March 3, 2013 at Calvary
Evangelical Lutheran Church – Mechanicsburg, PA
“[The vinedresser] answered [the owner], ‘Sir, let [the tree] 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.’”
Today and the next two Sundays,
you will hear Jesus tell parables. These stories will speak to His identity and
His work. They will reveal who Jesus is and the purpose for His presence among
the people of Israel. These parables of Jesus will convey three major messages:
repentance, reconciliation, and retribution.
Today’s parable is a call to
repentance. Jesus tells it after He was confronted with an incident that took
place during His lifetime. Jesus had spoken of the people’s inability to
recognize the signs being done among them, so that they would understand the
time they were living in. He says: “You
know how to interpret the appearance of earth and sky, but why do you not know
how to interpret the present time?” So some in the crowd give Jesus
something to interpret: “There were some
present at that very time who told Him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate
had mingled with their sacrifices.”
So Jesus interprets this event.
He addresses this incident, as well as another one: “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 fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders
than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you
repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Note what Jesus does in explaining
these events. First, He dispels an incorrect understanding about them. The
death of the Galileans and the people in Siloam cannot be attributed as the
wrath of God being poured out on some grave sin that they had committed. But
then Jesus does something remarkable: He uses the two tragedies as examples to call
people to repentance. Note well the statement that Jesus says twice to the
crowds: “but unless you repent, you will
all likewise perish.” Just what is Jesus doing? How could He dare say such
a thing? Jesus points out that the deaths of the Galileans and the residents of
Siloam were terrible. But a worse fate exists: there is a perishing that is
more severe, a destruction that is eternal. This will be the fate of all those
who do not repent, who do not turn from wickedness to righteousness.
To make His point even more
clear, Jesus tells the parable about the fruitless 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?’” Here the
fate that Jesus talks about is put into picturesque language. For the fruitless
fig tree, being cut down is to perish. It would be hacked by axes and dragged
to the burn pile. There would be no life in it at all.
The problem with the fig tree is
its lack of fruit. It is meant to bear fruit. That’s why it’s in the owner’s
vineyard, why the owner planted it. But if the fig tree won’t bear figs, then
it’s worthless. It’s doomed to be cut down. Jesus’ words put the situation into
stark plainness. They are directed to the people of Israel whom the Lord had planted. They are especially
meant for those who won’t abide by the Covenant that the Lord had made with them. As the Covenant
People, the Israelites had an expected way of life that the Lord had called them to. If they would
not live it, then they had become worthless to Him.
But Jesus’ parable also
discloses something that was happening among the Israelites: “And [the vinedresser] answered [the owner],
‘Sir, let [the tree] 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 has a reprieve. The vinedresser wants
another go, another attempt to make the fig tree bear fruit. He has a plan: “I
will make the effort to help the tree. I know what can turn it into a
productive asset for the owner. Given the chance, there is hope for this fig
tree.”
Jesus’ words about the
vinedresser reveal His identity and work. He is the vinedresser present among
the people of Israel. His miracles, His teaching, His efforts are all done with
the goal of bringing them to repentance, a change in mind and thought. Jesus
digs around their hearts, showing them their errors, exposing how they have
broken the Divine Law, and revealing the corrective actions. Jesus places the
fertilizer in their souls, speaking the Good News of the kingdom of heaven,
recalling all the Lord’s promises,
pointing them to the Covenant that He fulfills for their benefit. This is the
way to return the people to their identity, to make them fruitful trees in His
Father’s vineyard.
But this effort of Jesus, the
vinedresser, is not endless. There is a limit to it. Note what the vinedresser
says: “If [the tree] should bear fruit
next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” The vinedresser
does not say that the fate of cutting down a fruitless tree is invalid or
uncalled for. If there are no figs on the tree next year, then the axe will be
laid to its root. It will be the task that the vinedresser himself will take up
against the tree. He will hack down the tree and drag it off to the burn pile.
