Welcome, I have missed a few texts but am hoping to get back on schedule. Spring is in the air and summer is on the way. Our text for Sunday is about suffering. This is one of the most asked questions-why do we suffer? Some people think that when they become a Christian their suffering is over but that is a false teaching. Becoming a Christian never protects a person from suffering and in fact as Jesus teaches his disciples it can bring on suffering. The people rejected Jesus and they will reject his followers too. So maybe the question we need to ask is; if I am a follower of Jesus, why am I not suffering more?
V1 As Jesus is teaching his disciples and the crowds some people ask him about an incident in the Temple when Pilate had some of the Galileans offering their sacrifices killed. Their blood had mixed with the sacrificial blood.
V2 Jesus asked them for their thoughts. The Jewish people had been taught that sin brought on suffering. The two were linked. Therefore, if someone suffered a physical ailment or mental ailment they must have sinned and God was punishing them. Jesus refutes this idea by saying these Galileans were no worse sinners than anyone else.
V3 Jesus tells the crowd unless they repent of their own nationalistic ideals of overthrowing Rome they too will die. He moves the teaching from “who is to blame for this tragedy” to we must live closely with God by repenting of our own agendas.
V4 The tower of Siloam had fallen on eighteen people and killed them, Jesus presents the crowd with another example. Were those people such bad sinners that God made a tower to fall on them killing them?
V5 Again he moves their focus from who to blame for the tragedy to personal repentance. We are all to live as if our lives might end at anytime. We are to give up our personal agendas and take on Gods mission so that if tragedy befalls us we are prepared to enter Gods kingdom.
V6 -9 He then tells a parable to get the point across to his listeners. A man planted a fig tree and when he came to pick the fruit it had none. He had waited for three years for the tree to produce fruit and when it didn’t he wanted it removed. The gardener intervened and explained to the man he would show it some special attention for the next year and then if it didn’t produce fruit the man could remove it.
Reread the parable with this in mind. In the Old Testament Israel was spoken of as a fig tree that God had planted in his vineyard. A fig tree takes three years to mature and produce fruit. God had waited a sufficient amount of time for Israel to produce fruit-draw all the nations to God. The tree was barren, as was Israel barren. The sin of no fruit had been national, not personal. God didn’t punish people individually for their ailments, but nationally for their ignorance of him. God wanted the tree torn out as it was taking up room and wasting the soil. The gardener intervened, think of him as Jesus. Jesus asked for more time for the tree in which he would personally attend to it to help it bear fruit. He would care for it, fertilize it and refresh the soil around it. To the Nation of Israel he was doing the same. He had come to show them his Father and was teaching them how to live with God and carry out Gods’ mission. He was showing Gods’ mercy to the people by asking for more time to get the message across. But while God, the owner of the vineyard, had agreed to another year for the tree he did have a limit on how long he would wait. We may get many chances to bear fruit but there will come a moment when our time is up and we will have to account for our fruit. Just like the people who had been killed by events beyond their control we need to realize things beyond our control will happen. Our world is a broken one and bad things happen to all people. Rather than looking for who or what to blame, it is more important to repent of our own agendas and bear fruit for God. So I leave you with a question: Are you in the garden taking up valuable space while producing nothing or are you producing fruit? Don’t think because you have become a Christian you are saved to sit on your butt. You became a Christian, saved by Gods sacrifice of his Son, to continue doing the Sons work.
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