Sunday, March 20, 2022

Third Sunday in Lent
Ezekiel 33:7-20
Psalm 85
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

Show us your loving kindness, Yahweh. Grant us your salvation.

I always hated history. It seemed useless to me to have to learn all those people, places and dates. What good purpose was there in knowing what someone did a thousand years ago? After all, their culture and circumstances were much different than ours today. It even seemed silly to study history from just a few years ago. After all, what is past is past and we should not dwell on the things that cannot be changed but look forward to the future.

I had the same opinion of the Old Testament books of the Bible. What good did it do to read those stories of Israel? Their culture and circumstances were much different than ours today. It was a different world, with different people and different circumstances. This is true even more so for those who live in Christ. Jesus restored our relationship to God, offering through His blood the grace and forgiveness that gives us true life. He finished the work that God began thousands of years before in the lives of the patriarchs, the kinds and the prophets. The old stories are fun to read, but of the stories offer a view of God that seems contradictory to the image we have in the story of Christ.

My attitude about history changed when we lived in England for four years. You can’t walk down the streets of the cities and villages of England without seeing history. We almost rented a home that was five hundred years old with a hatch roof. The streets are made of cobblestone, the pubs have served fish and chips for hundreds of years, some of the churches have stood for nearly a thousand years. Warwick Castle is a fascinating place to visit because it has areas devoted to every era since it was built, from the original fort built by William the Conqueror in the eleventh century, to a wax figure display of a Royal Weekend Party from the turn of the twentieth century with the Prince of Wales as the honored guest.

My attitude about the Old Testament changed in a similar way. As I began to read and study the Bible, I saw the connections between what happened in the Old and how it impacted the New Testament. When you realize how much Jesus is found in the Old Testament, particularly in the promises of God, then you realize that those books about the story of Israel reveal the Gospel as God’s story unfolds.

They say that those who are ignorant of history are doomed to repeat it. We study the things of the past, what worked and what didn’t work, to help guide our decisions for the future. The Bible tells us there is nothing new under the sun, and this is most certainly true in every aspect of human nature. American culture is not much different than other prosperous civilizations in ages past. Our political system was established based on ancient examples. Military, education and welfare policies were founded on principles used many times before. If we refuse to recall the lessons learned throughout history, we will continue repeat the same mistakes over and over again.

Just as ancient history is important for us to know and understand to keep from falling into the same traps, so too is the Old Testament witness important for Christians. The Israelites had Christ before them, reflections of the promise to come. They were given the manna as a promise of Jesus, who is the Bread of life. Water flowed from the rock, foreseeing the Living water that is Christ. Yet they did not remain faithful to the One who fulfilled their needs. As we look back on those stories we are reminded that Christ is the solid rock on whom we stand and get our strength. When we are tested, as the Israelites were tested in the desert, we are warned from their example to turn to God. Let’s not let history repeat itself in our lives; let’s learn from the past and stand firm for the future.

Today’s Gospel passage is tough. In it we deal with the not so uplifting themes of death, tragedy, and manure. It is even hard to see grace in this passage, though God’s grace is always in His Word.

It helps to put this story into context. When Jesus came down from the mountain where He was transfigured in the presence of His closest apostles, He set out on a journey toward Jerusalem. Nothing was going to stop Him from His goal. As they traveled, Jesus taught the disciples the things they would need to know to continue His work in this world. He healed the sick and He gave hope to the poor. Crowds were following Him, gathering wherever they might hear Him speak. He was calling people to a deep and intimate relationship with God. This was a message people wanted to hear. Even the Pharisees wanted to hear what Jesus had to say. There was a curiosity about Jesus: was He the one for whom they were waiting? Was He the fulfillment of those Old Testament prophesies?

One day a Pharisee invited Jesus to dinner. Jesus made quite an impression, and not in a good way. He offended the Pharisees and the teachers of the Law by the things He said and the things He did. They were determined to stop Jesus. The Pharisees understood righteousness and faithfulness from the perspective of the Law. The question of the Galileans and the victims of the tower collapse came up because the Pharisees were following Jesus, asking Him questions. They wanted to catch Him in a mistake that would halt His ministry.

Jesus’ answer to the thoughts of their hearts was that the Galileans and victims of the tower collapse were not greater sinners. Now, we might assume that because Jesus said this, He was lifting up the lowly and lowering the lofty. Yet, Jesus’ words are not a condemnation, but a call to repentance. Jesus says, “Unless you repent, you too will die.” Earlier in the book of Luke, Jesus gave the Pharisees and teachers of the Law a long list of sins, but repentance is more than changing the way we do things. The Pharisees and teachers of the Law had rejected Jesus. They had rejected the Word of God made flesh. They had rejected the mercy of God which is found in Jesus. Reject Jesus and you will die, because it is in Jesus Christ that we find true life.

