SUFFERING AND HOPE

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Opening Prayer

Gracious Lord, You have brought me from wilderness to Promised Land. I am blessed: thanks be to God.

Read LUKE 13:1–9

^[1] Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. ^[2] Jesus answered, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? ^[3] I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. ^[4] Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? ^[5] I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.” ^[6] Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. ^[7] So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ^[8] “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. ^[9] If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'”

Meditate

“It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” (Heb. 10:31). Let us not overlook passages in the Bible that speak of judgment, warnings or severity.

Think Further

Narrow and very steep, Peru’s mountain roads can be treacherous. When I read recently that a truck had fallen into an abyss, killing 51 people, I was not surprised. Tragedies like this happen all the time, as they did also in Jesus’ time.

The crushing of people under a fallen tower was an accident, but tragedies are also frequently caused by cruelty. We know nothing about Pilate’s act apart from this mention, but it is entirely in character; Josephus tells of a similar violent attack on innocent Jews because of their opposition to Pilate’s use of Temple funds to build an aqueduct into Jerusalem. Innocent people suffer—but all humankind deserves judgment. Jesus’ challenge to the Jewish nation to prepare for coming judgment reaches its climax in these verses with a call to repent before disaster strikes.

I dug up my own fig tree recently because it regularly timed its fruits to appear just before the first frosts killed them off; so the tree was useless. Fig trees and vineyards were, of course, symbols of the Jewish nation, cultivated and cherished by God. They faced judgment for having created a barren religion in place of relationship with God (Jesus’ cursing of another fig tree visibly illustrated this fate; Matt. 21:18–20) and time was running out. (In A.D. 70 the Romans finally destroyed the temple and nation.) All humans face the final judgment day. The passage ends, however, on a note of real hope. God gives second chances, and third and fourth…

Perhaps these words were in Peter’s mind when, later, he wrote that God was “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2 Pet. 3:9, KJV). Are we praying for those we know who need to take that step before they miss the final “second” chance?

Apply

Review your own life before God’s all-seeing eyes. Are there things that need repenting of? Talk about it with him.

Closing prayer

Patient Father, You have given me many chances. May I never presume on Your grace. I desire to keep short accounts with You.

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