Road to Redemption: Leaving the Road

The following message is based upon Luke 20:1-20, which reads:
"1 One day as he was teaching the people in the temple courts and preaching the gospel, the chief priests and the teachers of the law, together with the elders, came up to him. 2 "Tell us by what authority you are doing these things," they said. "Who gave you this authority?" 3 He replied, "I will also ask you a question. Tell me, 4 John's baptism-- was it from heaven, or from men?" 5 They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,' he will ask, 'Why didn't you believe him?' 6 But if we say, 'From men,' all the people will stone us, because they are persuaded that John was a prophet." 7 So they answered, "We don't know where it was from." 8 Jesus said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things." 9 He went on to tell the people this parable: "A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13 "Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.' 14 "But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. "What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them? 16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others." When the people heard this, they said, "May this never be!" 17 Jesus looked directly at them and asked, "Then what is the meaning of that which is written: "'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone'? 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed." 19 The teachers of the law and the chief priests looked for a way to arrest him immediately, because they knew he had spoken this parable against them. But they were afraid of the people. 20 Keeping a close watch on him, they sent spies, who pretended to be honest. They hoped to catch Jesus in something he said so that they might hand him over to the power and authority of the governor."

I recall a conversation I once had with a unbelieving friend at work. It was one of those times when, for some reason, the topic of discussion in the office had turned to spiritual matters. This friend of mine openly admitted that he was not convinced that Jesus Christ was important. I professed my belief in God’s Word that Jesus Christ was the way, the truth, and the life, and that no one could come to the Father apart from Him. I said that Jesus Christ was and is the only way to salvation.
The conversation became very pointed when, from across the room, my friend asked me straight out: “So, you’re telling me that if I died tonight, that I would go to Hell?” I still remember how my heart broke, how tears started to come into my eyes as I was forced to tell him the truth.
It’s not something I wanted to tell my friend. It would have been so much easier if I could have backed away and given him an easy lie. But I would have been guilty of playing games with his eternal soul. So I looked down for a second, gathering my thoughts and then looked right at him and said, “Yes, Joe . . . I am telling you that. You would go to Hell.”

