March 23, 2025 Sermon
Sermon title: “All Have Sinned”
Scripture: Isaiah 55:6-9 and Luke 13:1-9
(Other lectionary suggestions include Isaiah 55:1-9, Psalm 63:1-8, and I Corinthians 10:1-13.)
Isaiah 55:6-9
6Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; 7let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Luke 13:1-9
Repent or Perish
1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
6Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7So 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?’ 8He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
The title of this sermon is “All Have Sinned,” but I could have said something else, such as, “Stuff Happens, to Good People as well as Bad People.” Some of the people of Jesus’s day assumed that good things happened to good people and bad things to the Bad. But Jesus is telling them, “Stop thinking that way!” He could have said, “Stuff happens,” the same as some bumper stickers used to say that stuff happens, but they had another word for STUFF!
The point is, if your house did not burn down, good for you! But it’s not because you were BETTER than those who lost everything. You were LUCKY, or BLESSED!
Jesus seems frustrated by the questions he is getting. Also, he is big on REPENTANCE, and what he is telling his listeners is that God sends his rain on the bad as well as the good.... but if you don’t REPENT, the same bad stuff could happen to you! I think what Jesus wants each of us to realize is that we ALL stand in need of God’s grace, and we owe EVERYTHING to God, whether we deserve it or NOT!
Kal Rissman is a hospital chaplain in Indiana and also a Lutheran pastor at a church on the outskirts of Indianapolis. He says the point of this passage is “that we should turn our attention to our own lives and stop speculating about others. Don’t judge their worthiness - look at your own life. Life is short. stuff happens. Be ready. Do those things that you should be doing. Pay attention. Bear the fruits of righteousness!”
Rev. Rissman goes on to say that “Just showing up and occupying a pew in church once in a while is not bearing fruit.” He then quotes Garrison Keillor who said, “you can become a Christian by going to church just about as easily as you can become an automobile by sleeping in a garage.”
Now.....why the story of the fig tree and the manure? {{Tell the story of Harry Truman and wife Bess. She said it was hard enough to get him to say “manure” instead of something else!}} Kal Rissman says it’s God’s message to us that “I’m going to do everything I can to make this tree really live and bear fruit.” While you and I waste time speculating “on which people are getting what they deserve in life, the gardener is busy loosening up the hard soil of our hearts, preparing us for real living.”
Do you wonder why we have a fig tree in this story? I learned that people in the first century often had fig trees in their vineyards. It was apparently good for the grapes to have them there.
Back to the words of the Rev. Kal Rissman: he says “The fruits of God described in Scripture are those things such as generosity, compassion, service, peacemaking, justice, respect, and witness. Are these the hallmarks of my life, we might ask? Are they the hallmarks of my church? Is my congregation spreading outward in mission to others, or are we just scrambling to maintain ourselves so that we have a church to be buried in?” I think that’s funny if true, or even if it’s not!
Rev. Rissman also points out that “Time is fleeting. What needs to be done? What needs to be said? What am I doing with this gift of life that God has given me? Am I doing important stuff, or just stuff? Live and bear fruit.” All good things for you and me to consider.
Do you find yourself questioning if God or Jesus is the landowner? Is Jesus the gardener? Jesus could be the vineyard owner. “He has been coming to the Lord’s garden, seeking the fruit of repentance, throughout his ministry.” And it just occurred to me: REPENTANCE means CHANGING DIRECTION. DOING SOMETHNG that is DIFFERENT. So, what JESUS wants his people to do is NOT try to overthrow Rome militarily. THAT is the repentance he wants! Change your mind! Go in a different direction. THAT is what “repentance” means! So, what Jesus is offering is one more chance, one more chance for Jerusalem, the Temple, and the priests. If they refuse, their doom will be sealed.
Or maybe it is GOD who has been coming to Jerusalem these many years seeking fruit. And maybe Jesus is the gardener., “the servant who is now trying, as the owner’s patience wears thin, to dig around and put on manure, to inject some life and health into the old plant before sentence is passed. Either way,” to quote N. T. Wright, “the end result is the same: ‘If not, you can cut it down.’”
For the author of Luke, “when Jerusalem fell in AD 70, it was a direct result of refusing to follow the way of peace which Jesus had urged throughout his ministry.”
I’ll say it again, and I just realized it in writing this sermon: Repentance for Jesus meant going a different direction from trying to overthrow Rome with the sword. Will Jerusalem repent and be rescued? We know the answer is NO. And Jesus expects to die in Jerusalem. What was God up to? And what is God up to in our world today? Are you and I bearing fruit for God’s kingdom? Not an easy question to answer. And again, a sad story. A serious story. Where are you and I in all this? Amen.
Pastor Skip
