St. Luke 13:1-9 Dearly beloved,
The road and path of Jesus Christ is not the way people think it is. People, even those within the church, mistakenly think that Christianity is a glory road. People paint Christianity wrongly. The wrong way of looking at the church is addressed by Jesus in the gospel appointed for today. Jesus was teaching. Thousands of people began crowding around Him to listen. There was the usual assortment of people. There were Pharisees and Scribes, Jewish people from all walks of life and, scattered in the crowd were gentiles. Jesus' sermon was really narrowing in on the days that were ahead. Jesus was thinking of His arrest and crucifixion, which was laid out for Him in the near future. The content of His sermon was centered around how His very name would cause division. It was focused on interpreting the signs in these last days. Jesus was urging the hearers to be ready and repentant. Be ready and vigilant in the faith seems to be a large part of Christ's sermon in Luke 12 and 13. The gospel that we heard proclaimed this morning is the conclusion to this sermon. Some from the crowd referenced a situation among the Galileans. Some were slain by Pilate. The thought flowing in this statement was the thought by some that the Galileans who were killed had done something wrong to deserve it. This is how people think today, even in Christian circles. If someone is suffering some ill fate, people falsely conclude that it is because of something bad that they have done. Or that their fate is the result of their living a life of sin. Jesus is trying to rectify and correct the incorrect thoughts of the people. This false belief is called the "theology of glory." The thought behind the theology of glory is that if I am living right and believing right, then everything will be good. My family will be good, my kids will be great, my employment situation will improve and you will see just how wonderful things can be if you look at my life. This is works righteousness. The theology of glory then goes to the other side and falsely says that if you are living and confessing wrong, then your family will suffer, your job will suffer, your health will decline, your kids will be punished by God, etc. This puts sin and grace on man's shoulders and takes it away from God, or, at best, God waits on you to make the first move and then He responds. Jesus corrects this among the hearers. "No, I tell you; but unless you repent , you will all likewise perish." Jesus says that we must all live a life of repentance and if we don't then the end result will be judgment in stead of salvation. St. Paul, in his epistles, puts forth the opposite of the theology of glory. We call it the theology of the cross. The theology of the cross is the real way that things are. It is patterned by Jesus. Jesus who is God who should be exalted is instead humbled by taking on flesh. He hides His glory. Then proceeding on from the incarnation we see how His earthly ministry goes. He preaches, heals, raises the dead and people try to throw Him over a cliff. This is God we are talking about. They listen to Jesus teach in the Synagogue and they close their ears. Then, the pinnacle event that defines the theology of the cross, is the cross itself. God, who should be exalted, is instead beaten, mocked, and crucified. Here is the ultimate and definitive irony to the whole situation. This is the pattern for the church and her saints. If we put this whole discussion into today's context in the church, we see several interesting misunderstandings. First, people think that if the church has money and lots of happy shiny people, then the right things are happening at the church. This is the theology of glory and it is incorrect. The opposite is also then concluded. If the church has money problems, people are unhappy, and attendance is down, then people think it is because the wrong things are happening. This is also incorrect and is the theology of glory. Sadly, this is how the world operates today. People take worldly philosophies and judge the church by those standards. What a mistake this is. If we were to employ worldly standards in evaluating Jesus, we would say that He failed because people didn't take Him too well. We would conclude the same with St. Paul. Paul tells Timothy at the end of his ministry that all the church in Asia Minor rejected him. Paul spent most of his ministry there. According to worldly standards, Paul would be a failure. It's a good thing we employ a different standard to the church–we let the pattern of Jesus dictate the life of the church. All of this is what Jesus is talking about in the gospel. Then Jesus moves on to what the church is supposed to look like, and He uses the barren fig tree. The fruit that the vinedresser is looking for is repentance and faith–the correct faith and the correct repentance. In other words, you have to know what is what. What do you use your tongue for? Do you understand Jesus and the pattern that He is looking for? You can walk around all day long and show people what a great Christian you are, but if you are tearing down others and gossiping in the church, then you are in danger of judgment. You don't bear the right fruit. The tongue is to be used for one thing only–to confess your sins and to praise and confess the Holy Trinity. Proverbs 18:21 says it simply: "Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits." What this passage says and what Jesus says are not two different things. Bearing fruit in the church is to follow the pattern of Jesus. The church is to be like her bridegroom, Jesus. Jesus was humble, meek, desiring righteousness and purity, merciful, a peacemaker, etc. This colors our Christian existence. In suffering, the character is made known. In hardship, the church shows its true character. In other words, bearing fruit of repentance is being quiet, contemplative, merciful, humble, peaceable, willing to learn and be led by Christ. This is the faith that is of the church. So, you may find hardships in the church and in your life, and you may not be doing anything wrong. Jesus is patterning you after Himself. So, when you face the difficulties and hardships in your life, you are to look to Jesus and not yourself. You are to look upon the crucifix and see that God was hung upon the cross in spite of His hidden glory, and you are to see that the greatest irony of all is that His victory is in His death on that cross. Winning is hidden in the illusion of losing. This is the way of the church. This is the way of Christ, and the bearing of fruit upon you, the fig tree, is letting the pattern of Jesus' ministry give definition to your life, so that you confess your sins and admit what you are. This is the bearing of fruit that saves souls. It is this sincere knowledge of our own fallenness that leads us to understand the deep things of God. It is this which clarifies matters for us so that we can be honest with ourselves and others about who we are. When we can open up without fear and let people see the real us and truly rest in the grace of Christ, then we can lead a quiet, peaceable, contemplative life in the church. All this really is is letting the gospel rule in the church; letting the gospel rule in your life. God hid His glory and let the world despise Him. God Who is holy took your place and was rejected by everything that He created. Jesus let the curse stand upon His head and He, in turn, pronounces holy absolution upon you. Jesus stains Himself with the guilt of your sins, and gives you His holiness. Jesus says "it is finished," which means the church lives in the eternal gospel, the forgiveness of sins, along with the quiet and peace of God's mercy. Amen. -- Rev. Chad Kendall Trinity Lutheran Church Lowell, Indiana www.trinitylowell.org