For the last five Sundays—since February 25th—we have been on the road to redemption. We’ve walked along this road called Lent, walking alongside Jesus Christ as He heads towards Calvary. As we’ve walked with Him towards the cross, we’ve been witness to a series of scenes, a series of teachings. As Jesus has interacted with others along that road, He’s been able to give us glimpses in our own lives . . . He’s been able to reveal to us some of our own sinful attitudes . . . He’s revealed how He is not just the Savior, but our Savior. He’s shown how He redeems us from our sins.
It hasn’t always been easy to hear. Certainly it hasn’t always been easy to preach. Because we’ve dealt with some very serious issues in these sermons. Jesus has seen those times when we’ve given into temptation. Jesus has showed us times that we’ve been unwilling to hear His instruction, when we’ve despised the preaching of His Word. Jesus has shown us the times that we’ve been inclined to point out someone else’s sin . . . and He’s turned out attention away from them and held a mirror up in front of us. He’s convicted us of those times when we’ve refused to join in the celebration over a sinner who repents . . . those times when we’ve felt so self-righteous that we forgot there was always room for one more.
But in each of those times Jesus has been present and active in our lives. Not satisfied to leave us in our sin, He has taken our lives and redeemed them. For every time that He’s shown us where we’ve gone wrong and were burdened down by the heavy weight of sin, He’s shown us how He shoulders our burden, taking it away from us and nailing it to the cross so that we might have eternal life with Him. During this Lenten journey, He has truly shown us that He is our Savior.
I suppose that’s what makes today’s message so difficult. Despite the fact that our God is gracious, despite the fact that He is patient and long-suffering, despite the fact that Jesus is ready, willing, and able to save completely those who come to God through Him, there will nevertheless be those who turn away from His free offer of forgiveness and life. There will be those who choose to walk their own path and leave the road of redemption.
In today’s Gospel lesson Jesus is faced with a hard situation. The background for the story is in Luke chapter twenty verse one, where we find Him teaching in the Temple courts. He is approached by the religious leaders of the day, and they demand to know on whose authority He is teaching. They seem to feel that the Temple and its grounds are their sole domain, that they have authority over all that goes on there.
Jesus sidesteps the question, and instead proceeds to tell the people listening to him this parable: Luke 20:9-15, “A man planted a vineyard, rented it to some farmers and went away for a long time. 10 At harvest time he sent a servant to the tenants so they would give him some of the fruit of the vineyard. But the tenants beat him and sent him away empty-handed. 11 He sent another servant, but that one also they beat and treated shamefully and sent away empty-handed. 12 He sent still a third, and they wounded him and threw him out. 13 Then the owner of the vineyard said, 'What shall I do? I will send my son, whom I love; perhaps they will respect him.' 14 "But when the tenants saw him, they talked the matter over. 'This is the heir,' they said. 'Let's kill him, and the inheritance will be ours.' 15 So they threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.”
Now to get the meaning of this parable you must understand that the story Jesus tells is an allegory of a true story. The story of the vineyard is really a story about the salvation history of Israel. Israel is the “vineyard” which God has planted. It is His vineyard, He owns it. And as His right as the landowner, He entrusts His property to certain tenants. Those tenants are the ones given the task of caring for the vineyard and ensuring that the vines will grow and produce rich fruit. They are to value the property as though it is their own while still acknowledging the true ownership of the landlord, God.
God sends His servants to collect some of the fruit of the vineyard. What kind of fruit does God look for in His vineyard, His people? __________________________ He looks for the fruit of repentance. He looks for the fruit of righteousness. He looks for the fruit of mercy. We could even perhaps say that the “fruit” God looks for is the addition of more people to His vineyard, the addition of more people to His Kingdom through the preaching of His grace.
But the tenants refuse to give God’s servants the fruit. Instead, they beat the servants and send them away. They reject the servants—those are the prophets of God—and in so doing reject His rightful claim on the fruit of His vineyard.
