WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.800 --> 00:00:02.700 Grace, mercy, and peace 2 00:00:02.700 --> 00:00:06.900 be unto you from God, our Father and from our Lord, and Savior Jesus 3 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:07.800 Christ. 4 00:00:07.900 --> 00:00:08.600 Amen. 5 00:00:09.100 --> 00:00:13.300 The text is the gospel from Luke 13, read to you just a few moments 6 00:00:13.300 --> 00:00:13.900 ago. 7 00:00:15.600 --> 00:00:19.200 Well, we are now well into the season of Lent. 8 00:00:19.200 --> 00:00:23.900 We've reached the halfway mark, the cross is becoming more and more 9 00:00:23.900 --> 00:00:29.300 prominent and it's here beneath the cross that we begin to understand 10 00:00:29.600 --> 00:00:32.500 the real meaning of Lent. 11 00:00:33.500 --> 00:00:36.800 It's a season of repentance. 12 00:00:37.200 --> 00:00:43.000 It's a season of another chance and who among us doesn't want, doesn't 13 00:00:43.000 --> 00:00:44.900 need another chance. 14 00:00:45.700 --> 00:00:51.500 I have a friend who's a golfer who likes to play Casablanca golf. By 15 00:00:51.500 --> 00:00:51.900 that 16 00:00:51.900 --> 00:00:57.000 he means he tees off and he hits a ball and it's not exactly where he 17 00:00:57.000 --> 00:00:58.000 wants to play it. 18 00:00:58.000 --> 00:01:02.200 So he calls Casablanca and the rest of the, for some, for some are 19 00:01:02.200 --> 00:01:03.100 supposed to play 20 00:01:03.300 --> 00:01:05.400 say Play It Again, Sam. 21 00:01:05.500 --> 00:01:09.200 And so he hits another ball and he does this through out 22 00:01:09.200 --> 00:01:09.800 the course. 23 00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:12.600 It's always about another chance. 24 00:01:14.700 --> 00:01:22.000 An employee submits a project that clearly doesn't meet the bosses 25 00:01:22.000 --> 00:01:24.300 or the clients expectations. 26 00:01:24.600 --> 00:01:28.600 And so she pleads for another opportunity another chance to resubmit 27 00:01:28.600 --> 00:01:29.300 her work. 28 00:01:30.600 --> 00:01:35.900 A student fails a test miserably, goes to the Prof, pleading for 29 00:01:35.900 --> 00:01:40.500 another chance to retake the test or do some makeup work in order to 30 00:01:40.500 --> 00:01:42.200 make up for a bad grade. 31 00:01:42.200 --> 00:01:43.500 Another chance. 32 00:01:44.500 --> 00:01:47.100 A spouse is unfaithful. 33 00:01:48.200 --> 00:01:52.300 And begs and pleads for another chance to prove their love. 34 00:01:52.900 --> 00:01:57.500 The Bible is filled with accounts of people who wanted and needed 35 00:01:57.500 --> 00:01:58.400 another chance. 36 00:01:58.400 --> 00:02:04.200 It was the history of God's people Israel and their leader, Moses and 37 00:02:04.200 --> 00:02:08.000 a prostitute named Rahab and their greatest 38 00:02:08.000 --> 00:02:09.100 King David. 39 00:02:10.600 --> 00:02:15.000 And the prophet Jonah and in the New Testament, Saints, Peter, and 40 00:02:15.000 --> 00:02:17.300 Paul, they all messed up. 41 00:02:17.300 --> 00:02:22.200 They all fail, they all sinned and God gave them all another chance. 42 00:02:22.500 --> 00:02:26.200 In fact, he gave them chance after chance 43 00:02:26.400 --> 00:02:27.800 after chance. 44 00:02:28.500 --> 00:02:34.000 He showed them all his mercy and his grace and his patient's. 45 00:02:34.800 --> 00:02:38.300 And that's really what today's Gospel is all about. 46 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:40.300 The account, actually begins in 47 00:02:40.500 --> 00:02:42.000 Chapter 12. St. 48 00:02:42.000 --> 00:02:42.900 Luke records 49 00:02:42.900 --> 00:02:46.900 that thousands of people were now gathering around Jesus. 50 00:02:46.900 --> 00:02:49.400 So many that they were trampling on one another. 51 00:02:50.100 --> 00:02:54.600 These were pilgrims on their way, with Jesus up to Jerusalem, and he 52 00:02:54.600 --> 00:02:59.800 began to teach them many things, but he was focused on God's 53 00:03:00.500 --> 00:03:01.500 Judgment. 