(#7). Conclusion: A catalyst and a motivation

(This is conclusion of a sermon. So first, read Luke 13:1-9, and then the previous posts).

Why have you underlined those three words? Because the Gospel of Luke has a trajectory. Like every story, it has a plot. It is a narrative heading somewhere. And there are little hints in this text taking us there.

In Verse 1, what word did I ask you to remember?

• Galilean.

Jesus was a Galilean from Nazareth.

In Verse 2-6, what word did I ask you to remember?

• Perish.

And at the hands of Pilate, this Galilean perished on the Roman Cross while making a sacrifice, and for the sake of the whole groaning planet. He experienced judgment. He had his – I was going to say ‘mini-exile’ -- but that isn't right. That is not right. His death was the ultimate exile for humanity, of which the Babylonian exile was only a mere taste. For there on that cross was Jesus bearing the sins not just for Israel, but for Americans too.

In verse 6-9, what phrase did I ask you to remember?

• One more year.

See, for three years (?), Jesus looked for fruit on the Fig Tree of Israel. But he did not find it, and what happened within one year of this moment? Jesus himself was dead. A Galilean, Perishing within one year as a sacrifice at the (clean) hands of Pilate.

This passage, then, is a catalyst for repentance and as well as long term motivation.

When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.

Jesus has therefore sat on that stool with you and for you.

That kind of love; that kind of suffering; that kind of God-immersed-the-real-world-of-Sin-and-Pain; may well be the motivation that you and I need to turn to him.

THE END>>>

Offer your thoughts and criticisms...

(#6). Point 3: Don’t ever WAIT.

(This is part of a sermon. So first, read Luke 13:1-9, and then the previous posts).

Where are we? Don't WANT it, don't WASTE it and lastly, don’t WAIT on Suffering (to act, I mean).

The parable in V6-9 is saying one thing: God graciously gives us a little extra time to sort things out with God. But do it. Do it now. Do it tonight. Do it in front of your computer. Because you have a limited time: in this text, maybe only a year.

The old language of Christians used to talk about Jesus as 'Prophet, Priest and King'. But we mostly speak of Jesus as just Priest and King now. That is, he is my "Savior and Lord." We like Jesus as Priest: He died to take away my sins. We are used to Jesus as King: We need to submit every area of our life to him.

But we rarely talk about him as Prophet.

Prophets railed against sin and injustice and moved people to act and act now. And that’s what Jesus is doing in the parable in V6-9. He's bugging you.

V6: A man had a fig tree in a vineyard that bore no fruit on it. And V7: he had looked for fruit for three years and so V7: “Why should it not be cut down"?

A fig tree is a symbol for Israel. Much like the Bald Eagle is a symbol for America. And fruit is a symbol of Israel acting righteously. And no fruit is Israel gone off. Gone bad. So Jesus is a Prophet here saying: "Israel – You are the problem. Not Rome. Not the 'Galileans' and so the fig tree of your hopes and dreams will be cut down."

But the Gardener in V8 says: Just be gracious to the tree for one year.

Please. One year.

This is grace. This is mercy. And the point for you and me is this: This word of Jesus "Unless you too repent" is not just interesting. It has a deadline. You all know this at work: When you get a project, you also get a deadline. And the deadline prompts you to get the project done. That is part of the deadline.

Brothers and sisters, a day will come when God will call you to account, and it could be soon. Do not wait – even if confronted by suffering. And when we suffer, or see suffering, we tend not to act in that moment. And Jesus is saying: "Maybe this is exactly the moment to act."

Can you lock away or underline the words: "One more year"?

Why have I been asking you to underline three things?

The conclusion, soon...

(#5). Point 2: Don’t ever WASTE your (even innocent) suffering.

(This is part of a sermon. So first, read Luke 13:1-9, and then the previous posts).

Even "Innocent Suffering" is a moment not to waste. Even innocent suffering speaks to us. It speaks to us not of specific guilt, but of the general groaning of the planet.

Jesus is a Jew. And like all Jews he has knowledge of this: There is a intimate relationship between general sin and the groaning of this present world. So he goes beyond the Pilate massacre and talks about an accident V4:

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.

A tower comes down, and 18 are dead. A tsunami moves toward millions. And hundreds of thousands die. All deaths: 18 deaths, or 300 000 deaths, or 1 death – each one is horrible. And each death, and each tragedy, speaks of the tragic human experience before God. And each and every moment of pain – even if not experienced directly by you – is a 'megaphone to rouse deaf ears', saying something like this:

Your mortality is real. Turn to God now.

