1. If no repentance, perish

Today is the third Sunday of Lent. Lent is the period during which we remember and reflect on Jesus’ suffering on the Cross. And it is also the time to understand significance of our own hard trials given by God. Indeed we experience many harsh times in our life. And we wonder why we must undergo those painful trials. We will contemplate on what they mean to us by reading Luke 13:1-9. The lecturing part tells about two incidents, that of Galileans who were killed by Pilate’s men and of eighteen persons who died crushed by the fallen tower in Siloam. We should seek significance of those incidents by connecting them to our own life because similar accidents might happen to us, too. For example, a car might dashe over and kill several children on the way to school. Or many persons are drowned in sea or in rivers during summer holidays. In winter, mountain climbers are sometimes involved in blizzard and lost. Also, suicidal cases are reported every day. Such unhappy cases occur so often that we became almost insensitive to them. But if one of the victims is one of our family members or close friends, the occurrence must be real tragedy for us.

Now let us read the opening verse, ; - Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. (Luke 13:1)

W. Barclay*, a Scottish theologian, explained the background of the verse by analyzing several documents;
– Pilatus, a procurator of the Roman province of Judaea of the time, intended then to augment the Temple of Jerusalem¡Çs water-supply by the construction of a new aqueduct. He thought that part of the expense ought to be defrayed from the Temple treasury. But the priests were horrified at the suggestion that sacred money should be used for such a secular purpose. In addition, several Jewish men tried to prevent application of the plan by force. Thus Pilate sent armed and disguised solders in order to arrest them. Then bloody struggles took place, to which the verse alludes. –

At Jesus time, many anti-Roman movements occurred, especially in Galilee. Galilean rebels against Roman Empire were well known as ‘Zealot - eager fighters.’ So many of them should have come into Jerusalem then to develop their movements.

Pharisees, religious and social leaders of the people, thought those rebels deserved death because they used force, which was considered to be against God’s will. But Jesus denied also Pharisees’ point of view ; - Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.(Luke 13:2-3)

Though Jesus rejected the correlation between the incidents and victims’ sin, he declared, ‘ unless you repent, you too will all perish.’

It means that happenings occurred in order to warn all humans against sins. So, hearing the waring, we must go back to God’s righteousness. Then Jesus referred to another unhappy incident, ; - Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem?(Luke 13;4)

The existing aqueduct which passes under the city ends in the pool of Siloam. The fallen tower was a part of construction work of the new aqueduct. And after the accident Jews though that it happened because of use of sacred money for a secular matter. They thought also that the workers deserved death due to participation in such a sinful plan. Undesirable event might remind Jewish people of this verses occurred this way ; - ” Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed? ” (Job 4:7)

In general, they considered horrible accidents or painful illness to be punishment to sinners. But Jesus rejected such a way of thinking and said, ‘Do you think they were more guilty than ? No!’ Then he gave the alarm again, ‘Unless you repent, you too will all perish.’

Jesus repeated it in order that each of all humans would listen to it as a personal call.

* William Barclay http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Barclay_(theologian)
**New aqueduct construction in Jerusalem http://www.biblicalstudies.org.uk/pdf/eq/jerusalem_bruce.pdf

2. Cut down a barren tree

From the verse 6, Luke wrote about the parable of a barren fig tree, ; - Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’(Luke 13:6-7)

Planting fig trees in vineyard was a custom of the era. However barren ones are useless. Nonetheless ; - ” ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’ “(Luke 13:8-9)
The metaphor with fruitless tree appears in the passage about John the Baptist, ; - Produce fruit in keeping with repentance¡Ä..every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire."(Luke 3:8-9)

Yet, Jesus does not take the same stance as John’s. Like the man of vineyard, Jesus pray God, ‘leave them for one more year, and I’ll dig around them and fertilize them. ‘ Thanks to Jesus’ prayer of intercession we are accorded the time to repent. Though the fig tree had had 3 years, it did not give any fruit. In other words, regardless of expectation of the mastor it did not make effective efforts.

