Redeemer Lutheran Church

The basis for God’s Word to us today is our Gospel reading from Luke.

 

Let us pray…Speak O Lord your words of life to us and may the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable to You, our Rock and our Redeemer. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

 

When I was about twelve, we got our first dog. My uncle had decided that the boys, that is my three brothers and I at the time, needed a dog. I’m not sure what the conversation was between my parents and him about this idea, but the dog arrived one day, and we named him Blackie.

 

My dad had dogs out on the farm, but we really knew nothing about dogs, living in a small city. To show our ignorance, each morning we would just let Blackie out the door to do his thing and then at some point, call for him. He always seemed to be there, even though our yard was not fenced.

 

Well, the reason I mention this dog is because one day my dad decided to plant a beautiful apple tree in the back yard. The next morning, we let the dog out as usual and when my dad came home later that day, he discovered that the dog had chewed off that young tree. All that remained was this stick of a trunk, about eighteen inches high or so.

 

You can imagine my dad was not impressed, and he took the chewed off remains of that young tree and gave the dog a whopping. The question for him though, was what do you do now with an eighteen-inch stump.

 

He decided to let it be and see what would become of it. Over that summer, and in the years that followed my dad cared for that tree and out of this stick grew two branches that would become the basis for a large and beautiful apple tree that bore many delicious apples for numerous years.

 

I’m sure it could have gone the other way too and if it had been up to me, I might have just dug it up and replaced it. What would you have done?

 
The Gospel reading made me think of this dilemma because it ends without a resolution. The owner of the vineyard wants to cut the tree down because for three years this tree has born no fruit. From his perspective, it’s just taking up space. However, the vinedresser, the one who is caring for the orchard, says,

 

‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

 

That’s where the parable ends. We’re left asking, “Does the tree end up bearing fruit or does it get cut down?” Jesus doesn’t tell us the end because that’s not the point of the story.

 

Earlier in that same text people were asking Jesus about why tragedies occur. Why do people get killed, murdered, or have buildings fall on them? Does it have to do with some people being worse sinners than others. Rather than answer that question, Jesus notes that these tragedies, whether they occur to us or not, are about what we all deserve because of sin.

 

This is the very thing we pray many Sundays:

 

Most merciful God, we confess that we are by nature sinful and unclean. We have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed, by what we have done and by what we have left undone. We have not loved You with our whole heart; we have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We justly deserve Your present and eternal punishment.

 

This is why Jesus repeats himself twice with this conclusion…

 

3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

 

That is certainly a word of Law and judgement, but it is also a warning offering hope to everyone who has ears to hear.

 

You see, repentance is essential to our salvation. Not because repentance contributes to our salvation but rather repentance is our recognition that we are indeed sinners, separated from a holy and just God, and we cannot save ourselves. In repentance, we are confessing that we need a Saviour.

 

Now perhaps like me, you taught your children to say “sorry” when they did something wrong. I suppose that’s important because it helps the child learn about confession. However, if it stops there, it doesn’t really get to the heart of what true repentance is.

 

We’ve heard a lot about repentance over the last couple of Sundays. In fact, Jesus’ warning about the need to repent is a common theme in Lent and this theme pops up over and over in the Gospel according to St. Luke. It begins with John the Baptist calling people to repentance, but then Jesus from the very beginning of his ministry picks up on the same message calling people to repent, and not just to say, “I’m sorry”, but to go on to live a life of fruitful repentance.

 

We as Christians of the Lutheran Confession have always taught that true repentance is far more than having some momentary feelings of sorrow or guilt or just saying, “I’m sorry.”

 

In the very Augsburg Confession that lays out our foundational and biblical doctrines, we confess that repentance has two related parts. First, that there is contrition or sorrow as we acknowledge our sin, and second that we trust in God’s promise of forgiveness through Christ Jesus. It is from this joy-filled good news of our forgiveness in Christ that we are then led to a fruitful life of love toward others, and a change that turns us away from the sin we committed.

 

Our Lutheran forefathers wrote this:

 

“[A]fter a person has been justified by faith, there then exists a true, living ‘faith working through love’ (Galatians 5). That means good works always follow justifying faith and are certainly found with it, when it is a true and living faith. For faith is never alone but is always accompanied by love and hope.”

 

This is why Jesus not only calls people to repentance, but like John the Baptizer, Jesus also calls people to bear the fruit of the repentant life – the changed life. And in this parable Jesus is warning those who are only saying “Sorry” without bearing the fruit of a life transformed by the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

 

In fact, the parable puts us all on notice, warning us of the possibility of being cut down, destroyed, if we do not bear the fruit of repentance. But this warning is also there in those first five verses of our Gospel text, which remind us that the tragedies of life are not there to prove who is a worse sinner but are a warning to all of us about God’s coming judgement.

 

You see, all creation is fallen, and that includes you and me, and all creation will be held accountable. So, when bad things happen to others or to us, it is a warning that God’s judgement is near. These tragedies are a call to repentance.

 

And yet amidst the struggles and tragedies of sickness, sorrow, pain, suffering, violence and death, the blunt warning of this parable and those earlier verses are overshadowed by the hope we hear there also.

 

8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

 

I’m not sure what motivated my dad to keep that chewed off, spindly stick; to then care for it and protect it, but in some ways it symbolizes for me what Christ does for us, as well as how the Holy Spirit works through us in the lives of others, mediating God’s grace amidst God’s judgement.

 

You see, we are like that chewed off stick of tree. If it were not for Christ’s ministrations in my life and yours, as the Word came to us through the water of Holy Baptism; as we were then nurtured in the faith as that same Word came into our ears and through the lives of pastors, parents, family and friends, fellow members, Sunday school teachers, grandparents; and thenas that Word was placed in our mouths in the bread and the wine, Christ’s body and blood…if it were not for these ministrations, we would not be spiritually alive and who we are today.

 

At the same time, we probably know of a lot of chewed off sticks like us, family members, friends and others who are suffering from being strangled by their sin, the devil, and the world, and even though they are physically alive, there is a spiritual deadness there. And yet, as long as they have physical life there is also hope for these chewed off sticks too.

 

You see, the vinedresser refused to give up on this unfruitful tree. He put himself between that tree and the judgment it deserved, serving as both the mediator and the caretaker. He promised to nurture it, and to help it bear fruit.

 

This is exactly what Christ has done for us and how His Spirit continues to work in our lives. God addresses our unfruitfulness with the mercy and forgiveness of Christ’s death on the cross. He fills us with life through His Word and Spirit. He then sends you, as a preacher of the Gospel, to proclaim His promise of patience and forgiveness to all those, like you, who have been chewed off by sin, death and the devil.

 

Yes, today you are being sent home with the hope of the Gospel for others, so that they also can hear about the promise of Christ that truly nourishes and enlivens people eternally. It is the promise of Christ, the forgiveness of sins, that peace which passes all understanding, which daily renews our lives in Jesus, and sends us forth to live in love toward others and to bear witness to the One who takes chewed off sticks and turns them into beautiful fruit-bearing trees.

 

In the name of Jesus. Amen.