Third Sunday in Lent - March 07, 2010 - Luke 13:1-9

Our Gospel lesson opens with a reference to some Galileans whose blood had been mixed with their sacrifices

• Not recorded in history books or the other Gospels
• Only mention is Luke
• Probable scenario of a national outrage –
• Men from Galilee were at the Temple to prepare their sacrificial lambs for the Passover meal
• For some unknown reason, they were attacked by Roman soldiers
• Roman soldiers were not supposed to set foot in the Temple
• But they invade the Temple and commit murder
• They make this outrage even worse by mixing the blood of the murdered men with their sacrifices

The Jews traditionally equated tragedy with sin

• Direct cause and effect
• John 9 – the disciples see a blind man
• They ask Jesus: “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?”
• Cause and effect had been true at times in Israel’s past
• Children of Israel in wilderness/fiery serpents
• Numbers 21
• People speak against God
• He sends fiery serpents – bit the people and many died
• David and Bathsheba
• David commits adultery with Bathsheba
• She becomes pregnant – David has her husband killed to cover up the adultery
• God sends His prophet – the son conceived in adultery will die after his birth
• New Testament – Ananias and Sapphira (Acts chapter 5)
• They sold a piece of property
• Claimed they gave all the proceeds to God – but lied
• Both lives were taken by God – because of their lie to Him
• But Jesus rules out cause-and-effect here
• To make His point He refers to another disaster when a tower fell and killed 18 people
• For both disasters Jesus refuses to point to any specific sin
• But He twice emphasizes that unless people repent of all sin, all will suffer

Today there are still some people who believe that when bad things happen, then God must be punishing people for their specific sins

• This is especially true in times of national disaster
• After all, it would be easier to make sense of great tragedies if we could understand them on their simplest level
• As God punishing people for their sins
  

• Pat Robertson and Haiti
• Robertson claimed that 200 years ago the people of Haiti made “a pact with the devil” to overthrow their French rulers
• Now he sees the recent earthquake as God was punishing the Haitians for their sins
• Created a huge furor

Today we change the question

• Instead of asking why bad things happen to bad people
• We ask why bad things happen to good people
• Just like the Jews, we sometimes want to look for cause-and-effect, too
• We want to wrap our human minds around something that we just can’t understand

But the bottom line – there are no good people

• Jesus makes it clear that the Galileans who were killed in the Temple were no worse than the 18 killed by the tower that fell
• But the point is that they were no better, either
• We measure the goodness of an individual in our own human terms
• When people die we often hear them remembered by the good that they did during their lives
• Loving spouse or parent
• Good friend
• Good to animals
• Generous and caring
• The fact that that person died an unbeliever didn’t matter to them
• In God’s eyes, that person was anything but good
• Good people don’t exist – not in God’s eyes
• Our view of “good” is different than God’s
• All are sinners
• Romans 3:10 (Paul)  – “None is righteous, no, not one”
• Psalm 143:2 (King David) – “no one living is righteous”
• Genesis 8:21 (God)  – “the intention of man’s heart is evil from his youth”
• People view “goodness” in terms of the Tallest Pygmy Syndrome
• Pygmies – by definition – are ethnic groups who are much shorter than average people
• Example of Tallest Pygmy Syndrome is when a full-grown pygmy who is only 4’ 9” tall boasts that he is much taller than everyone else
• But this boast is only true because he compares himself to other pygmies who are shorter than him
• He’s not really tall – by the standards of most people, he is still very short
• He is only the tallest pygmy
• We sinners are guilty of Tallest Pygmy Syndrome when we think that we are good
• We are only good when measured against a world full of moral and spiritual pygmies
• In God’s eyes we are still bad
• All of us are sinners

So why do these things happen?

• Why do bad things happen?
• There actually is a direct cause-and-effect
• The cause – sin
• The effect – a sinful, corrupted world
• God’s creation was perfect in every respect
• Until sin changed everything
• Need to understand the difference between actual sin and original sin
• Actual sins are those we commit every day
• Lying
• Cheating
• Everything that defies God’s Law
• Original sin
• Original sin is the corruption of man’s nature that occurred when Adam and Eve committed the first sin in Garden of Eden
• It is not an activity – it is a condition that effects all of us
• On our own, we are helpless to please God
• On our own, our actual and original sin condemn us to eternal damnation
• As long as live in this sinful world, bad things will continue to happen
• Will happen to good people and bad people
• As Christians, we look at tragedies in three ways
• To reflect on our sin
• To remind and warn us of judgment
• And to bring us to repentance
• Jesus said in our Gospel lesson: “I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
• That is entirely the point of the final verses of our Gospel lesson – the story of the fig tree
• Read verses 6-9
• 6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
• In this parable, the vinedresser must act to save the tree – tree can’t do it on its own
• Jesus is the vinedresser who took action to save us
• We are fed and nourished with God’s Word and Sacraments
• The Holy Spirit brings us to faith so that we can ”bear fruit, well and good”

This is the ultimate cause-and-effect

• Because of God’s love, good things – the best things – eternal life – are freely given to believers in Christ
• God sent His Son to redeem us
• What could possibly be better than that?
• And even when bad things happen – as they most assuredly will – we know that our loving Father gives us the strength to endure
• No matter what happens, Jesus is with us
• Read these beautiful words of Scripture from 1 Peter chapter 1
• 3 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. 8 Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, 9 obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

Cause-and effect

• Yes, it does exist
• Cause of our salvation
• Jesus died for our sins
• And the effect?
• We have been redeemed

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