The majority of people think that our old days’ life is the result of young days. It means that if we spend time and money for trivial pleasures without planing wisely the future, life conditions might be miserable as the last day approaches. In the similar logic, we can understand this teaching of Jesus, ; - As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work.(John 9:4) Paul also said, ; - I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation.(2Corinthians 6:2)

The very time is not forever. If we are sentenced to die in a year, what would we do ? At least, majority of us will not live in the same way as before. And it is undeniable fact that all humans are destined to die someday. Therefore we must acknowledge calmly and sincerely that our resting time is limited.

3. Salvation through Jesus

Today’s invocation verses are John 3:16-17 ; - “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

Luke, too, used in the first half of chapter 13 the word ‘perish’, which was replaced further by another expression ‘cut it down.’ And both of the two allude to the last judgement. Then how should we grasp the notion of the ultimate judgement ? Jesus represented God as the most merciful judge. For God sent his unique son Jesus for the sake of all humans. God wanted that nobody perish, or all of us live in hope. So much so, God acted to give forgiveness to all of us.

But God also admits disasters of certain people. In today’s lecturing passage, some were killed and others were crashed under the fallen tower. Through all the long history, each time humans witnessed victims of calamities, they asked God why such incidents happened or pains were continuing.

Nietzsche*, a 19th-century German philosopher and classical philologist, reportedly said, ‘ Suffering itself is not a problem. The problem is that no answer comes to our crying, ‘For what must we suffer! ‘ And he concluded ‘ God is dead.’**

Christians might rebuff his statement this way ;
– God of righteousness rules the world. Therefore sinners deserve to perish. But others will harvest fruits. Pains are payments for sinful acts because God, the supreme judge, must give us what we deserve as rewards to the righteous. Perdition is to sinners.

However the reality is not so fair as we wish, as Ecclesiastes 9:2-3 reveal ; - All share a common destiny—the righteous and the wicked, the good and the bad, the clean and the unclean, those who offer sacrifices and those who do not. As it is with the good man, so with the sinner; as it is with those who take oaths, so with those who are afraid to take them. This is the evil in everything that happens under the sun: The same destiny overtakes all. The hearts of men, moreover, are full of evil and there is madness in their hearts while they live, and afterward they join the dead.

You might find apparent similarity to Nietzsche’s quote in the passage above. But the message is different. Because the poet trust his entity to God afterwards. ; - He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 )

He retained the profound belief and trusted again in God. After this lecture we will sing the very well known hymn, ‘It Is Well With My Soul.’ The author of the lyric is Horatio Spafford. *Spafford was a very faithful and respected christian in Chicago. He was also a prominent lawyer and made up wealth by investing to real state. But the Great Chicago Fire, which swept through the city on October 8, 1871, killed his son and destroyed almost all of his assets.

Two years later, Spafford decided to make holidays with the rest of his family in Europe. However, due to his running business, he sent his wife and their four daughters ahead of him. And their steamship was struck by an iron sailing vessel while crossing the Atlantic, and all of Spafford’s daughters lost their lives. His wife survived the tragedy and sent a telegram to Spafford from London. Spafford sailed to England, going over the location of his daughters’ deaths. According to his daughter born after the tragedy, “It Is Well With My Soul” was written on this journey.

Through those painful misfortunes, which seem similar to Job’s, he felt God’s mercy. Ana he arrived to have such a strong belief that they would see each other again in the kingdom of God. His painful loss led him to recognize the love of God who offered his unique son, Jesus Christ. Then Spafford’s soul began to sing ‘It is well, it is well with my soul’

His experience and faith teach us that we can meet God only through harsh trials, then find the real significance of life.
It is said that in the science of medicine pain is alpha and omega. The physical pain is the device which protects us. Because we cannot know that we are affected by illness or diseases without pains. Besides suffering from pains give us human sensitivity. Jesus compels us to reflect on why the Galileans were killed and eighteen persons died under the tower. Thanks to those precious victims, we are now led to repentance as Jesus taught. Jesus also prays God for according us certain delay to the last judgement. In Japan more than 30,000 suicide cases are reported every year. And those who were concerned sincerely about the issue opened the service, ‘ Life-calling center, ‘ to prevent attempts. Many christians are working for the service stations. We are now compelled by Jesus to produce adequate fruits, instead of becoming ‘a barren fig tree.’

* Friedrich Nietzsche http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nietzsche
** God is dead http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_is_dead
*** Horatio Spafford http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horatio_Spafford