Are We There, Yet?

Lent 3

Year C

23 March 2025

Isaiah 55:1-9

Psalm 63

1 Corinthains 10:1-13

Luke 13:1-9

Eternal God, your kingdom has broken into our troubled world through the life, death, and resurrection of your Son. Help us to hear your word and obey it, and bring your saving love to fruition in our lives, through Jesus Christ, our Saviour and Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.  Amen.

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As you know I provide worship, and access to the Sacraments in a variety of churches these days. And I have the opportunity to have some great conversations with people as they walk the paths of their faith, always seeking to follow where God leads.

Recently I had a great conversation with someone who was praying to God for a sign, for a direction in his spiritual life, and with that on my mind, I read the gospel for today.

In today’s gospel, the question isn’t who is saved but who is a worse sinner than whom!

Its sort of like stacking up who, because of the politics of the day, and because we’re all sinners, how do we rank against not only each other but against the whole of humanity?

Luke tells us: “13 At that very time there were some present who told [Jesus] about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” (Luke 13:1-3)

They’re looking for signs.

They want Jesus to rank them in order of whose the worst, the bad, the not so bad, and the mediocre. (That could be a Clint Eastwood movie title!) And you’ll notice there isn’t a list of whose good, or righteous, or assured of the kingdom of God.

“2He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or 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? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’” (Luke 13:2-5)

And if we think about this ‘seasonally’ this all makes sense.

We’ve arrived at the mid point of the season of Lent. As Jesus continues to the cross on our behalf, we begin to look for signs of spring, we being to look to the miracle of Easter morning, and in our minds, we want to overlook the events from Palm/Passion Sunday through Holy Saturday.

Now, one thing I like about the Hebrew observance of Passover is that it’s observed as though it were happening now, not thousands of years in the past.

24 “Obey these instructions as a lasting ordinance for you and your descendants.” (Ex 12:24)

This is an emphasis I strive to bring to my observance of Holy Week. The culmination of our Lenten Walk at Jesus’ side as he goes to the cross, to the crucifixion.

Its an emphasis I try to live into from the cry of “Hosanna!” on Palm Sunday with the feeling of the palm branch in my hand, to the foot washing and the institution of the Lords Supper on Maundy Thursday.

I strive to imagine myself there at the table when Jesus declares “Do this in remembrance of me.” And then the profound grief of the cross when Jesus prays “Father, forgive them,” on Good Friday, followed by the weight of silence on Holy Saturday.

This, today, is the turning point in each of our lives of faith and Jesus wonders why, today, we want to rank ourselves among the grand sinners of the world instead of seeking to produce the good fruit of the gospel.

Jesus tells us, “unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’

6 Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” 8He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’” (Luke 13:5b-9)

And this is huge.

It’s huge for a number of reasons.

As you may or may not know, I practice meditation. It’s a great exercise and I enjoy the challenge it brings to my life. On Monday, the person conducting the meditation told us to try to allow our random thoughts to just pass by. Then he pointed out how the word ‘try’ implied and accepted failure.

But when we just do it, allow our random thoughts to just make their way through, when we strive to live within the love of God, acknowledging that we don’t succeed, but in that failure, we learn more about ourselves, and God gives us the means to come back to a state of grace and to strive once more to do better tomorrow than we accomplished yesterday.

Twice, Jesus tells us: “3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” (Luke 13:3, 5)

And yet we are able to turn to the words from Isaiah, for today, and we find this: “6 Seek the Lord while he may be found,   call upon him while he is near;7 let the wicked forsake their way,   and the unrighteous their thoughts;let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them,   and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts,   nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord.9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth,   so are my ways higher than your ways   and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:6-9)

We have reached the midpoint of our journey to the cross and we want to cry out, from the backseat “are we there yet?”, and the readings encourage us to look within, while we gaze all around us, and ahead hoping that the finish line of this marathon is within sight.

So, Jesus compares our faith to the blossoms and fruit, or lack thereof, of a fig tree. A fig tree that is in danger of being uprooted because it hasn’t to this day produced the expected fruit that is promised because it is a fig tree.

But in its defence, in our defence, that we find the gardener begging for one more chance for the tree before it is cut down and cast into the fire.

“For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” 8He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’” (Luke 13:7b-9)

In our own lives, we are able to find the same difficulties.

We challenge ourselves to do good in the world, we grow tall and strong, and yet it seems that the world fails to encourage good, gospel centred action, and we fail to blossom or put forth fruit.

Does this mean we give up? Does this mean we kowtow to the ways of the world where foreign interference is able to dilute the efforts of our lives of faith?

“At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” (Lk 13:1)

So, as I write, I remind myself that how we view the world, how we work within the world and the views we bring to our work do great things for framing.

There is a classic Disney movie about an orphaned child who always looks at the positive side of things. Her name is Pollyana (1960). At one point she admits she’s always wanted a doll. As her parents were missionaries, she would always ask her father to include a doll among the requested items, but each time a shipment of donations arrived a doll was never among them.

At one point she said the bundles included a set of crutches, and when asked if that caused distress, she pointed out that they gave thanks that no one was in need of the crutches in their community.

In the gospel, Jesus points out the continued need to be in a state of grace, not a state of sin. This isn’t a sin competition. My sin isn’t greater or lesser than anyone else’s. Rather I give thanks to God each time I come before the throne through the Confession and Forgiveness.

The Book of Alternative Services (BAS) encourages us with the following litany: “Most merciful God, we confess that we have sinned against you in thought word and deed. By what we have done and by what we have left undone. …” (BAS pg 191)

And we will recite this with our whole hearts today.

The Lutheran book phrases it in such a way to remind us always that Grace comes from God.

The wording I grew up with was that “we are in bondage to sin and cannot free ourselves.”

And from there it goes on to mirror what the BAS encourages that we lay our lives before God, and allow God to forgive our errors and encourage the goodness.

God encourages us to put forth flower and fruit that is worthy of the gospel, not to forever compare ourselves to others as to whether they or we are the worse sinners.

Today, we are halfway through the season of Lent. What we’ve given up is starting to become a burden, and the question we have is “are we there yet.”

Jesus’ reply is that there is still more to come, and although we are encouraged to be in right relationship with God, we have to put some effort into that relationship. We have the sacrament of reconciliation, and we are encouraged to use that sacrament not only with God but with each other to be in that right gospel filled relationship with all of God’s creation.

At that point, we will blossom and the beauty of God’s love shines through each one of us to brighten the world.

Amen.