Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event. Repent or perish. This is found in Luke, chapter 13. And we're going to start right at the beginning of the chapter and read all the way down to verse nine. Follow along with us in your bibles.
[00:00:44] Speaker A: There were some present at that time who told him about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered them. 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 18 on whom the tower of Siloam fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you. But unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
[00:01:30] Speaker B: 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. And he said to the vine dresser, look, for three years now, I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I found none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground? And he answered him, sir, let it 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.
So we're told here about two stories, two tragedies that take place in Jerusalem.
Jesus is sharing these. The first one is these Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled. And looking out there for evidence as to what this could be, the only thing that I was able to find was Josephus. Historian Josephus talks about how Herod and Pilate were. They were both rulers, but Pilate really didn't like Herod. And we know that he sends Jesus back and forth. And Herod was controlling the area of Galilee. And so Josephus'idea was as the Galileans, who were known as rough and boisterous people, came down to Jerusalem. It seems like Pilate took advantage of that while they were sacrificing at a feast to try to get at Herod, and he ended up killing some of them while they were sacrificing. So that's what Josephus says. Other than that, we can speculate, but we don't have concrete evidence on this story.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: This is consistent with Pilate's behavior because he did something similar after the resurrection of Jesus Christ in ad 36 when he ordered a massacre of Samaritans. While they were worshipping on their own temple on Mount Garcia. So this is consistent with his behavior.
[00:03:44] Speaker B: This second story, the 18 whom the tower fell on and killed. This one's really interesting because I think we hear a lot of these questions, why does God allow bad things to happen to good people?
And we look at stories like this, or the flip side, we hear when something bad happens.
Well, God must have allowed it for punishment or because they were bad.
But Jesus gives this story and says, you need to repent. Unless you repent, you will perish like these people, but don't think they were worse than all the others.
[00:04:28] Speaker A: Yeah. Jesus Christ does not pronounce any judgment, either on the Galileans or Pilate or those on whom the tower of Siloam had fallen. No, Jesus Christ uses these events without making any commentary about the will of God as related to those situations. And Jesus said, these are teaching moments. These are calls to repentance. These are wake up calls.
When something like this happens, you pause, you reflect on your life and consider all this as calls to your repentance. So when you see wars happening in other parts of the world, when you see some people dying right away, we have this tendency to blame some and to say, oh, God really wanted to punish these guys because they are pagan there.
Jesus'teaching here is when events like this happen, you take your look from them and you turn it inside towards yourself.
These events are calls to repentance.
[00:05:43] Speaker B: And it doesn't mean that if you repent, things will get better or stop or things will change.
Jesus never promised peace and prosperity on this earth. He promised a sword. So when we repent, we might still live in the situation.
The goal that when we look around and we see things that call us to spiritual awareness, our response is to repent. Because I think the danger is many people think, well, as soon as I repent enough, then God will remove this affliction from me. He'll take away the pain as soon as I repent enough.
[00:06:26] Speaker A: Behind that statement, there is a theological understanding that repentance is like a quantity of good works with which we feel like a bucket or a container. And when the container is completely full, that means God is satisfied and his rest is moving away from us.
That is bad theology inside Christianity, that is the essence of paganism. We are not here to appease God. We are here to respond to his initiative. He is seeking from us from the garden of Eden. Jesus Christ came and said, come to me and I will give you peace. This is an invitation to come to him.
[00:07:09] Speaker B: So then there's this fig tree that the vine dresser wants to cut down. Now, who is the man and who's the vine dresser in this parable? For me, as I look at this, I see the man who planted the tree in his vineyard as God. And Jesus is the vine dresser.
Ultimately, this is a parable. And the point of the parable is the story that God is giving us time.
He's going to do what he can. He's going to provide the best environment for us to produce fruit.
[00:07:47] Speaker A: And that is the main point of the previous two stories about the Tower of Siloam and massacre in Galilee or of galileans is that those who survived are called to repentance. They are given extra time, they are given a new opportunity to turn around, to start over. And that is the definition of grace, to start over, to start a new day, a new chapter of your life, a closer relationship with God.