So, Jesus was not saying that those who suffered death and tragedy were less sinful than the Pharisees and teachers of the Law. He was saying that we are all sinners in need of a Savior. Receive the Savior, and you will have life. Reject the Savior, and you will die. We are given another message of grace in this passage. Jesus, who is the vine tender, tells the master (God) to give the unfruitful tree another year, another chance. Repentance, which is the recognizing sin and turning toward the Savior, will bring fruit. Jesus is willing to do everything He can to help us repent. He will work with us, feed us, water us, risk everything for us. We’ll have to put up with a little manure, but He will help us to turn to God.

Today is the day. There may not be a tomorrow. Today is the day of repentance. Don’t wait. Now is the time to believe, to receive the Savior, and to experience the life He has to give.

I was shopping with my daughter who was only a toddler at the time one day. We were in the clothing department. She played, as all little kids love to play, by climbing in and out of the racks as I searched to find the perfect outfit. I was probably not paying as much attention as I should have, but I suddenly realized she was not in the rack where I was standing. I called her name; after several times I began to panic. This happened shortly after a time when the news was filled with the story of a child kidnapping, and while I doubted that it would happen in this out of the way store in an out of the way place, I couldn’t help but worry. I called louder and she didn’t hear me. Others began looking with me. Finally, an employee from a department at the far end of the store found my daughter crying in a fitting room, heard our panic and came to get me. My daughter was safe, and while I was angry that she had wandered away, I was even more thankful that she had been found.

The tone of today’s Old Testament lesson is not very pleasant. It seems to focus on death. Even the righteous, if they sin, will taste death. Where is the fairness? Where is the mercy? After all, if I have done a million good things, shouldn’t they outweigh a bad thing or two? Even worse is the promise that the wicked will be saved if they just turn around. How is that fair to those who live a lifetime of goodness? This understanding leads us to the fear that the last thing we do will not be good enough to be saved. It leads us to be afraid that we will meet our end if we wander away. Yet, we are also angry because we know that “those others”, the wicked, have done far worse things than we will ever do. Where is the justice?

We miss the grace in this passage when we ignore the word “repent.” This is a hard word because we live in a world that tells us we should go our own way. The world tells us that it is ok to follow our hearts. The world tells us that whatever path we choose is the path that is right for us. We have no reason to repent; this is what happens in a world that ignores the reality of sin. Sin is not just a list of things we do wrong. Of course, as we wander on our Lenten journey we are reminded to consider our own sin, to look at how we have failed to be the people whom God has created and redeemed us to be. We fast as a discipline so that we might be transformed in one tiny way, step by step becoming the people that God calls us to be.

Unfortunately, it is often useless because we fast something that we take up almost immediately after Easter Day. Instead of continuing in the path of discipline, embracing the transformation, following as God leads us into a better life, we celebrate the promise of salvation and then head in the opposite direction. We turn around and walk on our own path again.

During Lent we often follow a devotional practice of some sort, reading the bible more or praying daily, but as soon as Easter comes, we stop and go about our lives as they were before we started our Lenten journey. Instead of allowing the discipline to become a habit in our lives, we think seven weeks is enough to earn us the goodness and mercy of God for another year. “I did my duty: I fasted and prayed. So now I can go walk on my path until it is time to do my duty again. It must be enough to hold me over until next time,” we think. In the Old Testament they thought the blood of a lamb was enough to hold them over for a year.

The key word in today’s texts is “repent,” but it is not enough to simply say, “I’ve done this thing and I’m sorry. Forgive me so I can go on my way.” Repentance is more than saying I’m sorry. It is even more than confessing our daily sins. Repentance is turning to God, following Him, keeping Him in our sight, trusting Him to lead us on the right path.

The passage from Ezekiel is confusing and frightening. It seems to say that you will live or die based on the most current actions of your flesh. If the wicked repent and then die, they will live, but if the righteous commit iniquity and die, their righteous deeds will be forgotten, and they will truly die. This is confusing because we know that it is not by our works that we live or die, and it is frightening because we know that we are sinners and that we fail on a daily basis. What chance do we have to die at that exact moment when we are being righteous?

Verse 13 offers a bit of help with this problem. Ezekiel writes, “...if he trusts in his righteousness...” then he will die if he commits sin. It isn’t the sin that will kill him, but the reliance on a righteousness that is fallible. When we trust in the good deeds that we have done to save us, we’ll find that they are never enough to cover the bad deeds that we continue to do. Our works will never make us righteous. Repentance is not simply making things right after we have done wrong; there is no hope in that sort of faith. We can never know if we will truly be in the right state at the moment we die. Repentance is turning to God and trusting in Him. Faith is trusting that we are in a state of God’s grace so that no matter when we die, we’ll be saved by His righteousness.

It is so easy to get caught up in the belief that we can save ourselves. And if we believe that, then we just as easily see the disasters of others as a punishment from God, or at the very least the possibility that they have gotten what they deserve. That’s what was happening in today’s Gospel lesson. Jesus responded to a question from the crowd about a group of people who died at the hand of Pilate by asking if they deserved to be killed in that way. Then He asked if a group of people who died when a tower fell if they deserved to die in that way.

