Luke 13:1-9

Luke 13:1-9

Pilate was the wrong kind of ruler for the Jewish people. It is unlikely that anyone would have ruled that Province successfully. But Pilate was in almost constant conflict. Jesus talks of two groups of people who died and the guilt associated with their death. The first group may have been anti-Pilate and anti-Roman agitators. The second group may have been collaborators who were working on Pilate’s Aqueduct project. Of these two who were the greater sinners seems to be a question on the minds of the people. Two groups from opposite ends of the political spectrum and Jesus said they were not more sinful than the rest. Galilean or Jerusalemite, Rebel or collaborator, death by murder or by accident, the point is not to look at any of these two and assign guilt. The point is to see them as a reminder of our need for repentance.

Then Jesus applies this principle with a parable. The unfruitful fig tree. John the Baptist says and Luke 3:8 “Therefore bring forth fruit in keeping with repentance”. In the parable the fruitless fig is given the opportunity, season after season, and the stimulus, motivation, and fertilizer to produce fruit. If after time and motivation it remains fruitless it has but one end. God is patient with us: He gives us time, in some cases years, to produce fruit of repentance. He gives stimulus and motivation in His word, His Spirit’s promptings, the circumstances around us and even the death of all kinds of people to remind us to repent; to produce fruit of repentance. But there is a limit.

We talk about the God of second chances but what we want is the God of unlimited additional chances. At some point there comes a day of reckoning. For the one who rejects with a hard heart God's stimulus to repent God will withdraw the opportunity to repent. We need not concern ourselves with who out there is a greater or lesser sinner. We need to make sure that we are people of repentance.

“God grant me a heart that is truly and honestly repentant. AMEN”