A deep freeze last winter killed our lemon tree. At the time we didn’t know if it died or not, so we waited for spring to determine if the tree would grow leaves again and produce lemons. The tree did neither. My brother-in-law brought his chainsaw to our backyard and cut down the Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Why keep a tree that doesn’t give us lemons?
Jesus told a parable about a man who owned a three-year old fig tree located in his vineyard. He told the vineyard manager to cut it down. The manager pleaded with the owner to give him another year to fertilize and care for it. If no fruit came, then he would cut it down.
The fig tree is a symbol for Israel in the Bible. God wanted his people to produce fruit that pleased him. Their fruitlessness disappointed God. A time would come when He would remove the fruitless nation. Until then, God’s prophets called the people to change their ways in order to produce fruit pleasing to God. Jesus followed in this line of prophets calling the people to repent, change their ways, and produce fruit. He didn’t want the people to perish. “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whoever believes in him will not perish, but have eternal life.” (John 3:16)
When we repent of our sins, we are asking our Savior for another day, another month, and another year to produce fruit pleasing to him. People find it hard to repent of their sins because we think our sins are not as bad as someone else’s. Jesus addressed this problem in verses 1-5.
Some people reported to Jesus that Pilate murdered several Galileans while they offered sacrifices at the Jerusalem Temple. The news is intriguing because Jesus was also a Galilean. Pilate killed Jesus’s ethnic brothers. Shouldn’t these murders enrage Jesus? Shouldn’t he come to their defense? Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus thought about the murders and doesn’t condemn Pilate’s order to murder the worshippers. Instead of coming to his ethnic brothers’ defense, Jesus attacked the popular view that those killed by Pilate were deserving of their fate because their sins were worse than those who told Jesus about the incident. “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.” (v. 3)
To drive home this point, Jesus drew upon another incident that occurred in Jerusalem. A tower fell and accidently killed eighteen people. People believed if you suffered or died, you committed a terrible sin. This mindset easily leads to a self-righteous attitude that those who suffer or die are worse sinners than we are. We think to ourselves, “You’re evil. I’m good. You’re worse than I am so I’m less of a sinner than you. Therefore I’m okay.”
Jesus’s remarks, however, don’t leave any one safe if we don’t repent. He asked about the eighteen people killed by the tower “[D]o you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” (3, 5) He used contemporary news to make a point.
Do you follow contemporary news reports? News reports about killings and fatal accidents attract our attention and generate a lot of gossip about perpetrators, motives, and liability.
Did you hear about the Florida man arrested for starting the fire last January in Pacific Palisades, California? The fire burned more than twenty-three thousand acres, killed twelve people, and destroyed nearly seven thousand structures. It is the tenth deadliest California fire and the third most destructive fire in the state’s recorded history.
If we are not guilty of starting such a destructive fire, then we don’t think our sins are as bad or worse than the perpetrator’s sins. Jesus believed every person is sinful. He made this point twice in verses 2-5. Those murdered and accidentally killed were sinners and the people listening to Jesus were sinners. We can conclude he views each of us as sinful. He taught us to pray to our heavenly Father, “Forgive our debts.” To all of us who breath, he would say the same thing he told his audience, “Unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
What is repentance? Based on the parable in verses 6-9, repentance is pleading for mercy from our Creator. “Don’t cut me down. Let me live. Help me do everything I can to produce the fruit you created me to produce.” The story teaches us that God is patient. He will wait for a time for the fruit that pleases him. Will we take advantage of God’s patience and repent?
I’d like to offer another definition of repentance based on the actual meaning of the word. Repentance refers to a change in our thinking about our behavior or attitudes. We acknowledge our wrongdoing and turn to God. It means we choose his ways and forsake our old ways.
John the Baptist gave examples of repentance. “The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same.” To the tax collectors, he said, “Don’t collect any more than you are required to.” Some soldiers were told, “Don’t extort money and don’t accuse people falsely—be content with your pay.” (Luke 3:7-14) The apostle Paul wrote about repentance as turning, “They tell how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus, who rescues us from the coming wrath.” (1 Thessalonians. 1:9-10)
Repentance includes getting rid of ungodly literature. “A number who had practiced sorcery brought their scrolls together and burned them publicly. When they calculated the value of the scrolls, the total came to fifty thousand drachmas. In this way the word of the Lord spread widely and grew in power.” (Acts 19:19-20) Repenting is choosing work instead of stealing so we can share with others. “He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.” (Ephesians. 4:28)
Jesus warned his audience that unless they repented of their sins, they would perish. There are two kinds of perishing: physical death and spiritual separation from God. Death came to those murdered by Pilate and by the tower that accidentally fell on the eighteen people. We know all the deceased died physically, but we don’t know if they perished spiritually. Jesus didn’t address that matter. He addressed living people like us. Our Lord expects us address our sin problem.
We can’t use the fate of other people to minimize the magnitude of our sin. If we think we are less of a sinner than other people, we are blind to the harmful nature of any sin. James, Jesus’s brother, made this radical claim, “For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at one point is guilty of breaking all of it.” (James 2:10) This insight is hard to comprehend for many of us, but it points to the serious nature of our own faults. None of us can claim to be free of sin and none of us should think our sins are less serious before God than other people’s sins. Any sin offends God and means we reject his ways.
Sin separates us from God. Adam and Eve’s sins separated them from God. They marred their spiritual relationship by disobeying their Creator. The prophet Isaiah summarized their predicament and ours: “But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear.” (Isaiah 59:2) We’ve sinned, therefore, we separate ourselves from God. But Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners alienated from God so they will not perish. He said to the guests in Zacchaeus’ house after the host declare his intention to make restitution for his sins, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” (Luke 19:10) Do you need to repent like Zacchaeus, make restitution, and accept God’s salvation today?
This brings me back to Jesus’s parable about the unfruitful fig tree. The vineyard manager asked for another year to see if it would produce fruit. God is patient and has been patient with us. After Jesus arrived in Jerusalem for the last time before his arrest and crucifixion, he looked for fruit on a fig tree while walking to Jerusalem from Bethany. Fig trees produce two crops each year, one in the spring and one in late summer or early fall. He didn’t find any spring fruit, so he cursed the tree, and it withered. This incident is controversial because it teaches that God’s patience will end. The fruitless tree displeased Jesus. Likewise, God is disappointed when we don’t produce fruit for him. God expects to receive fruit from us.
Jesus switched metaphors when he met with his disciples in the Upper Room. He talked about a grapevine and not a fig tree. He said, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.” (John 15:1-2) If vine branches don’t produce grapes they are cut off like the fig tree that doesn’t produce figs is cut down.
God created us to produce fruit for him. There are many kinds of fruit God looks for including clean mouths, serving others, helping the less fortunate, working for peace, and leading other people to faith in Jesus Christ. Since we are still breathing, let’s take advantage of God’s patience. Let’s repent of our sins.
Take advantage of the time you have and repent. Pull out the logs of self-righteousness. We work on pulling out the logs in our eyes before we attempt to pull out the speck in another person’s eye. We learn to look at people not down on them. Invest time and effort in producing fruit for God. Fertilize your soul, water it, cultivate it. Make time to pray, read and study the Bible, get with other people to learn the Bible. Ask for help from wise and mature followers of Jesus Christ.
Take advantage of God’s patience: “He is patient with [us], not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9)