“Repent, Towers are Falling and Trees are Fruitless”
March 22, 2025
Dear Families of Grace Members, Neighbors & Early Learning Center Families,
We like to establish a sense of order and predictability in a world where things are too often out of control. When tragedy strikes. an earthquake, a hurricane, an automobile accident, a crime – we look for an explanation to make sense of the event. If we can just find some reason for another’s suffering – their sins, choices, mistakes – we feel more in control by knowing that we have not made the same mistakes as someone else. We have made better choices. We have not committed those same sins.
That is exactly what those who come to Jesus in today’s gospel are doing. They tell Jesus about some Galileans who were murdered by Pontius Pilate while they offered sacrifices to God. Jesus hears their implication. “Those Galileans must have been sinners who had done something to deserve this; something we would have never done.” Jesus denies their logic. He says, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you… 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, he says, “but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
To assure those who came to him that God does not accomplish justice in this distorted cause and effect kind of way, Jesus tells them the parable about a demanding landowner who tells his gardener, “If this fig tree does not produce fruit, cut it down.” Jesus is telling us, this is not who God is and not how God deals with his own. God does not cut down life. God gives, sustains, and grows life. The words of Jesus in this weekend’s Gospel from Luke 13:1-9 are the words of a compassionate and caring gardener who seeks to nourish life, who is willing to get down on his hands and knees, to dig around in the dirt of our lives, to water, even spread a little manure, and trust that fruit will grow. Jesus is the gardener who sees possibilities for more life.
Jesus speaks of repentance because life is short, precious, and sacred. He speaks about repentance, not to scare us, but to tell us he loves us. Jesus is not nearly as concerned about why people die as he is concerned why people do not live. The reality is, everyone dies but not everyone truly lives. Too often and too easily we perish even before we die through our fear, prejudices, judgments and condemnations, the need for control, the victimization of others, and our impoverishment of God.
Living a life of repentance is Jesus’ invitation for his own to choose life - to examine the fig tree of our lives, to examine where our life is bearing fruit and where our life is not bearing fruit, to identify our priorities and evaluate if they need adjusting, and to ask ourselves, “Are we growing or are we wasting the soil in which we have been planted?” That is the choosing that Jesus lays before us. “This is the day the Lord has made. Rejoice and be glad in it. No longer choose to trust in the a distorted cause and effect world, but in God who hears our cry and delivers all who trust in him.
As we live each day trusting in Almighty God, consider accepting this invitation to “come to Grace Church” this Lenten season and be part of a congregation that is filled with prayer, fun, laughter, and love of Jesus! Experience the presence of Jesus in the Holy Sacrament. All come at Jesus’ invitation – young and old, the assured and the doubting, the wise and the foolish, and the in-between. All are welcome here! Come to the Feast!
CONTACT INFORMATION:
Grace Lutheran Church
254 Curtiss Parkway
The Reverend David O. Guss, Ph.D.
Miami Springs FL 33166
Pastor – Grace Lutheran Church
305-888-2871