54 00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:07.200 And he warned them that they weren't correctly interpreting the things 55 00:03:07.200 --> 00:03:11.200 that we're going on in the world around them in that critical time. 56 00:03:12.500 --> 00:03:17.500 And so some of the group came to him privately and wanted him to make 57 00:03:17.500 --> 00:03:21.500 sense for them, of one of the top news stories of the day. 58 00:03:23.300 --> 00:03:28.000 Pontius Pilate's soldiers, had gone into the temple, had slaughtered a 59 00:03:28.000 --> 00:03:31.400 number of Galileans, and, and mingled their blood with the blood of 60 00:03:31.400 --> 00:03:32.600 their sacrifices. 61 00:03:32.800 --> 00:03:34.600 It was an atrocity. 62 00:03:36.000 --> 00:03:38.300 Now Jesus was a Galilean. 63 00:03:38.300 --> 00:03:43.300 So these were his people and maybe this crowd was expecting Jesus to 64 00:03:43.300 --> 00:03:48.000 come down with really harsh words of condemnation on Pilot. 65 00:03:49.400 --> 00:03:52.500 Or maybe they were thinking that since Jesus was talking about 66 00:03:52.500 --> 00:03:53.200 judgment. 67 00:03:53.200 --> 00:03:57.100 This was God's judgment against those people for something that they 68 00:03:57.100 --> 00:03:57.900 had done. 69 00:03:59.600 --> 00:04:01.400 Question was why did it happen? 70 00:04:03.000 --> 00:04:04.400 Who was to blame? 71 00:04:06.200 --> 00:04:07.300 Blame Pilot 72 00:04:08.800 --> 00:04:10.300 or blame the victims. 73 00:04:10.300 --> 00:04:12.700 They must have done something to anger him. 74 00:04:14.200 --> 00:04:16.200 Or even blame God. 75 00:04:16.399 --> 00:04:19.700 That's where people often want to go. 76 00:04:21.200 --> 00:04:23.900 But notice that Jesus didn't play the blame game. 77 00:04:24.700 --> 00:04:25.800 He didn't address the 78 00:04:25.800 --> 00:04:28.300 why question. Instead 79 00:04:28.300 --> 00:04:29.500 He asked them. 80 00:04:29.700 --> 00:04:32.800 Do you think those Galileans were worse 81 00:04:32.800 --> 00:04:36.800 sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 82 00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:45.400 No, I tell you but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And 83 00:04:45.400 --> 00:04:50.300 then he reminded them of another recent tragedy, the eighteen on, whom 84 00:04:50.300 --> 00:04:55.800 the tower in Siloam fell killed them all. And Jesus asked do you think 85 00:04:55.800 --> 00:04:59.400 they were were offenders and all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 86 00:05:00.100 --> 00:05:04.700 Most folks would have called that an act of God. A tower collapsed 87 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:06.400 18 people died. 88 00:05:08.100 --> 00:05:09.400 Why did that happen? 89 00:05:10.900 --> 00:05:14.500 Did God target them for something that they had done? 90 00:05:16.400 --> 00:05:18.200 Again, Jesus didn't go there. 91 00:05:19.100 --> 00:05:24.700 He said, no I tell you but unless you repent you too will perish. 92 00:05:27.900 --> 00:05:34.000 So, how are we to interpret the things going on in the world around us 93 00:05:34.000 --> 00:05:34.600 today? 94 00:05:34.600 --> 00:05:36.500 In this critical time? 95 00:05:36.600 --> 00:05:38.100 The top news stories? 96 00:05:38.100 --> 00:05:42.400 Of course, there's the pandemic not just 18, people have died, but 97 00:05:42.400 --> 00:05:45.300 over 6 million people have died. 98 00:05:47.100 --> 00:05:51.500 And what about the atrocities that Putin is inflicting upon Ukraine? 99 00:05:54.700 --> 00:05:58.900 There are 53 thousand people in our own country who die every year 100 00:05:58.900 --> 00:05:59.800 from cancer. 101 00:06:01.400 --> 00:06:05.800 And another 42.000 who are killed in, what we call car accidents 102 00:06:06.200 --> 00:06:09.800 including last week, a group of college students on their way home 103 00:06:09.800 --> 00:06:11.200 from a golf tournament. 