He answered, “I tell you, no, but, unless you repent, you will all perish in the same way.” Jesus did not suggest that they died because of their sin, but then He warned the crowd that they would die if they didn’t repent!

They did not die because of their sin; they were in the wrong place at the wrong time. Their story is important for us to hear, we could be in the wrong place at the wrong time, too. We could fall prey to a power wielding ruler who knows no bounds. We could be standing under a tower about to collapse. We could be in a car accident. We could get sick. We could lose everything because the world around us is falling apart. We don’t know what tomorrow might hold.

Jesus calls us to repentance, not to save us from the possibility that our world will collapse, but so that we will not die. We will all still die in the flesh, but when we trust in the righteousness that Jesus has promised, we will have life in the spirit that He has promised. He is calling the people to turn now, to not wait until it is too late. Tomorrow might be too late. Five minutes from now could be too late. God is patient and longsuffering. God is willing to give second and third and fourth chances. But as we hear in today’s Gospel lesson, we do not know when it will be too late.

When Jesus talks about life and death, He isn’t referring to the physical life and death; He is referring to spiritual life and death. The Gospel text is not a lesson about our own righteousness, but about trusting in God for true life. We don’t become perfect overnight. As a matter of fact, there’s only one who was able to live a perfect life in this world: Jesus. We aren’t Jesus, but we are covered by His righteousness when we repent and trust in Him.

The hope we have is not that we’ll be righteous at the moment that we will die, but that God will be faithful. And thankfully, we worship a God of second chances. Take, for instance, the parable in the second half of today’s Gospel lesson: the story of a fig tree. This tree is not bearing fruit and the landowner is ready to let it go. We might think that he is unmerciful because the tree is only three years old; however, it was probably more like six years. He would not have even looked for fruit until after the third year. That is when it should have started to bear fruit. At six years the fig tree has been a waste of time, land and resources. This unfruitful tree is stealing the nutrients from the trees that can produce. The gardener begged the landowner for one more year with a promise to work with the tree to try to get it to produce.

Perhaps the perfect sermon title for this text is “Death, Tragedy and all that Crap.” It might sound flippant or even offensive, but it is an honest assessment of how we deal with the troubles in our life. We look at suffering as “crap” without realizing that it might just be the manure that will help us grow in faith and maturity. God does not make us suffer, but He uses the circumstances of our life to help us to bear fruit in this world. We don’t understand. We ask, “Why me?” But we are called to repentance from our self-focus and trust in God who has promised to get us through. We don’t like to travel through the valley of death, because it seems like there is no hope, but there is always hope in Christ.

The Jews in Jesus’ day sought righteousness according to their own terms. They tried to be their own gods. They tried to control the world around them. They tried to be good, righteous, and worthy of whatever it is they wanted. Paul tells us that the ancestors of the Jews did the same thing. Though God delivered them from Egypt and gave them a taste of salvation and the waters of baptism through the cloud and the waters of the Red Sea, they forgot God. They became idolaters, eating, drinking and indulging in the pagan traditions of Egypt. They tested God and suffered the consequences of turning away from Him. They did not trust God so turned to find comfort, hope and peace through other means. We are meant to see in the histories what our ancestors did wrong so that we’ll walk more closely with our God.

But Paul reminds us that we are no different. We think we are better, more faithful than those who wandered the desert and those who lived in Jesus’ day, but we aren’t. Paul shares the stories of our forefathers as a warning that we naturally tend to go in the wrong direction. We would rather rely on our own strength and abilities, so we turn away from God.

The story of the fig tree shows us that God is willing to work with us, to help us to be fruitful. But we are warned to be careful: the day will come when it is too late. So while we can’t do it on our own, we are called to do something. We are called to repent, to turn around and trust God. Paul comforts us with the knowledge that we are no different. “No temptation has taken you except what is common to man. God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted above what you are able, but will with the temptation also make the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.”

We will forget history. We will be tempted. We will fail. We’ll get angry with God and blame Him for our troubles. We’ll doubt and fear and go down the wrong path. We deserve to perish. But the vinedresser says, “Give me another year. I’ll feed it and it will produce good fruit.” He gives us another chance. Yet, He also calls us to repentance, lest we perish. We have another chance, but for how long? We could be in the wrong place at the wrong time. We don’t know what tomorrow might hold.

The psalmist writes, “Mercy and truth meet together. Righteousness and peace have kissed each other. Truth springs out of the earth. Righteousness has looked down from heaven.” Truth leads us to a right relationship with God. The fullness of all the good things in heaven and earth - mercy, truth, righteousness and peace - come together in Jesus Christ. It is not up to us to be or create or earn these things, we are called to believe in Jesus and it will be ours.

God does not want us to perish. He shows us the past so that we can live toward the future. He wants us to live in His grace in this world and in His glory in eternity. He’s done everything necessary to make it happen. Lent is a time of repentance. It is a time for letting go of control, turning around toward God, and trusting in Him. Our righteousness will never save us, but His will. His righteousness has saved us. He did it so that we would have life, and so that we would bear fruit in a world that desperately needs to repent and trust in Him.