How does God respond to such harsh treatment? Does He call down wrath from Heaven and obliterate His precious vineyard? No . . . instead He sends another servant, another prophet, and another . . . and another . . . and another. And each prophet receives the same treatment. The very people who are entrusted with producing fruit according to God’s Word reject His prophets and reject His Word. Until finally, God sends His very own Son, thinking that perhaps they will finally listen to Him.
And instead of listening to the gracious words of the landowner’s own Son, the tenants eject Him from the vineyard, kill Him, and claim the property of God as their own. Can a man rob God? No . . . yet they reject His prophets, kill His Son, and claim the vineyard as their own. They have rejected God’s servants, rejected God’s Word, rejected God’s own Son . . . and have sealed their own fate.
Luke 20:15, “What then will the owner of the vineyard do to them?” What is the worst possible fate that could fall upon the tenants? They will receive the very treatment that they accorded the Son, “16 He will come and kill those tenants and give the vineyard to others.” And when the people heard this, they said, “May this never be!”
“May this never be!” How many times have you heard something like that? Maybe not those words exactly, but have you heard someone say, “God is a god of love . . . He could never condemn someone to Hell.” For some reason, there are people—from good church folks to the unchurched people on your street—who know one thing about God and one thing only: that He is a God of love. Are they correct? Yes . . . but they only have half of the story.
They know the half of the story that proclaims God as long-suffering and patient. They know the half of the story that tells about His great love for mankind. But they either forget or fail to understand the other half: while God is a god of love, He is also a God of judgment.
God’s mercy, God’s love . . . in fact all of the wonderful, pleasant qualities of God are revealed in Jesus Christ. But where Jesus Christ reveals God’s love, He also reveals God’s wrath. His anger. His condemning judgment.
The magnificent St. Louis arch is an architectural marvel. Over seventeen thousand tons of concrete and steel stand 630 feet high. And there the only thing that makes it possible to stand is the equal weight of both sides pressing against the centerpiece at the top. The entire weight of both sides of its massive structure press upon that one centerpiece—the capstone if you will—and without it the entire arch would collapse, crushing everyone inside and below.
Jesus invites us to think of an arch just like that. The wonderful, carrying force of God’s love presses against the crushing weight of His judgment, and Jesus Christ at the center balances the weight of both. You can’t have one side without the other: God’s arch must both have His mercy and His judgment, it must have Jesus Christ at the center, or else all of salvation collapses.
Jesus Christ is the capstone of salvation. And that means that His appearance draws a hard and fast line in the sand. In Him alone there is mercy, but to those who reject the Son and claim the vineyard of salvation as their own there is only judgment of the harshest kind: Luke 20:17-18, “The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone. 18 Everyone who falls on that stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed.”
Do you know someone who knows only about God’s love but doesn’t know anything about His judgment? Do you know someone who trusts in a vague sense of a loving God but doesn’t trust in Jesus Christ the capstone? What does God’s Word say will happen to them? They will be crushed. Condemned. For all eternity.
There is no getting around it. It’s sad. It’s tragic. But it’s true all the same. Without a faith and hope Jesus Christ the people we know will be crushed by the tremendous weight of God’s judgment. But it doesn’t have to be that way.
Just for one minute, put yourself into the beginning of Jesus’ parable. Make yourself the tenant. God sends His servant to you requesting from fruit from His vineyard . . . what can you give Him?
Let me just suggest that you can give God the fruit of having told one more person about Jesus Christ. Every good vineyard owner wants healthy fruit . . . but he also wants more fruit. God is the same. He gets no joy from condemning sinners to be crushed by His judgment. God wants more and more fruit on the vine. He wants more and more people to come to know Him and the power of His resurrection. And He wants you—the tenants of His vineyard—to do the things that produce fruit. He is looking to you to care for others and tell them of the salvation that waits for them in Jesus Christ.
You already have His vineyard. You have been redeemed by Jesus Christ. You have had your sins forgiven through His cross. You walk with Christ on the road to redemption and in Him are in no danger of being crushed by the capstone. He doesn’t ask you to produce fruit for Him so that you can be saved . . . but so that others can.
And the only way that they can be saved is the same way that we are: by looking to Christ. By trusting that Christ the capstone can and does bear the weight of both God’s mercy and His judgment.