Jesus’ parable is part of His
service as “a watchman to the house of
Israel,” just as Ezekiel was centuries before. His parable puts in the
people’s hearing the same words that the Lord
had spoken through the prophet: “Though I
say to the righteous that he shall surely live, yet if he trusts in his
righteousness and does injustice, none of his righteous deeds shall be
remembered, but in his injustice that he does he shall die. Again, though I say
to the wicked, ‘You shall surely die,’ yet if he turns from his sin and does
what is just and right, if the wicked restores the pledge, gives back what he
has taken by robbery, and walks in the statutes of life, not doing injustice,
he shall surely live; he shall not die.” To put this in terms of the
parable: If the fig tree trusts in its place in the vineyard but does not bear
fruit, it will be cut down; if the fig tree uses the ground and produces fruit,
it will remain standing in the vineyard.
This call to repentance is not
primarily meant for the world-at-large; it is for all those who have been given
a place within the Church, the people of God’s choosing. Jesus’ parable is a
call to repentance for you. You are the fig tree that He talks about. The
owner, God the Father, seeks fruit from you. He desires to see the evidences of
the new life that He has granted to you. He wants to see His people walk in the
statutes of life that He has established. They govern the actions of your daily
living. The Commandments that you learned spell out the way you are to act
towards God and towards your neighbor.
But you don’t only have the
owner coming looking for figs. You also have the vinedresser present, turning
the soil, digging around, putting down the manure. The actions of Jesus are
done, so that you would be productive. This is what happens among you. Jesus is
present with His gifts. He brings the good news of what He has done for you:
the death that has atoned for your sins, the resurrection that has brought you
a new life. You are joined to these things. You are made a partaker and sharer
of them. That’s what Jesus does for you through hearing the record of what He has
done, being baptized in His name, eating the heavenly food that He provides. You
have not been left alone or unattended. There is a digging and fertilizing and
pruning that take place, a divine effort being done for your benefit.
But the parable asks the
question: What does the owner find among you? Is the fruit present? Or is your
place in the vineyard being used up without anything being brought forward? Now
is the favorable time; now is the day of salvation. Now is the year when the
vinedresser is working among you. This is why Jesus is working in the Church
now. But the time will come when there is no more work going on. The time will
come when the owner will come to his vineyard, bringing the vinedresser along,
and point out the fig trees that aren’t bearing any fruit and call for the axe.
So what is to be learned from
this? Jesus’ call to repentance is meant for you: “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Ezekiel’s call
to repentance is meant for you: “When the
righteous turns from his righteousness and does injustice, he shall die for it.
And when the wicked turns from his wickedness and does what is just and right,
he shall live by this.” Paul’s call to repentance is meant for you: “Do not be idolaters as some of
them were; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up
to play.’ We must
not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand
fell in a single day. We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did
and were destroyed by serpents, nor grumble, as some of them did and were
destroyed by the Destroyer. Now
these things happened to them as an example, but they were written down for our
instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come.” These warnings and exhortations are for
the Church, for the Lord’s people,
for you. They point out the ways of injustice, unrighteousness, and wickedness—the
ways that the Commandments speak against. Fruitlessness, injustice, and
desiring of evil are not to be found among the Lord’s
people. They are to be pruned, cut out, and removed from you during this time
of grace.
But
that is what Jesus’ work done among you accomplishes. Jesus’ promises attached
to His work are spoken to you: “I have baptized you; you are regenerated. I
have absolved you; your guilt is removed. I have fed you the bread of life; you
live because of Me.” And so you hear the blessings spoken when receiving baptism,
absolution, and meal: “The almighty God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who has given you the new birth of water and of the Spirit and has forgiven you
all your sins, strengthen you with His grace to life everlasting…. Now may the
God of peace Himself sanctify you completely, and may your whole spirit, soul,
and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. He who calls
you is faithful; He will surely do it…. The body and blood of our Lord Jesus
Christ strengthen and preserve you in body and soul to life everlasting.”
Through
these things, Jesus gives you what you need to be fruitful trees in His Father’s
vineyard. They deliver to you what Jesus has earned by fulfilling the Covenant
for you, doing what you could not accomplish. Now is the year when Jesus is
working among you; now is the time to receive His benefits. Participating in
these means of grace will make you be what the Father intended when He called
you to be His own people. In them is the life that the Spirit bestows, the life
that makes you fruitful. May that fruitfulness be found in this place, this
part of the Lord’s vineyard where
He has planted you.
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In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
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