If it bears fruit next year              Luke 13:1–9            March 11, 2007         Lent 3c

I overheard two Marines talking together at a church gathering. They were talking about boot camp on Paris Island. The drill Sergeants would take the recruits and humiliate them, deriding them and making them feel completely worthless. They take away all their self-respect. The purpose was to tear them down to nothing so that they could build them up to become proud to be a Marine.

Lutherans began this season of Lent with more gentle act of humility. Ash Wednesday begins with the words, “Remember that you are dust and to dust you will return. It a way of remembering our mortal nature, the sin of the world. Genesis says that God formed us dust. With each funeral, we are reminded that our mortal bodies will be returning to ashes and dust. This allows God to build us up to be the people we were created to be, children of God. This allows us to accept the forgiveness of sin, to repent and to serve others as Jesus has served us.

Living is the world is not an easy process. We are faced daily with issues that just aren’t fair. A young person dies needlessly, a baby gets sick for no apparent reason. People who are good people get caught up in the sin they didn’t deserve or cause. It makes us feel worthless and powerless. Why do these things happen? Why does God allow such things to happen?

In my own life experience, when I was six, my baby brother, Timmy, died of leukemia, he was three years old. My family long struggled with the question, why did this happen? What was God thinking? He was such an innocent and sweet child. It was devastating to us. On his death bead fifty years later, my father said he lost his faith when Timmy died. Can you blame him?

In my ministry in Jonesboro, Arkansas, a tragic school shooting attracted national attention. Two boys, 11 and 13 years old, opened fire on the sixth grade girls, killing four of them and one teacher who was pregnant. Although I didn’t know any of them personally, I knew any people who knew them well, and the whole town was grief stricken. Why did this happen here, in our little town? Those girls were good and well respected. The teacher was well respected and her students loved her. The baby in her womb ever had a chance to breath the air. How could this happen?

When Katrina hit New Orleans, it was an epic tragedy for millions of people, and thousands of people died in the flood. Still today, thousands of people are waiting for their homes to be restored. People have asked lots of questions about God’s will in the hurricane called Katrina. Some even said that God was somehow punishing New Orleans for its sin. Personally, I think they need to remember that they too are dust, and to dust they will return.

We would like to believe that if we are good people, God will be good to us. But that doesn’t always happen. People came to Jesus and asked him about this. They wondered why innocent people suffered and died in such tragedies. Was God punishing them? It’s a timeless question. Why do bad things happen to innocent people?

Jesus did not give an easy answer. He simply said, “Unless you repent, you too will perish.” Many would say that Jesus didn’t answer their question. Or did he? In any case, it was certainly not the kind of answer anyone would expect. “Unless you repent, you will also perish.”

What I have come to understand is that God doesn’t cause anyone to suffer, the devil does that. In nature, hurricanes, and bullets from guns do not discriminate between the good and the bad. But we can still ask God, “Why don’t you do something about that? Why God, do you allow catastrophes to happen to innocent people, even children?”

The simple answer is, God responded when his own Son to die a catastrophic death. His own mother, Mary, watched the whole bloody mess of the cross. Jesus was God’s way of entering into the fight against death. Jesus didn’t have to do that. He did it because he loves us. The resurrection is victory God gave us. When we are baptized and follow him, we will be a part of his great resurrection to come.

Repentance, following him in the Kingdom of God is what Jesus came to offer us. Those who are baptized, repent and follow him will be saved. Perhaps not what we want to hear, but that’s God’s decision, not ours. Repentance is the bottom line. If we don’t repent we will suffer such a catastrophe and perish. That’s the bad news. The good news is that when we do repent, we will never perish, but live in his resurrection, no matter what happens.

So just what is repentance? Repentance walking on the road that Jesus laid out for us. That road leads to a fruitful life in the kingdom of God. Consider the parable Jesus told.

"A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

I don’t have any fruit trees, but I do have a shade trees like the one in the parable. Two trees were completely dead, I had to cut them down and I’m burning them in my smoker. But one was just barely alive. It didn’t get enough water in this Texas heat. A few of the branches were still green, and a little green shoot is coming out of the stump. I decided to give it a year, with lots of water and a little fertilizer. However, I have my doubts if that will work. We’ll see.

This parable is a challenge and a promise to us. The challenge is, are we fulfilling the purpose God has God for us? Are we producing the fruit that god expects? The question is deeply personal. Am I, and are you producing the fruit Jesus expects? Sometimes just a little water and fertilizer is all that is necessary. But other times, we need to cut it down and start over. So it is with following Jesus and our salvation through him.

I’ve been talking about the marks of discipleship. In the past two weeks, I’ve talked about prayer and worship, two marks of those who follow Christ. The third mark is service. The service we do a disciples is producing fruit. The fruit may be eaten by others so that they may grow into disciples. The purpose of our life is to produce that fruit. Repentance is doing what is necessary to start producing.

A book by Pastor Richard Jensen said that repentance is not a fruit problem; it is a root problem. It is the root of who we are that is a problem in God's eyes. So repentance cannot be composed of "I can" statements. "I have sinned God. I am sorry God. I can do better next year." Repentance, rather, must be composed of "I can't" statements. "I have sinned, God. I am sorry. God. I've tried and tried and tried but I just don't produce good fruit. I can't seem to do better. I need your gardener to work on the roots of my life. Give me a new life, God. Give me your life. I can't. You can."

Let’s pray that prayer for not only for ourselves, but for our congregation. God we have not produced much fruit. Our tree is barely alive. We need your gardener, Jesus Christ, to help our roots. Fill us with the nourishment in your Word, the promise of the resurrection. Help us to repent, so that we do not perish. Let us live in you and for you, through the grace and love of your Son, Jesus Christ, Our lord.

Amen