Luke 13:1-9

Unless

            What’s the first thing you do when you wake up every morning? Do you go to the bathroom, brush your teeth, get dressed, or get a cup of coffee? Or maybe like many of us, you tell yourself that you’d rather roll back over and fall back asleep. What about on Mondays? Do you get up and instantly wish the day away so you don’t have to go back to school or work? Of course, we all have different reactions to morning. Some of us are morning people and some of us aren’t. But there’s one other option that I’d wager not many of us even think about. How many wake up and thank God that they woke up that morning, that God had given us another day? What we all know but rarely acknowledge is that every day is a gift from God. Every morning we wake up and every night when we go to bed, we’re blessed to have this time, these days and hours. For none of us knows what tomorrow will hold for us, whether it’ll be a good day or bad day. We don’t even know truly whether we’ll wake to another day. No day is guaranteed to us. Take for instance the big storms that just blew through here about a week ago. Those same storms spawned dozens of tornadoes across the country which took the lives of at least forty people. Those are people that probably thought they had many more years left. They probably had plans for the next day, friends and family who loved them. Yet, just like that, now their lives are no more. There’s no telling when tragedy will strike and our lives will be cut short.

            In our Gospel lesson today, a crowd comes before Jesus to seek a reason why this happens. Why does tragedy strike some and not others? Yes, it would make us feel much better if we understood this reasoning. However, Jesus doesn’t answer the way we want him to. For instead of giving us a reason, he simply points us back to the blessing of the time we have, as we learn:

IN THE ABUNDANCE OF HIS MERCY, GOD BRINGS US TO REPENTANCE!

I.

            It’s a common question that many people wonder. Why do bad things happen to good people? The senseless violence and destruction that is ever present in our life is hard to digest. As someone who deals with death on a regular basis, it never gets any easier. Thus, the other question that arises. If God is good, then why so much evil? This is what was on the minds of those in the crowd as they asked Jesus about the Galileans slain by Pilate in the temple. But hear what Jesus says in response, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish,” Luke 13:2-3. What this crowd was after was simply a reason. They wanted a reason to justify the death of the Galileans. Perhaps, they had stolen something. Maybe they were cheating on their spouses. Maybe they were just downright terrible people, so this tragedy wasn’t so much a tragedy as it was God’s justice, right? But no, Jesus says. It’s not that simple. There was no specific reason why certain people face tragedies over others.

            Consider again the tornadoes from a week ago. Did those people deserve to die like that? Was God punishing them for something they had done? Of course not! And unless you repent, you will likewise perish. That’s the point behind all of this. The reason why bad things happen IN GENERAL is because we’re all sinners. Tornadoes, earthquakes, fires, wars, school shootings, and violence of all kinds happen because there’s sin in the world. None of us are any less or more a sinner than the next person. “For the wages of sin is death,” Romans 6:23. Death has taken a hold of our world in all it’s varied forms, through disasters of nature or manmade. For when we see these things happen, we’re to remember that I’m no less deserving of the same fate. Because of my sin, I deserve death also. “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” The reality is, there’s no one truly good among us. No one who dies is truly good. For we’re all sinners. Thus, disasters come for us all.

II.

            Unless... Unless we take the warning seriously. Unless we rightly acknowledge our sin and turn back to God. Unless we repent! For in the middle of Jesus’ stern warning is the brightest ray of Gospel. We’ll all perish... UNLESS God who calls us by his word, leads us in repentance to Jesus! God has every right to return right now, to bring an end to all of creation, every life on this planet, but he doesn’t. And Jesus also shows us why. As we read, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 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?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:6-9. The dead tree deserves to be cut down. We deserve death. Yet, God gives us the time to bear fruit in repentance. God in his abundant mercy gives us time to come to a knowledge of the truth so that we may not perish, but have eternal life! 

            God no more wishes evil upon us as we wish evil upon ourselves. God is good... and if we struggle to understand this, then we need only look in one place. The cross. For the most evil and horrendous tragedy that could befall any one of us isn’t just death, but eternal death and condemnation. And see how much God desires good for us that he sent his one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to take upon himself our flesh and sins so that he may die for us! Jesus went to the cross for you and me so that he may nurture us, feed us, care for us and give us the time to bear the fruits of faith! It’s for this reason that Christ hasn’t returned yet, that God desires that all people repent and that all people be saved. As God has said in His Word, “Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live?” Ezekiel 18:23. Turn and live! That is, repent and receive eternal life from Jesus’ hand. This is what repentance is, it’s God reaching out to us with his word, his forgiveness, his mercy and grace, and turning us from death to life, from sin to holiness, and from hell to paradise!

            So, may we thank God for this time he has given us that He may lead us in repentance to bear the fruits of faith and not perish for our sins. Rather, trusting in Jesus alone, we acknowledge our sin before God that we may inherit eternal life! In Jesus’ name! Amen!