Sermon for March 23, 2025: What Did They Do? based upon Luke 13:1-9

Luke 13:1–9
Repent or Perish

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or 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? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

Then 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. So 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?” He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’

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     ​Who is to blame? That is often the question when something goes wrong. Who is to blame? What did they do to deserve whatever bad thing happened to them? We begin our reading today with a politically motivated disaster and some people wondering if the people who suffered and died due to the disaster were at fault. If only they had planned better... if only they had deferred to Rome more... if only they’d annoyed God less. Who is to blame for what happened to them? Did they bring it upon themselves?

     Today’s reading backtracks a little from last week’s hens and foxes. Remember, Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem.  The journey to Jerusalem takes from chapter 9 to almost the end of chapter 19 in Luke. Along the way, he’s doing a lot of teaching and he’s also trying to give people warnings. This part of the Gospel shows the rise in tension around Jesus’ work. It is clear that Jesus knows that equipping the saints isn’t just about teaching them how to do stuff or how to follow him. It is also about preparing them for challenging times ahead. Jesus doesn’t want them to be surprised if and when something bad happens. They need to be prepared. If they are going to keep doing the work, they can’t be stopped by a surprise disaster. But, they have kept the disaster in perspective. Not everything that happens to them is something they deserve. But, they still have the responsibility to create good conditions for growth, even in the midst of threats and danger.

     In the first part of our reading, we and the original hearers are invited to interpret the meanings of two disasters, one political and one infrastructural. Debra Mumford points out in her commentary on this text that we aren’t given many details about the political disaster that befell some group of Galileans. Scholars have been trying to figure out what Pilate did to these Galileans since at least the time of the historian Josephus, who lived between 37 CE and 100 CE. That being said, Mumford notes that while scholars differ on what precisely happened, they generally agree that some group of Galileans was killed by the Roman government, likely because they were involved in some kind of revolutionary activity against Roman oppression. People stood up to a repressive empire and were punished for it.

     We don’t know exactly how people who were not targeted are talking about this political disaster. I bet we can imagine some things that people might say. They were fools to go against Roman, who was so powerful. Or, that this was obviously not the right time to try to fight back. Or, maybe someone would say they planned poorly. Maybe some would even say that they shouldn’t have tried to fight Rome at all. Remember, in plenty of parts of the Bible, losing a battle was interpreted as God making you lose. If you were crushed by a more powerful force, God must have wanted you to lose. Mumford points out that Pilates’ action of mixing the blood of the dead Galileans with the blood of animals sacrificed for religious reasons would have just compounded the spiritual pain of this battle. Not only did Pilate kill people, he made a mockery of their religious rituals with their own remains. How angry must the Galileans have made God for that to happen?

     Jesus quickly says that any interpretation of that battle that concludes that God ordained the Galileans’ death as punishment for their sins was a bad one. He did not blame Rome’s victims for Rome’s violence and blasphemy. We would do well to learn this skill from Jesus. He points to a second disaster, this one an apparent accident, to make is point further. Eighteen people died when a tower fell on them in a place called Siloam. Those people were just in the wrong place at the wrong time. They were not particularly sinful and therefore deserving of punishment at that time.

     It’s not that Jesus doesn’t want to talk about sin. He’s talked a lot about sin, which is separation from God, in this reading. He firmly believed it’s a thing that all people did and do! But, in this moment, as Mumford notes in her commentary, Jesus says that a person or people’s suffering is not a sign that they are sinful. We do not have to believe that either the harm intentionally done to us by the powerful or that accidentally happens to us through a tragedy is a chastisement from God. That doesn’t mean we won’t be held accountable for our actions and for the ways we disconnected ourselves from our promises to God. It just means that we can stand on the outside of someone else’s suffering and assume that they did something to deserve it. And, we shouldn’t assume that our own suffering is retribution from God.

     With that in mind, how then should we think about our actions and responsibilities as Christians? Jesus understood human action to have consequences and taught his followers that certain behavior was expected of them. And, when they/we fall short of those expectations, Jesus expects his followers to repent, that is, reorient themselves back towards God’s covenant of love and justice. But, Jesus knows that you have to build up the conditions to make repentance possible. You have to tend the soil, as it were, to let repentance and renewed life flourish. He told a story about a man and a tree to make his point.

     There is a man who is wealthy enough to own a vineyard, where he plants a tree. After three years and multiple checks-ins, the man grows angry that the tree has not produced a fig. He is so angry, he is ready to chop it down because it is wasting space. He is the one who sees destruction as a necessary response to unmet expectations. And, he is in the wrong in this story. His employee, a gardener, knows that you must do more than plant a tree if you hope to have a harvest. He asks for a measure of grace in the form of time... time to tend the soil, to make the conditions for growth more favorable. As Quinn Caldwell notes his entry on this text in the Into the Deep devotional, fruit production is about more than just the tree. It’s about all the things the tree needs to thrive: water, light, pollinators, and good soil.

     As Jesus’ followers felt the mounting tension around him, it is interesting that Jesus is telling them that, despite the risk of danger, despite their shortcomings, despite the fact that they still have more to learn from him, there is still time to tend to their growth so that they can produce good fruit. Fred Craddock calls this “God’s mercy” still being “in serious conversation with God’s judgement.” I like to think of it as an encouragement to work on what is pulling you away from that which Christ is calling you. It is clear what can happen to an untended tree: no fruit. Jesus says, you have the power to tend to this tree and grow in love and justice. You have the power to live and grow differently if you want.

     In her commentary on this text, Cheryl Lindsay points out that fig trees are pretty robust trees. They can withstand a lot of harsh treatment and are pretty hardy, growing in places where other fruits might not flourish. They can even survive fire, coming back lively and prolific from something that would destroy many trees. They need fewer nutrients and water than many other species as well.  And, importantly, they can be heavily pruned and still produce fruit. In comparing them to a fig tree, it sure seems like Jesus actually had a lot of faith in his followers. Jesus understands them to be capable of producing a harvest of love and justice, even in harsh conditions. How much more could they do with all the soil, water, bugs, and light that they need!

     In this time of uncertainty and looming destruction, let us remember these resilient fig trees. May we find the nutrients we need to grow in love. May the light of God’s justice help us thrive. And, may we convert the sustenance we receive into fruit that benefits those around us. The conditions may not be ripe for flourishing. Suffering is all around. Let us tend this soil. May we bear fruit for the good of the world. Or, barring that, open up space for those who can.

Resources consulted while writing this sermon:

Cheryl Lindsay: https://www.ucc.org/sermon-seeds/sermon-seeds-cut-down/

Debra Mumford: https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/third-sunday-in-lent-3/commentary-on-luke-131-9-6

Quinn Caldwell's devotional entry called "Soil" in the Into the Deep devotional from Pilgrim Press: https://thepilgrimpress.com/products/into-the-deep-2025-lent-devotional
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Fred. B. Craddock, Luke (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009)