The Tension Of Suffering

Public Reading: Luke 13:1-9

The Story:

•    At first glance it can be a tad hard to see the connection between these two short passages (verses 1-5 and 6-9)
•    Yet they both tell the same story – abet from two different viewpoints

o    Like two sides of a coin

•    And let me warn you, the topic they are dealing with is a tough one
•    They are dealing with suffering – about the bad things that happen in life
•    Let’s turn to Luke chapter 13

The first passage (verses 1-5)

1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 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? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

•    The mindset of the people of Israel at this time is similar to the mindset of some of us:

o    Do good (i.e. follow God’s rules) and good things will happen to you
o    Do bad (i.e. don’t follow God) and bad things will happen

•    On one level this is true as Deuteronomy 28 outlines blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience.

o    It is also true that not following Jesus leads you down a path of life that is self-destructive

•    However, the reverse is NOT true

o    Bad things happening to you does not mean that you are not following God
o    Good things happening to you does not mean that you are following God

•    Job is a good example of how this ‘rule’ does not work

o    Job was a man who lived around the time of Abraham
o    He was a godly man who followed God so much that God started bragging about him
o    The evil one told God that the only reason why Job followed God was because of the stuff God had given him (money, family, health)
o    God knew that Job was following him out of love – so he allowed Satan to take away Job’s money, family and health
o    And still Job followed God

•    Sadly the people of Israel and many of us today have not learned this lesson…instead we try to rate and judge people based upon the ‘blessings’ and/or ‘curses’ that we see (or think we see)
•    As such, the people came up to Jesus and told him about the Galileans who were recently killed

o    I think they were wanting to Jesus to condemn them as sinners
o    Yet Jesus came back saying that the actions done to them – the ‘bad’ things of life – happened not because they were ‘worse sinners’ than everyone else
o    It just happened

•    The same thing with the folks who were killed in an act of fate or nature – i.e. the tower falling down on them
•    Jesus, however, doesn’t just leave it at this – he goes one step further

o    In verse 3 and 5 he says:

“But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

o    “Repent” means to stop what you are doing and start living a different life
o    In this context, I see that Jesus is saying:

*    “You think your salvation is secure because you are children of Abraham, but I’m telling you that unless you stop trying to live life your way – stop trying to decided what is good and bad – stop trying to judge everyone around you – and follow me, you will not only die physically, you will die spiritually.”

o    The story Jesus tells right after this explains this ‘repent’ command a tad more

The Second passage (verses 6-9)

6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 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?’

8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

•    Many times in the Old Testament the Lord calls Israel His “vineyard” – hence our name as well..
•    Accordingly, Jesus is warning the people of Israel that unless they start producing fruit, they will be “cut down”

o    This is the whole “repent or you will perish” deal

•    This was quite shocking for the people to hear as they were used to be the people of God

o    After all they had the temple and were living in the land!
o    They did all the right things….

•    Let, Jesus was telling them that they had missed the boat – so to speak – and unless they stop what they were doing and follow him, they were going to get disciplined

o    And not just any disciplined, they were going to be cut out of the vineyard
o    It would be both a physical and spiritual cutting…

•    Jonah

o    God told him to go to Nineveh, but Jonah didn’t want to
o    So he ran away the opposite direction
o    God didn’t give up on him

*    He ‘dug’ around his fig tree and fertilized the soil
*    i.e. he sent a storm, which caused Jonah to be thrown into the sea and a fish to swallow him
*    this was punishment for punishment sake – or bad things happening out of meanness
*    This was God using the fast means available to get Jonah back on track.

o    And Jonah listen and bore good fruit

*    (i.e. the city repented and followed God)

“Let everyone call urgently on God. Let them give up their evil ways and their violence” –The King of Nineveh, Jonah 3:8b

Conclusion

•    What does this mean to us?

o    It means that hard times can come about for two reasons:

*    We live in a crappy world
*    God is trying to get our attention

o    When things happen in our lives, let us go back to God and make sure we really are following him and his orders….

*    Are we producing good fruit?
*    Are we doing the things that he called us for?

•    And when we see others having a tough time, let us not judge them

o    But have mercy on them because we all live in a fallen world

•    Victory and suffering go hand in hand.

o    We are to live in the tension of both of them

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