn’t it be better to be happy about it instead?
When winter is over and the pruning is done, in early Spring we see the fresh buds on the tree. That is our prayer PCC, I don’t think we can be pruned anymore ! Don’t we want to join with Jesus and make his announcement to the World our own;
Isaiah 61:1-3
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord, And the day of vengeance of our God; To comfort all who mourn, To console those who mourn in Zion, To give them beauty for ashes, The oil of joy for mourning, The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; That they may be called trees of righteousness, The planting of the Lord, that He may be glorified.”
Lord pour on each one of us here today the fertiliser of the Holy Spirit that we may become exceptionally fruitful trees for you. Amen.