Road to Redemption: The Older Brother Syndrome

I recall one point in my life where I knew a man who was opposed to just about everything I stood for. He didn’t like the church, he had little use for God’s Word, and he lived a life that reflected his rejection of Jesus Christ. When circumstances forced me to be with him for extended periods of time, it was uncomfortable, as we had so little in common.
As time went on, though, he eventually began to attend a church just down the street from his house. I have no idea why . . . I suppose that he began to feel the weight of sin that his lifestyle was causing in him. I suppose he wanted some answers. God knows he never listened to mine. But there he was anyway, in a church. I wondered if he’d get anything out of it.
And then one day something strange happened. He called me up and told me that he had gotten baptized. Baptized, of all things! Of all the things in the world that I expected, this was the last of them! And then he said to me, “I just thought you might like to know.”
Now at that exact moment in time, I had two choices before me: I could rejoice with him over what God had worked in his life . . . or I could scorn him for his lifestyle marking him as someone not worthy of being in the Kingdom of God.
Maybe you’ve been in a similar situation yourself. Before you deny it, think about this: Is there anyone who, if they showed up in church today, you would say to yourself, “Well, they don’t belong here.” You know the type: if they offered to shake your hand you’d be sure to check the other one first to make sure they didn’t have a knife to stab you in the back. “Oh . . . you mean that kind of person. Well that’s not the same, pastor, because you see . . . well, it’s just not the same.”
When we get into that mode of thinking, when we doubt that a person we know has a place in God’s Kingdom because of what they’ve done in the past, then we have fallen into the older brother syndrome.
Jesus tells three parables in Luke chapter fifteen that we all love to see ourselves in. He tells a parable about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. We all love to see ourselves as the lost sheep. We’ve wondered away from the fold, and Jesus Christ himself leaves behind the entire flock to look just for us, searching high and low until He finds us. We love to be the lost coin, where God searches and searches until He finds us. We like feeling that although we’re the prodigal son, God waits each and every day for us on His front porch. And when He finds us, He calls all of creation together and throws a party, saying, “Rejoice with me! For this poor sinner, this poor sheep, was dead and is now alive again. He was lost, but now has been found.” We love the notion that God searches and searches for us, and that’s certainly true and right and it’s a good thing . . . but that’s not really the point of the story.
Listen again to Luke’s words in chapter fifteen: Luke 15:1-2, “Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Jesus has a reputation for being a guy that hangs around with the riff-raff. He has a reputation for hanging out with the type of folks that good religious people wouldn’t even be caught in the same room with. The tax collectors had betrayed their own country, their own people, and were working for the oppressive, pagan, Roman government. The “sinners” that Jesus was routinely seen in the company of included prostitutes and other less savory members of the population: the barflys. The outcasts. The rejects. Not the type of folks you’d want your pastor to be seen with.
And so the religious people—the Pharisees and the men who taught God’s law in the synagogues—, they’re scandalized! They were saying, “These people don’t have a place in God’s Kingdom, because they don’t follow His laws like we do! They’re not good people. If Jesus is really a rabbi, he shouldn’t be hanging out with people like that.. It’s just not . . . nice.”
And then Luke continues, Luke 15:3, “3 Then Jesus told them this parable.” Jesus told them this parable. He’s not speaking to the “sinners”, but to the Pharisees, to the religious people. The people that worked extra hard at following every one of God’s laws. The people who looked at the “sinners” and deemed them unworthy of God’s Kingdom.
You know the story Jesus told. He told of a selfish son that demanded his inheritance and then squandered it on high living. He had it all . . . friends, girls, cars, drinks and drugs. But when the money ran out, his rock star life faded pretty quickly. It took him hitting rock bottom for him to become convinced what an idiot he had been, and so he headed back home with his tail between his legs.
But while he was yet a long way off, his father saw him and ran to him! The son tried to speak, he tried to apologize, but the father just said, “Shh! You and you . . . go get my best robe! Get some good clothes and shoes for my son! My son has returned, let’s throw a party!”
So far, so good. The Pharisees are listening and nodding patiently . . . but then Jesus gets to the real meat of the story.
Luke 15:25-28, “25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in.”
“All my life I’ve been slaving away for you! I’ve never disobeyed your orders! I’ve followed your every command! And when this . . . this sinner comes home looking like something the cat dragged in, you throw a party! I deserve a party! I deserve some recognition! This so-called “son” of yours doesn’t even deserve to be in this house!”
Do you suppose that at this point Jesus really has the attention of the religious people? Now they’re listening! And they’re getting mad, because they see themselves in the older brother. They didn’t want these prodigal “sinners” to be included in God’s Kingdom, and yet here Jesus was, talking with them, laughing with them, eating . . . with . . . them.
The last thing the Pharisees wanted was a bunch of riff-raff smelling up their nice little religious ideas. If you didn’t measure up to their standards, you were on the outside. If you weren’t as righteous as they were, you weren’t to be included in the Kingdom. To the Pharisees, there were only two classes of people: the people who were in good with God—that’s themselves, by the way—and everybody else, and there was no way on God’s green earth that God would ever pay any attention to them.
And yet what does Jesus say? Speaking through the father’s words, he tells the Pharisees, “My son . . . you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours (oh, I just bet that chapped the Pharisees’ hides!) this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and now is found.” Jesus tells the Pharisees that one sinner who repents is worthy of a greater heavenly party than ninety-nine “righteous” religious people who don’t need to repent.
“We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” How does that play out in your life?
Are you guilty of having Older Brother Syndrome? Are there people you would be unwilling to rejoice with, if they were to repent?
When you refuse to come to the altar because some “sinner” might be next to you . . .someone who clearly doesn’t deserve to receive the same Sacrament as you . . . does that make God’s heart proud? Or do you break the heart of the Father by having the arrogant attitude of the older brother?
That attitude says, “Those sinners might fit in with the rest of the world, but here in the church we have different standards. Here in the church we don’t hold with any of that sin nonsense. No . . . we’re better here.”
Do you suppose that God classifies people according to our system? Does He group people into “us good religious folks” and “those ugly sinners”?
For God there is just one group: the people for whom He sent His Son to die. And He loves all the people in that one group with a deep, abiding love. Who is it that Jesus came for? Luke 19:10, “10 For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.” Luke 5:31, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. 32 I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.”
Jesus’ heart beats passionately for the lost, the sinners. A group, by the way, that you once belonged to. And when you were yet dead in your sins, God made you alive with Christ, forgiving you. There was a celebration in Heaven that day for you. This is what He does over every . . . single . . . sinner who repents. Think of that! One party right after another! The angels just finish cleaning up after one bash and then they get the call: “Wait! There’s another one! Set everything back up!” And they never get tired of it! God never gets tired over celebrating over another soul that He’s brought into His family. He never gets tired of saving one more person from Hell.
Can you imagine the impact that our church could have on Hudson . . . on the world . . . if it became known that we were a church that threw parties over repentant sinners? If every time a sinner walked in through that door we all moved over in our pews and said, “C’mon in! There’s always room for one more!”? If we all left the older brother syndrome outside because we knew Who had saved us and that His party was big enough for everybody? One big happy family, all forgiven in Jesus Christ, all celebrating.