GK Chesterton was asked by Time Magazine: "What is the problem with the world?" He sent in his answer: "Dear Sir, I am".

I am the problem in the world.

John Piper – the Baptist minister from Minneapolis – wrote an article on the eve of prostate surgery called 'Don't WASTE your cancer'. God has given you an opportunity, he claims. A door. He offers 10 ways not to waste your cancer. His ninth point is this:

Are your besetting sins as attractive as they were before you had cancer? If so you are wasting your cancer. Cancer is designed to destroy the appetite for sin. Pride, greed, lust, hatred, unforgiveness, impatience, laziness, procrastination—all these are the adversaries that cancer is meant to attack. Don’t just think of battling against cancer. Also think of battling with cancer. All these things are worse enemies than cancer. Don’t waste the power of cancer to crush these foes. Let the presence of eternity make the sins of time look as futile as they really are. “What does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself?” (Luke 9:25).

Don’t waste these precious moments, friends. They are a door.

Before I go on to my third point, can I ask you to underline or lock in your minds one word from verse 2-5: The Word Perish. I’ll explain in a soon.

(#4). Point 2: Don’t ever WASTE your suffering.

(This is part of a sermon. So first, read Luke 13:1-9, and then the previous posts).

Don’t ever waste the opportunity that suffering brings. This is a counter-intuitive. But Jesus hears the news of Pilate's massacre and offers a very surprising response to grieving people. Some would say insensitive. I would say insightful.

He says to this news in effect (my reflection from V2):

You think, don’t you, deep down, deep deep down, that those people were worse sinners than you are because they died in this way? Well, if you think this way, then you’ve wasted a significant God-opportunity. You have squandered a redemptive-moment. You’ve closed a door, not opened one.

You might think that this is odd to think the way Isrealites thought. But good Israelites had good precedent to link a moment like Pilate's massacre to sin. A third of your Bible – one whole third – is taken up by the Prophets: Like Jeremiah, and Isaiah, and Amos, and Hosea.

And what was their message? Their message was this: Look – God created you, Israel, and he loves you and saved you from Egypt. He gave you this land. And he asked only asked one thing: That you love him back and do what he says. And so God has said all along – That if you disobey me, I’ll throw you out of the Land. If you reject me, I’ll send an oppressive power to shed your blood. And that’s what happened: A foreign power, Babylon, shed the blood of Israelites in 587BC. It’s called simply the Exile.

And so you can see why they might have thought that these people who died were guilty. Here is a foreign power inflicting damage. It is a mini-exile. It’s mini-judgment.

But Jesus turns it all around. He puts the heat on the very people who raised the issue. V2

Do you think that they were worse sinners? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.

What’s Jesus saying? At least two things:

1. That suffering not metered out in most cases for a specific sin. You can never say: because they suffered, they must have been especially guilty. That can never be said anymore without revelation. Jesus frees us from that way of thinking.

2. But secondly he doesn’t then let anyone off the hook. Suffering itself still speaks to us and shouts to us: There is something dreadfully wrong with the world in general. There are things in this world that are not right. And all of it – all of it -- shouts to you and to me:

I, too, am a part of the problem.

Its not just bad Pilate that’s the problem. Rome is not the problem. I’m the problem. And its not the 'freedom fighters' who are the problem. I'm the problem. All evil and all suffering is a God-given moment to look in the mirror of your soul.

Soon... Don't ever waste even "Innocent suffering"...

(#3) Point 1. Don’t WANT suffering (The people's pain)

(First, read Luke 13:1-9, and the previous posts).

Notice that there is no question in sight in V1 or V2 from the people who bring this news to Jesus. They just told Jesus the story of what happened. There is no "well how do you explain that?" There is no "Give us your opinion, now."

There is no trap question. This may have been a trap. They could be baiting Jesus to enter a political storm: Either he condemns Pilate (Not a good idea at this point) or emboldens the Galileans to fight (Jesus is trying to get people to pick up their cross, not their swords!) But there is no indication in the text that it’s a trap.

See, they do what you do when something horrific happens. You just pass the news and they let the tragedy speak for itself.

You know this experience: You heard, didn’t you, that fire in the Bronx claimed its 10th victim Friday night? Its 9th child?

You know about the 30 dead in the latest car bomb in Baghdad?

This is not just "interesting" news.

Its something we don’t want.
And we’ve never wanted.
We are not OK about it.
And we’ve never been OK about it.

That itself is worth saying to yourself. Followers of Jesus put it like this: We live in a fallen and sinful and divided world and we don’t like it, and we’ve never liked it.

Don't want suffering. But don’t deny it either. Own it. Don't slame the door shut, for Jesus opens for us a door out.