104 00:06:13.800 --> 00:06:17.400 And what about the 200 who are murdered every year in the St. 105 00:06:17.400 --> 00:06:21.600 Louis area including little children asleep in their beds? 106 00:06:23.100 --> 00:06:27.500 And what about the six workers who were recently killed when an Amazon 107 00:06:27.500 --> 00:06:31.000 warehouse collapsed on top of them during a tornado? 108 00:06:33.000 --> 00:06:38.300 How are we to make sense of these disasters and the brutality and the 109 00:06:38.300 --> 00:06:40.000 accidents in the illnesses? 110 00:06:40.300 --> 00:06:42.500 Why do these terrible things happen? 111 00:06:43.900 --> 00:06:45.100 Who's to blame? 112 00:06:47.600 --> 00:06:53.000 Who we are so quick to judge and assign blame to the perpetrators. 113 00:06:55.000 --> 00:06:57.400 Or we blame the victims again 114 00:06:57.400 --> 00:07:00.400 they must have done something to deserve what happened to them. 115 00:07:00.500 --> 00:07:02.200 But the question is, are they worse 116 00:07:02.200 --> 00:07:03.800 sinners than all the others. 117 00:07:06.900 --> 00:07:10.800 Or we blame God could this be his punishment for something that they 118 00:07:10.800 --> 00:07:11.500 have done? 119 00:07:13.600 --> 00:07:17.600 Who we realize don't we the terrible things can happen to anyone at any 120 00:07:17.600 --> 00:07:19.800 time, even to us, Christians. 121 00:07:21.800 --> 00:07:24.900 Maybe you've experienced some personal tragedy. 122 00:07:26.500 --> 00:07:31.100 An accident, an illness, the death of someone you loved and you've 123 00:07:31.100 --> 00:07:33.500 been tempted to ask, why. 124 00:07:35.100 --> 00:07:38.900 Or to blame yourself for something that you might have done as if 125 00:07:38.900 --> 00:07:41.300 you're a worse sinner than all the others. 126 00:07:41.500 --> 00:07:44.100 Is that how we're supposed to interpret these things? 127 00:07:46.900 --> 00:07:49.100 Jesus was emphatic. 128 00:07:50.000 --> 00:07:52.700 No, he said, he didn't assign blame. 129 00:07:52.700 --> 00:07:54.500 No, he didn't address the 130 00:07:54.500 --> 00:07:55.700 why question. 131 00:07:55.900 --> 00:07:57.300 No, he insisted 132 00:07:57.300 --> 00:08:02.200 we can't assume that this was God's judgment against us because of 133 00:08:02.500 --> 00:08:03.600 some specific sin 134 00:08:03.600 --> 00:08:05.800 that we've committed. 135 00:08:06.500 --> 00:08:09.000 No God, doesn't act like that. 136 00:08:11.100 --> 00:08:15.500 Instead Jesus gave us the proper interpretation of the things going on 137 00:08:15.500 --> 00:08:16.400 in the world. 138 00:08:17.500 --> 00:08:19.500 He said, no, I tell you 139 00:08:20.600 --> 00:08:24.900 but unless you repent, you too will perish. 140 00:08:26.200 --> 00:08:28.200 Jesus called those people. 141 00:08:28.200 --> 00:08:32.000 He calls you and me today to repent. 142 00:08:33.799 --> 00:08:37.000 Now, we often misinterpret the word repent. 143 00:08:37.100 --> 00:08:41.600 We usually hear it as God's law crashing down upon us, convicting us 144 00:08:41.600 --> 00:08:45.100 condemning us, nagging us to turn away from our sins. 145 00:08:45.100 --> 00:08:52.000 And there is that side of it, but repentance is also a promise of 146 00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.100 salvation. 147 00:08:54.500 --> 00:08:56.900 It's an invitation to return to the Lord 148 00:08:56.900 --> 00:08:57.800 our God. 149 00:09:00.400 --> 00:09:05.400 Our catechism and all of our confessions teach that repentance has two 150 00:09:05.400 --> 00:09:06.100 parts. 151 00:09:06.700 --> 00:09:11.500 The first is contrition, the deep sorrow that's worked by God's law. 152 00:09:12.000 --> 00:09:14.100 But the second part is faith. Faith 153 00:09:14.100 --> 00:09:18.700 that clings to the promises of God. Faith which clings to Jesus. 154 00:09:20.200 --> 00:09:22.900 Luther was a preacher of repentance. 155 00:09:24.400 --> 00:09:27.200 In fact, in the very first of his 95 Theses 156 00:09:27.200 --> 00:09:28.700 he addressed the topic. 157 00:09:28.700 --> 00:09:34.000 He said, when our Lord and Master Jesus Christ said repent, he willed 158 00:09:34.000 --> 00:09:37.800 that the entire life of believers, be one of repentance. 