Luke 13.1-9

Tragedy is defined as a lamentable, dreadful, or fatal event or affair.  

Over the past couple of years, there have been both national and international tragedies that have occupied our attention, time, and often resources:  The Floods in North Carolina,The Los Angeles Fires, and the recent strain of airplane crashes.

There is something about tragedy that pulls on the human heart.

There is something about tragedy that captivates our mind’s eye. 

There is something about tragedy that resonates deep within each and every one of us causing us to start asking real serious questions about life and death.

Our Biblical text for this morning opens with a group of concerned citizens approaching Jesus for an explanation of two tragic events.  The two tragic events which the people describe are unique to the Lukan gospel account and have no extra-biblical evidence to shed light on the particulars of the situations.  However, it is not the events themselves which are important but rather the false assumptions and popular beliefs behind the people’s concern.  These false assumptions and adoptions of popular belief are the real tragedy in this morning’s text.

Let’s hear from the Gospel text for today.

Luke 13:1–9 tells us this:

[1] There were some present at that very time who told him 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.”

[6] And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. [7] 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?’ [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.’” (ESV)

In this Biblical text, chosen by the lectionary for the 2nd Sunday in Lent, we see and hear that people were obsessed with comparison and suffering. They were coming to Jesus thinking that they were better off than those around them who were victims of tragic events.  Their preeminent thought was, “God must love me more and I am obviously living a holier life because God hasn’t punished me with suffering and a tragic death like those other people!”

Specifically, people were coming to Jesus and asking, “What bad things did the Galileans do in order to be punished by being killed while they were worshiping in the temple?” And, “What bad things was God mad at that made him make the tower of Siloam fall and kill those 18 people?”

Jesus was being asked about a god who finds joy in punishing people caught in their sin.  

However, in our text this morning, we do not meet a God who is waiting with excitement and joy to punish sinners.  Instead we come face to face with God who is patient for the single purpose of allowing you and me to hear about and experience His grace and mercy present in the person and work of Jesus Christ.  As Jesus himself says, “Look in the mirror at your own disobedience to God and repent and believe in Me — the grace of God present with you!”

What the people in this morning’s text were promoting was similar to what we today would call Karma.  They were believing that good deeds brought reward and bad deed brought suffering and punishment.

Well, to see the record straight, God is not Karma! And, Karma is not God!

What that means is that God does not base the way he treats you on the way you act in this world or the way you treat him or others.  And, that is nothing but mercy dripping with grace for you.

I’m going to get on a small soap box here for a minute.

If I had a dollar for every time a Christian has referenced Karma in their life or the life of someone around them, the wall in the parking lot would be rebuilt before this service is over!

Sometimes, we are influenced by the ridiculous beliefs of the world around us.  When that influence leads us to include some of the world’s stupid false theology and asinine philosophy into our Christianity, we no longer have Christian faith, we have become syncretists. That means we have fused together a bunch of often conflicting ideas that, at the end of the day, do nothing but make make us falsely feel good about ourselves, and falsely arrogant as we promote internally and externally that we  better and more superior than others.  We do all of this false self-glorification while denying any and all real self-examination.

Karma is a false God.  Karma has nothing to do with God the Father in Heaven, Jesus the Son, or the Holy Spirit.

Believing in and promoting Karma causes us to break the first two commandments.

Commandment 1 says,

[2] “I am the LORD your God…

[3] “You shall have no other gods before me.

And, Commandment 2 says, 

[4] “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. [5] You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, [6] but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments. (Exodus 20:2–6, ESV)

Karma is a false God because it promises to give you want you want if only you do its bidding by doing good in this world first.

This fake universal Karma “spirit” has no basis in reality.  Many of us can attest to continually trying to do good things without so much as a “thank you.”  If doing good things can’t even get you a “thank you” from the people you served and helped, how can anyone possibility think they will get something more.

Believing in some form of immediate divine earthly reward for so-called “good” behavior and immediate divine punishment for bad behavior goes completely against everything the Bible tells us about God.

Since we are working through the Biblical book of Galatians alongside of our lectionary texts this Lenten season, let’s hear a bit of what the Apostle Paul has to say about what doing good often gets you.

Galatians 6:7–10 encourages us with these words:

[7] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap. [8] For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [9] And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up. [10] So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (ESV)

Why would one grow weary of doing good and want to give up doing good?  Because doing good, meaning loving God and loving others, isn’t always met with immediate earthly acceptance and reward.  In fact, doing the right thing, standing up for what is Godly, voicing God’s definitions of right and wrong, and helping those in need, is often rewarded in this world with criticism, mocking and rejection. 

You either take Jesus and have everything — meaning God on your side—or, you reject Jesus and have absolutely nothing — meaning God completely against you.  

What Jesus tells you in this text spits in the face of the philosophy of Karma.

Even when you who are bad by nature, do bad in this world, treat God and others like crap, God in his grace and mercy chases after you in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus to do good to you by forgiving you of your false belief and disobedience to Him and His Word and Commandments.  God chases after you in Jesus even while you are a sinner sinning, showing you, like a proud realtor, the home in Heaven that he has bought for you.

The Bible tells us over and over again that God, our Creator, who is also our Redeemer in Jesus Christ, is a patient and loving God.

Psalm 103.8 tells us of God’s patience with us.

“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”

And, in verse 17 of that same Psalm,

“…the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him…”

The reason God in Heaven is patient with you is because His love for you creates a desire to see you eternally safe and secure in His Kingdom.  He does want to crush you. Instead, He wants to forgive you and save you.

