Called to Be Fruitful - Luke 13:1-9

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[Read Luke 13:1-9] 

Called to Be Fruitful

As Jesus is teaching, some report to Him about recent tragedies – “…about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” Sacrilege and violence. Others had in mind those on whom a tower in Siloam, a pool in Jerusalem, had fallen.

Jesus responds, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” “Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?” “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” [Lk. 13:1-5]

We should not think that tragedies, natural disasters, or bad diagnoses happen to others because they are uniquely bad. Only God knows His purpose in hard times.

But witnessing tragedy is cause for our own repentance. We should realize what worse thing would befall us for our own sins. There, but for the grace of God, go I.

Jesus is telling His people that they must repent – not just everyone else – and then He tells them this parable of a fig tree, a fig tree that, so far, is not bearing fruit:

“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.’” [Lk. 13:6-9]

            Israel is God’s fig tree. He baptized them through the Red Sea and under the cloud [1 Corinthians 10:1-2]. He fed them manna in the wilderness and gave them water from the rock [1 Cor. 10:3-4]. And He planted them in the land to which He brought them. Yet, “with most of them”, it says, “God was not pleased” [1 Cor. 10:5].

            They made an idol of gold and praised it as the god who brought them out of Egypt, with feasts and parties [1 Cor. 10:7; Exodus 32:4,6]. God’s covenant people lived in sexual immorality and didn’t honor the covenant of marriage [1 Cor. 10:8].

Israel grumbled and complained against God and against their God-given leader, Moses. They tested the Lord, saying “Will He really give us water to drink in this wilderness? He’s letting us die!” Though God had given them food and drink all that way. [1 Cor. 10:9-10; Numbers 14:1-4; 21:4-9]

            Like the man in the parable who gave his fig tree three years to produce fruit, God sent His prophets to Israel, century after century, to plead with them to turn to the Lord. To show the fruit of repentance. And the fruit of faith, to trust their Lord.

God sent prophets like Ezekiel whom God appointed as a watchman for Israel to warn the wicked, because He does not take pleasure in the death of the wicked but desires that they would turn and live [Ezekiel 33:7-11].

And then God sent His only Son. And to Him too God’s people would not listen.

“These things happened to them as an example” and “they were written down for our instruction” [1 Cor. 10:11]. Unless we repent, we too will perish.

Are we fruitful toward God? Can He be pleased with us? Not with them. With me. Not the speck that’s in their eyes, but the log that’s in mine. Do I listen to His calls to repentance? “Let the one who thinks he stands watch out that he does not fall.” [1 Cor. 10:12]

The man in the parable was ready to cut his fig tree down. The vinedresser interceded and acquired more mercy for it, “Give it one more year. Let me dig around it and fertilize it. Let me work on it that much longer. Then, if it bears fruit, good. If not, then cut it down.”

The true vinedresser is your Savior Jesus, who, in truth, went many steps further. He Himself took the place of His barren fig tree and was nailed to a barren, branchless cross for it. The Righteous for the unrighteous.

Jesus went to the extreme in seeking to save you, and He has saved you. He died for fruitless mankind. He replaced us in death and condemnation to set us free.

Now, by His saving death, Jesus has born the fruit. “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit” – “And I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all people to myself” [John 12:24,32].

Lifted up on the cross, buried in the tomb, and alive again – raised from the dead – having forgiven you in full by His atoning blood – and having conquered the power of sin and death that rendered us fruitless – the fruit that Jesus now bears on His tree is all of you.

Where there is the forgiveness of sins, there is also life and salvation. Christ’s cross, where your sins are forgiven, is now a life-giving tree, full of branches and fruit. You are its many, tender branches – once dead, but now grafted into that life-giving cross, and God bearing His fruit in you.

The fruit God bears in you is the fruit of the Holy Spirit.  “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” [Galatians 5:22-23]

            Not by the pressing thumb of the Law anymore, but by the life of the Holy Spirit which comes to you in the forgiving Gospel – by that, God bears the fruit of love in you.

·      Love for God and for your neighbor, because God has so loved you. [1 John 4:10,19]

·      Joy, because there is joy in heaven over one sinner who repents [Luke 15:7].

·      Peace, because you now have peace with God by faith in Jesus. [Rom. 5:1]

·      Patience with others, because God has been, and still is, patient with you.

·      Kindness, because God is kind to you.

·      Goodness, because of God’s goodness.

·      Faithfulness, because God is faithful to His covenant promises to you.

·      Gentleness, because God handles your faults gently.

·      Self-control, so that these hands and this mouth don’t offend against my God.

And when you have sinned, you still have a patient intercessor who interposes His precious blood. We can turn, repent, to Him and trust that He will accept us and even still bear the fruit of the Holy Spirit in us, sinners though we be.

Christ’s continued work – for you and in you – is as concrete as the work of the vinedresser in the parable who dug and fertilized that tree. Jesus speaks and feeds. He speaks absolution, forgiveness, to our confession of sin – He speaks to us the guidance of His Word preached – He feeds us in His Supper, and in His Word.

And, lastly, as living, human branches – unlike mere wood – we do have an active role in making use of His Word and Supper in the worship service. We listen to the Word intently, making an effort to learn it and apply it to ourselves. We receive the Supper purposefully, with self-examination, for our help and aid from sins and hardship.

And we are present to make deliberate use of the Confession & Absolution, in the beginning of the service, which does bear fruit in us when we use it.

God is not willing that we perish. Let’s not miss out on these things, but let’s make use of God’s Means of Grace so that, on His tree, we can be branches full of the fruits that He is working in us. Amen.