"Disasters, Repentance, and the Cross"
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from
God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Turn
on your T.V. when you get home and, no doubt, there will be coverage of some
disaster that has occurred somewhere in the world. It seems now days, the birth pangs of which
Jesus speaks are happening with increasing frequency. There’s fires and earth quakes in the west,
blizzards and flooding in the north, tornadoes in the Midwest, hurricanes in
the south and east.
But
what about those disasters that are really bad; those disasters that seem to
linger on in the collective conscience of the country for a long time: 9/11,
Hurricane Katrina, Super Storm Sandy, the Minot flooding, the Newtown tragedy, the
earth quake in Haiti, the typhoon in Japan.
Were the people in New Orleans, New Jersey, Minot, Japan, or Haiti worse
sinners than anyone else? That’s Jesus’
question.
Many
would say, “Yes.” In fact there’s one T.V.
preacher named Pat Robertson who said that Hurricane Katrina devastated New
Orleans because of the city’s rampant immorality. He said the earthquake struck Haiti because
the people there once made a pact with the devil, long ago, when they were
under the heel of the French. He also
attributes the country’s poverty to this deal they supposedly made. New Orleans, Minot, Haiti, New Jersey; are
they greater sinners? Well, if that’s
the case, then it follows…
When
your neighbor get sick, they’d better search their past and figure out where
they went wrong with God. When your
neighbor has money problems, they’d better try and figure out why God is angry
with them. Where there’s a tragic death
in the family, those who mourn should wonder where they went wrong. Do these things happen because they’re
greater sinners than anyone else? Are
their sins greater than yours?
Maybe,
when we drill down to the center of what these people, who are coming to Jesus,
are really asking is this, “How do we know if God is pleased with us or is
angry with us?” Is God smiting you with
disasters because you’re a worse sinner than anyone else? So, how do you know? Is God angry with you when you’re sick? Is God angry with you when you have money
problems? Let’s flip the question
around: Is God especially pleased with you when things are going well? When there’s plenty of money in the bank, the
family is healthy, and there’s no apparent problems?
That’s
what these people in the text thought. “There were some present at that very time
who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their
sacrifices. And Jesus answered them, ‘Do
you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans,
because they suffered in this way? No, I
tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam
fall and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the
others who lived in Jerusalem?’ “
How
can we tell God’s disposition, His attitude toward us? Not by the things in life. When you suffer, know that God doesn’t regard
you a worse sinner than others. Nor when
you find yourself with many earthly blessings, is that a sign that God is more
pleased with you.
Then
what reason does God allow us to suffer?
What reason does God have to allow the Tower of Siloam to kill 18
people? What reason does God have to
allow flooding, hurricanes, and earthquakes?
I don’t know. God doesn’t reveal
the specifics of His divine will. We
don’t always know why; God doesn’t always give us answers, He gives us
promises. He promises that through His
Son, who has suffered in your place, you have a place in that eternal
kingdom. So that you would remain in His
care, and that your trust would hold to none other than Him, He sometimes gives
us crosses to bear. That’s the lesson of
the fig tree:
“A man had a fig tree planted in his
vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for
three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find
none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this
year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well
and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ “
The
fig tree, though it was bearing no fruit, continues to live by the grace of the
master. At the imploring of the vinedresser,
who most literally in the text says to the master, “Forgive the fig tree,” the
master allows time for the tree. The
vinedresser does his work, which may seem very cruel from the perspective of
the fig tree. He digs up the soil around
its roots. He dumps manure over the top
of it. And as vinedressers do, he no
doubt cut off some limbs. Cruel work,
indeed, if you’re the fig tree. The
vinedresser must have seemed to be a cruel overlord. Disaster upon disaster befalls it, but by the
snipping of limbs, digging of soil, and dumping of manure, the fig tree, at
last, bears fruit. The master of the
vineyard allowed the fig tree a time of grace for it to bear its fruit.
So
it is with us. God has, by his grace and
mercy, allowed time for us to repent and believe. He stays His judgment for a time that we
would be given a time to repent and believe.
And when that time of grace ends, all who are not bearing fruit will be
cut down and thrown into the fire.
So that doesn’t
happen sometimes He must pour manure over our heads, snip some limbs, dig
around our roots; all which seems to be loveless work at the time. But by this work of God, He seeks to bring
about the fruit of repentance and trust.
We
repent because Jesus has died on the cross for you. We are contrite, we confess, we feel sorrow
because of our sins but we never need to despair because of them. For you have One who has undergone suffering
for you; who went to the tree of the cross and bore, for you, the best fruit of
all: forgiveness and eternal life. He bears, for you, fruit that you shall
taste unto the ages. That we live each
day, draw each breath in the grace and mercy that Christ has given to us from
His cross.
And
that, dear people of God, is how we know God’s disposition toward us. Not by the circumstances in life, not whether
we seem to suffer more than others or are more comfortable in life. We know what God thinks of us through the
promises that He gives through the cross.
You’re loved by God because of Jesus on the cross for you. You’re loved by God because you’re
baptized.
For Jesus,
Himself, knows what it is to suffer. He
knows what it is to feel pain. He knows
what it is to lack in earthly things. He
knows what it is to be hated. He knows
what it is to be shamed. He even knows
what it is to die. Yet, God declares Him
to be “My beloved Son with whom I am well pleased,” and, through Jesus’
suffering and dying on your behalf, He says the same of you.
Why
do bad things happen? I’m not God, I
can’t tell you the specific reasons why God does or allows the things that
happen in your life, that hasn’t been revealed.
But, as Jesus says in the text, all disasters are a call to repentance…
for everyone.
When
hurricanes hit the south, it’s a call to repentance even for us here. It’s a sign that we live in a sin-sick world. It’s a sign that we live each day, draw each
breath by the grace of God. That’s the
lesson of the parable of the fig tree.
Disasters
shall befall us, be certain of it. But
know that through the crosses and trials that you must endure, God draws you
ever closer to Him. He is pleased with you
and loves you that He gave His only Son for you. As Jesus suffered and died but arose again,
so it is for you. After the cross comes
glory. Here, in this life, we must
suffer, at times, but suffering shall end, and give way to the unending joys of
Paradise. This is the promise Christ has
made to you. And His is faithful, He
shall do it. Amen.
The peace of God, which surpasses
all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life
everlasting. Amen.