In his second letter to the Christian Church of the 1^st century, the apostle Peter reminds those who have faith in Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior about God’s patience with them.

He says,

“…count the patience of our Lord as salvation.” (2 Peter 3.15)

We have a God who is patient with us, even in our most annoying, disturbing, argumentative, intolerable, and disobedient moments.  

We on the other hand are an impatient people.

We want what we want now.  We believe we should never suffer, never experience hurt or pain, and never be uncomfortable.

The second we don’t get what we want from God or from the people around us in our life, we start to throw fits, want to give up, and question everything about our existence.

The second suffering, hurt, pain, or discomfort enter our sphere of personal existence, we begin repeating the mantra, “I don’t deserve this,” or, “How long, O Lord, how long?”

After the devasting tsunami in Indonesia back in 2004, one of my mentors said to me, 

“We shouldn’t get caught up asking the question, ‘Why did this happen to them?’ We should only ask the question, ‘Why did this not happen to me?’” 

What my mentor was highlighting is exactly what pastor and professor Michael Wilcock, points out when discussing this morning’s Biblical text.

He reminds us that,

“The fact is that we are all sinners, al in need of repentance, all deserving of punishment, and all preserved from the wrath of God—at least until judgement day—purely by His mercy.” (Wilcock, The Message of Luke, 138)

Jesus makes clear that all sin is equal in God’s eyes and punishable by a death that separates us from Him and His Kingdom of Heaven forever.  However, not wanting that end for anyone of us, Jesus is patient and gives us opportunity after opportunity to repent, confess, and be forgiven.  

We cannot escape death and separation from God if we trust in our own good work or in our good work as compared to the work of others.

Jesus points out that disasters and tragedies should cause each one of us to reevaluate our own life, leading us to confession of sin and repentance, placing our trust and hope in Jesus Christ alone for eternal safety and security.  

But, Jesus also makes it clear that a time is coming when God’s patience will end.  A time is coming where no more warnings will be issued.  A time is coming when the tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down.  A time is coming where repentance and faith will no longer be possible.  

In order for God to be perfectly just, He must eventually punish sin.  

Jesus, God in the flesh, was a completely innocent man and still experienced suffering, pain, hurt, and death.  He had every right to scream out, “I don’t deserve this,” or to petition God with the cry of, “How long, O Lord, must I suffer? How long?” But Jesus neither thought nor spoke those words. 

In this Lenten season, leading up to Good Friday and Easter, we are reminded that Jesus continued to patiently make His way to Jerusalem where He would knowingly experience the hurt and pain of rejection as well as the suffering and death associated with crucifixion.   God was being patient with you and me and only at an appointed time would Jesus be allowed to be punished and die in our place.  

And true and full justice came when Jesus breathed His last breath on the cross.  Sin was fully paid for.  

Your belief in Karma, your misunderstanding of God, your self-righteousness that causes you to think that you are better than others in certain ways, your constant obsession with comparison that leads to both pity and inflated egos, and your impatience with God and others was forgiven in Christ’s death.  

On the cross, Jesus perished and was cut down so that you could live and be replanted in God’s eternal garden.

I tell you what Jesus tells you in today’s Biblical text, today is the day of salvation.  

Hear Jesus’ words of warning and Repent of your wrong doing and ask God for forgiveness, or you will be cut out of God’s eternal garden and perish.  

Don’t look at others to figure out who you are.  

Look in mirror and point the finger at yourself.

First, you should say, “You are a sinner who deserves to be punished by God for disobeying his rules for life and love!”

And, second you says, “But, you are loved by God and through his gift of Jesus Christ, you are forgiven, made perfect in every way in his sight, and welcomed home into Heaven with arms wide open waiting to hug you and hold you safe and sound forever!

This is the Word of God for you today.

This is the Grace of God for you today.

Amen.

Reverend Fred Scragg V.

March 23, 2025.

Prayer:

Guiding Father, 

Forgive us for our lack of faith. As you called Abraham out of his country into unknown circumstances, so you often call us to walk through frightening, lonely, or unstable times. In response to trials of various kinds, we have certainly not counted them as joy. Like sheep, we are prone to wander at these times; we have turned—every one of us—to our own way. In moments of suffering, we have looked for wisdom from this world, comforting ourselves with man-made schemes to deal with our suffering or escaping into addictive patterns of numbing behavior. Our vision for what you are doing in our lives in the midst of suffering is blindingly clouded by fear and anger, and we have consistently settled for our own limited, self-centered vision as the final word of truth. Yet in your immeasurable grace, the Good Shepherd has laid down his life for his selfish, wandering sheep. 

Holy Jesus, 

thank you for the life of doubtless faith that you lived on our behalf. You came from heaven to take on human flesh and live perfectly in the place of your children. In the midst of every kind of trial and temptation, you responded with utmost trust and faith in your Father’s will. Even as your Father turned his face away as you were crucified for our sin of unbelief, you remained faithful, to your final breath, declaring your atoning work as finished. What vast, free, abounding grace! 

Spirit of God, 

bind our wandering hearts to you as we walk through the paths that you have ordained for us. When we suffer, be our vision by teaching us to count this cost as joy and strengthening our belief that you always have redemptive purposes in the suffering of your children, as we see so clearly in the cross of Christ. Enable us to cry out for wisdom when we lack it, and humble us to see that we lack wisdom often. Grow our faith in the promise that you will not leave us as we pass through troubled waters, that we will not be burned when we are called to walk through fire, and that we do not need to fear, for you have called us by name; we are yours. In Jesus’ name, amen.