159 00:09:40.200 --> 00:09:44.800 Because repentance always turns us back to Jesus. 160 00:09:46.800 --> 00:09:50.900 Today, once again deep in the season of Lent, we hear his gracious 161 00:09:50.900 --> 00:09:56.600 invitation to join him and those pilgrims on the way to Jerusalem and 162 00:09:56.600 --> 00:09:59.100 to take our place beneath the cross. 163 00:10:00.000 --> 00:10:00.800 And there we see 164 00:10:00.800 --> 00:10:04.900 so clearly that Jesus has borne your griefs. 165 00:10:05.700 --> 00:10:06.300 Jesus 166 00:10:06.300 --> 00:10:08.300 carried your sorrows. 167 00:10:09.300 --> 00:10:12.300 Jesus was pierced for your transgressions. 168 00:10:12.900 --> 00:10:15.400 Jesus was crushed for your iniquities. 169 00:10:15.600 --> 00:10:18.100 Jesus was chastised to bring you 170 00:10:18.100 --> 00:10:18.800 peace. 171 00:10:20.100 --> 00:10:23.600 By his wounds, you have been healed. 172 00:10:24.900 --> 00:10:26.400 He took your blame. 173 00:10:27.700 --> 00:10:31.500 He took all the punishment you deserve for all of your sins. 174 00:10:31.600 --> 00:10:34.200 He died on a cross, to save you. 175 00:10:34.400 --> 00:10:35.500 Not to condemn 176 00:10:35.500 --> 00:10:38.200 you. Not to let powers fall on top of you. 177 00:10:40.100 --> 00:10:45.300 He went to a cross so that you and I might have life and have it 178 00:10:45.300 --> 00:10:46.500 abundantly. 179 00:10:47.800 --> 00:10:54.400 The church has always preached repentance and the very first of the 180 00:10:54.700 --> 00:10:59.300 Christian sermons in Acts chapter 3, Peter preached repentance. 181 00:11:00.300 --> 00:11:05.200 He said, repent and turn to God, so that your sins might be wiped out 182 00:11:06.100 --> 00:11:10.400 and the times of refreshing might come from the Lord. 183 00:11:12.300 --> 00:11:16.600 Repentance is all about another chance. 184 00:11:18.200 --> 00:11:22.800 And to illustrate that Jesus told this Parable a simple story. 185 00:11:24.300 --> 00:11:27.900 Man, planted a fig tree in his Vineyard 186 00:11:27.900 --> 00:11:29.700 a choice location. 187 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:36.100 And he waited and waited patiently for three years, but the tree 188 00:11:36.100 --> 00:11:39.100 didn't produce, not even one fig. 189 00:11:39.400 --> 00:11:41.800 And so he ordered the tree to be cut down. 190 00:11:41.900 --> 00:11:43.100 Can you blame him? 191 00:11:43.100 --> 00:11:45.700 The tree was just wasting space. 192 00:11:48.400 --> 00:11:50.500 But the vinedresser interceded. 193 00:11:51.900 --> 00:11:54.600 Sir, let it alone 194 00:11:54.900 --> 00:11:56.000 one more year. 195 00:11:57.100 --> 00:11:59.600 Until I dig around it and put on manure. 196 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:01.700 Then if it should bear fruit next year 197 00:12:01.700 --> 00:12:02.800 well, and good. 198 00:12:03.600 --> 00:12:05.500 If not, you can cut it down. 199 00:12:07.700 --> 00:12:11.000 The vinedresser pleaded for one more year. 200 00:12:12.400 --> 00:12:15.900 And during that time he promised that he would do absolutely 201 00:12:16.200 --> 00:12:20.900 everything. He would aerate, he would fertilize it everything that the 202 00:12:20.900 --> 00:12:24.600 tree needed to have another chance to produce the fruit 203 00:12:24.600 --> 00:12:26.100 the master was seeking. 204 00:12:30.000 --> 00:12:33.000 So, how are we to interpret this parable? 205 00:12:34.700 --> 00:12:39.700 I see it as one of the most comforting passages in the Gospel, 206 00:12:39.700 --> 00:12:40.500 according to St. 207 00:12:40.500 --> 00:12:41.100 Luke. 208 00:12:42.700 --> 00:12:47.100 It's all about the incredible patience of our God. 209 00:12:48.500 --> 00:12:49.300 Through baptism 210 00:12:49.300 --> 00:12:51.200 He's planted you in his kingdom. 211 00:12:52.500 --> 00:12:54.500 He has blessed you and kept you. 212 00:12:54.600 --> 00:12:59.000 He has patiently, given you chance after chance, after chance. 213 00:13:02.000 --> 00:13:05.100 Ultimately, there's a limit to his patients. 