[00:08:18] Speaker B: And so we might look back in our life and see. I know for me, my friends who died young, I questioned God, why not me? And I know if I had died young at that point I was not in a place where I desired salvation, but because I lived, I got to a place where I gave my heart to God. And we don't know their life. We don't know how many opportunities they were given.
We don't know how many opportunities we will be given. And so that's why right now we don't know if we'll lay our heads down on our pillows tonight. We need to repent continually of our sins and seek coming to God and seek that renewal and that connection to him.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: I remember reading the story of the first heart transplant that happened in South Africa in 1967. Dr. Christian Bernard. Dr. Bernard, in addition to being a medical physician and a surgeon, he had degrees in philosophy. So when this famous patient who got a new heart had a chance to sit down and to settle accounts, to look into his benefactor's eyes, Dr. Bernard and said to him, doc, now you gave me a new life. What should I do with it?
And Dr. Bernard, who was educated in philosophy, also had no answer. He said, to be honest, I don't know.
By contrast, in this story, the answer is very clear. Give yourself to God.
Start over as a new person.
Repentance is being sorry for what happened in the past which had direct consequences on the death of Jesus Christ on the cross. Be sorry that you have offended God who created you in his image for this purpose. And start over with a new purpose, with a new direction. And that is always connected to and around God.
[00:10:26] Speaker B: Yeah. The results, when we see this tree, God wants the fig tree to bear fruit.
When I was growing up, I heard fruit is multiplication, fruit is other people. So we need to be baptizing. If we're not baptizing, we're not bearing fruit. If we're not bringing people to Jesus, we're not bearing fruit. But when I go by the Bible, the fruit that we're told is the fruit of the spirit, that when we have the Holy Spirit, and I know we've talked about this in the past, and we'll talk about it again in the future, because it's so important that the fruit that we're called to bear is the christlike characteristics that the Holy Spirit gives us. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self control.
And when we as a fig tree are producing these fruit in our lives, when we're being loving and kind and patient and all these things to other people, what that does is that plants seeds, and it's like the fruit falling on the ground and the seeds are planted, and those are the ones that grow. And this is where Paul comes in and says, I planted. Apollo's watered.
We all do different parts in helping someone else grow into a mature tree that can produce its own fruit.
[00:11:50] Speaker A: I see a correlation between those two perspectives. And of course, I agree with you. The internal fruit, that is the fruit of the spirit is the essence, is the foundation, and that will be translated into fruits, plural, that will lead other people to Christ. I cannot lead other people to Christ by reading from a book. I will be considered just an activist, has no power to influence other people for Christ. But if I am the role model, if they see Christ dwelling in me, they will glorify God, and they will be attracted to God.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: So what's this passage telling us about God?
[00:12:34] Speaker A: Our God is a God of a second chance.
Our God is interested to help us start over. No matter what happened in the past, no matter how far and deep you went away from God, you can start over.
It was possible with Mary Magdalene, who was controlled by seven demons, most likely the same woman caught in adultery. It happened with a thief on the cross on the right side.
And it happened with Saul, one of the leaders of the jewish nation, who became the greatest apostle Paul.
It happened with millions of christians throughout centuries, all the way from the deepest dungeons and jails, being elevated to become sons and daughters of God. It can happen with everyone. And our God is a God of a second chance, that is repent, accept this second chance, embrace it. Come closer to me, and I will grow you into becoming my son or my daughter.
[00:13:46] Speaker B: Let us pray. Father God, you have given us second chances over and over and over again. And I thank you so much for those you have called us to repentance.
Father. It's your spirit who gives us the ability to repent.
[00:14:04] Speaker A: Amen.
[00:14:06] Speaker B: And so, right now, we ask, as revelation 320 says, that Jesus, who's knocking on our heart's door, behold, I stand at the door and knock. As we open that door, he will come in, and your spirit and Christ and you will do a work in us that produces fruit, that prepares people to see Jesus, that when they see us, they see someone different because they see Christ's character in us. We ask these things in Jesus name. Amen. Amen.