Before I go on to my second point, can I ask you to underline or lock in your minds one word from verse 1: The Word ‘Galilean’.

TBC soon...

(#2) Point 1: Don’t WANT suffering (Pilate's atrocities)

(First, read Luke 13:1-9, and the previous post).

First thing I'd like to draw out of the text: Don’t want suffering. Don’t desire it. Don’t chase it down. You don't need to chase it down. (It will chase you down).

I know that this goes without saying. (But I find that when something ‘goes without saying’, then that’s the reason to say it again): There is nothing inherently desirable about suffering by itself. Look at V1:

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

A slaughter has taken place, presumably in Jerusalem. It is a nationally disturbing and unholy massacre at the hands of a Roman oppressor. The slaughter happened during the Galilean's sacrificing to their God. And the word about this tragedy has gone out. There are whispers on the road from Jerusalem (which is in the south) to Galilee (in the north). And anger and frustration are no doubt welling up within. The Blogosphere has gone wild with people angry about the Government. And maybe others are angry with the freedom fighters who stir up the trouble. And Jesus is journeying south from Galilee to Jerusalem, and meeting him on the road is this breaking news.

We don’t know the size of this evil act. We don’t know if people felt as strongly about this as they did, say, about 9/11. But I think that there is something of that kind of pain here.

We have no record of this event outside of the gospels. But we know it is consistent with the Roman oppression in Ancient Palestine at that time. The Jewish historian Josephus writing in c75AD speaks about Pilate slaughtering Jews. The context of the following quote is this: Pilate has gained wind of a Jewish disturbance, and he positioned his soldiers deep within a crowd of Jews, and they are in civilian clothing and carrying concealed weapons:

He [Pilate] then gave the signal from his tribunal [to do as he had bidden them]. Now the Jews were so sadly beaten, that many of them perished by the stripes they received, and many of them perished as trodden to death by themselves; by which means the multitude was astonished at the calamity of those that were slain, and held their peace.

Many Jews were killed. Others trodden to death in the stampede to save themselves. So that the Jews "Held their peace". It is atrocitious. And so was this act in V1.

It all sounds as little like Tiananmen Square?

(Point #1 is to be continued tommorrow.)

(#1) An Introduction

What did CS Lewis say about Pain?

God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: Pain he says is God’s megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

My question, how did Lewis know this? Was it intuition? Inspiration? Experience? Maybe. Or maybe he leant it from Jesus in Luke 13:1-9? For Luke 13 is a word on suffering and pain. And what to do, in fact, beyond suffering. Please read the text.

A Nigerian poet once said:

When suffering knocks at your door and you say there is no seat for him, he tells you not to worry because he has brought his own stool.

Once suffering has sat down on his own stool in your household, what you what will you then do? How will you handle it? How are you handling it right now?

See, whether in the Book of Job or in the Psalms, the cause and reason for individual suffering is rarely given. That information is usually never present. But what to do in the face of suffering is strongly prescribed and usually simply stated. That is because it is wisdom, (rather than mere information) present in these texts.

Luke 13 is a similar text, but with fewer words, and many layers. I ask you to please ponder and reflect on this text this week, alongside maybe Job, the Psalms, Hebrews and the Book of Revelation depending on your time and thirst levels.

Three things to do in the face of suffering from this text:

1. Don’t ever Want suffering. V1
2. Don’t ever Waste the opportunities presented in suffering. V2-5
3. Don’t ever Wait to act in the face of suffering. V6-9

Point 1 tomorrow.

Help me... #2

OK. I'm preparing for a sermon on Sunday. And again, I'm looking for help. So I'm not quite in the same desparate position I was three weeks ago. But I have another remarkable text: Click on Luke 13:1-9 which includes these potentially offensive words:

1 There were some present at that very time who told him [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 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? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish."

So you can help me by answering any one of the following questions (or making any other comment you desire):

• Does this text speak to your soul? Your heart? Your life? Tell us about that.
• Is Jesus being insensitive? Should he go an re-read Job (You know, just sit with people in their innocent suffering, rather than speak up.)
• Would Jesus be 'roasted' by today's media for making even the smallest link between a tower falling and the need to turn to God?
• What do you think his hearers were expecting Jesus to actually say?
• Is there a relationship between Suffering and Repentance? Does the modern church make that link? Why or why not?
• Is the 'perishing' an eschatological word about Hell? Or is it about the Fall of Jerusalem? Would it make a difference?
• Is there a relationship between V1-5 and V6-9?
• Is this good news, or bad news?
• How would you structure a sermon?

Help me, brethen.