214 00:13:06.400 --> 00:13:12.800 The day will come judgment will take place and imagine him on that day 215 00:13:12.800 --> 00:13:15.300 condemning, you saying cut it down. 216 00:13:16.300 --> 00:13:18.500 Why should it use up to space? 217 00:13:20.900 --> 00:13:24.800 And in our sinfulness, we know that he is just and that judgment. 218 00:13:25.900 --> 00:13:29.300 For we haven't produced the fruit of the life, which he's looking for. 219 00:13:30.900 --> 00:13:33.300 We have wasted space in his kingdom. 220 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:38.700 John the Baptizer preached repentance. 221 00:13:39.600 --> 00:13:44.700 He told people in his day produce fruit in keeping with repentance for 222 00:13:44.700 --> 00:13:51.000 even now, the ax is laid to the root of tree. And every tree that does 223 00:13:51.000 --> 00:13:51.800 not produce 224 00:13:51.800 --> 00:13:55.100 good, fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 225 00:13:56.800 --> 00:13:58.500 That's terrifying. 226 00:13:58.900 --> 00:14:04.200 That is God's law crashing down on us, but the good news of the 227 00:14:04.200 --> 00:14:06.300 parable is the vinedresser. 228 00:14:06.800 --> 00:14:11.500 It's all about the vine dresser and he's the real hero of the parable. 229 00:14:12.900 --> 00:14:14.500 It's all about Jesus. 230 00:14:15.700 --> 00:14:17.100 The crucified one. 231 00:14:18.100 --> 00:14:21.300 Who is risen from the dead ascended into heaven. 232 00:14:21.400 --> 00:14:26.000 Now, sits at his father's right hand ruling over all things for your 233 00:14:26.000 --> 00:14:30.900 sake and even now is it interceding for you. 234 00:14:32.600 --> 00:14:38.200 He's told us that he has done absolutely everything necessary for us. 235 00:14:39.900 --> 00:14:44.800 Everything for us to be spared, the judgement everything for us to be 236 00:14:44.800 --> 00:14:50.400 productive, everything for us to live this life of abundance and a 237 00:14:50.400 --> 00:14:52.300 life of repentance as well. 238 00:14:54.100 --> 00:14:58.000 He even promised that when he comes again on that day, when all time 239 00:14:58.000 --> 00:14:59.400 will come to an end. 240 00:15:00.000 --> 00:15:02.000 That day He will still be pleading for you. 241 00:15:03.900 --> 00:15:06.100 And therein is our comfort. 242 00:15:06.900 --> 00:15:08.400 You see that's the gospel. 243 00:15:08.500 --> 00:15:09.400 That's our hope. 244 00:15:09.500 --> 00:15:14.500 That's our certainty in the critical times that we find ourselves 245 00:15:14.500 --> 00:15:15.900 living in today. 246 00:15:19.200 --> 00:15:24.000 Notice Jesus didn't end the parable. 247 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.000 Did the fig tree produce fruit 248 00:15:30.400 --> 00:15:31.600 or was it cut down? 249 00:15:34.000 --> 00:15:39.600 We don't know, but the point brothers and sisters is that you do have 250 00:15:39.600 --> 00:15:40.900 another chance. 251 00:15:42.500 --> 00:15:48.100 What are you going to do with it? Today as we seek to interpret our 252 00:15:48.100 --> 00:15:48.700 times 253 00:15:48.700 --> 00:15:51.300 these critical and uncertain times. 254 00:15:52.500 --> 00:15:54.400 We do so, beneath the cross. 255 00:15:55.900 --> 00:16:01.700 And it's there beneath the cross that we see God's patience with us. 256 00:16:03.300 --> 00:16:05.600 We see his mercy and his grace. 257 00:16:06.900 --> 00:16:10.700 We see his forgiveness for us, for it's there, beneath the cross that 258 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:12.000 we see Jesus. 259 00:16:14.300 --> 00:16:17.300 And once again, we hear his invitation. 260 00:16:19.200 --> 00:16:20.100 Repent. 261 00:16:22.600 --> 00:16:24.200 In the name of Jesus then. 262 00:16:24.700 --> 00:16:25.500 Amen. 263 00:16:26.300 --> 00:16:29.400 And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding. 264 00:16:29.600 --> 00:16:32.400 Keep your hearts and minds in Christ 265 00:16:32.400 --> 00:16:33.300 Jesus. 266 00:16:34.600 --> 00:16:36.400 Would you please rise for the Creed.