When you see a “sinner” that comes to repentance, don’t look down; look back. Look back to your own baptism, to your own conversion. Look back to the time when God made you His own, to the time when all of Heaven shouted with joy over what Christ had accomplished in your life: the saving of one more sinner. Feel the joy that filled God’s heart on that day . . . and enter into the celebration over what Christ has done for one more lost sheep. Join the celebration that the Father throws over His lost son that finally came home. Leave the older brother syndrome outside where it belongs, and come in and join the party!

Road to Redemption: Unless YOU repent . . .

Normally I’d probably begin a sermon with a personal illustration or some such thing. The reason for that is because I want to build from my personal experiences—from me—to all of us—to we. I want to explain how God has worked in my life and then, hopefully, help you understand how He relates to you in your life. So I move from “me” to “we.”
But today is a bit different. Today there is no “we.” This message is aimed at a single person: me. Only here’s the catch: everyone’s got to be the “me.” This message isn’t for the person next to you . . . it’s not for the person in front of you . . . it’s not for anyone else but . . . “me.” So everyone say it now, “This message is for me.”
Since this message is for “me”, I want every “me” in here today to do a little something. Take out your interactive sermon sheet, grab a pencil, and do a little thinking. I want you to think about a time when you saw something you knew was wrong. You knew it was wrong, and you knew you were right. This might be a response to a news story or something like that, but your reaction was essentially to say, “That is wrong. What they are doing is wrong.”

Now that you’ve got that time in your head, write down four words that describe how you feel about that moment. Four words that describe how you felt at that time, how you felt about it later . . . how you feel about it now. If you’re having a bit of trouble, let me suggest some possible answers: Angry. Upset. Morally superior. Morally indignant. Righteous anger. Confused. Sad. Broken-hearted. Intolerant. Unloving. Self-righteous. Self-loathing. Right. “Moral high ground.”
Depending upon your own time and circumstance, there is no doubt any number of answers that you could put down. But the one common experience we all have in this, the common experience that all the “me’s” have in this, is that we looked at someone else and recognized a behavior or act that God condemns as wrong. No, not necessarily in a self-righteous way, we may have been both correct and humble in our assessment of wrong-doing. But the point is that we looked at someone else and said, “That’s wrong.”

What does Jesus say about that? Well honestly He says a variety of things about that, depending upon what the circumstances are. There are a number of different responses in Scripture to that very scenario. But Jesus has something to say to us today about looking out at others and seeing their sin. Open up to the Gospel lesson, Luke 13:1-9.
Luke 13:1 “Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices.” Now why are they telling Jesus this? Well, to understand that question, we have to understand that the common idea then—as it is today—is that bad things happen to bad people. The very fact that they are telling Jesus this story is an indication that the Galileans in question had done something so terrible, so sinful, that God had exacted His judgment by causing Pontius Pilate to have them bloodily murdered even while they were in the very act of offering their sacrifice to God.
The evidence for this line of reasoning is pretty strong. Let’s add it up: the only city sacrifice could be offered was in Jerusalem. The only place in Jerusalem where sacrifice could be offered was at the Temple—the place where God had promised to literally dwell with His people. The only time that the average person would be offering sacrifice would be at the Passover, the time of year in which God had commanded a celebration commemorating the time when He delivered all of Israel from slavery in Egypt. So if we add all that up, we have some men who are tainted by sin coming at the most holy time of year to the most holy place in the most holy city and offering a sacrifice to God. I’ve got to tell you that God blasting them would be the most likely thing in my mind!
But Jesus’ answer yanked the tale-bearers out of their little gossip party and confronted them with a strong dose of reality. Luke 13:2-3, “2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
Jesus answers them and says, “Look . . . what are you thinking? That God uses a sliding scale? That some sins—that some sinners—are somehow less offensive to Him than others? That somehow, in all of Galilee, that these were the only guys that had offended God, and that’s why they died? If God doesn’t use a sliding scale for sin, then what do you suppose God should do to you?”
You see, what these tale-bearers forgot is that they don’t have God’s all-seeing eyes. They looked at some outward circumstances and assumed God had seen sin in these people and executed His judgment upon them. They didn’t know if the people involved in these horrible deaths had sinned or not. They didn’t know the status of their spiritual condition. But still they figured God must have seen something sinful there.
But the most important thing that they forgot that God’s all-seeing eye could see them, as well! And the spiritual condition that they assumed to infect others was, in fact, their own ailment. They thought they could look at others through a window, but what they needed was a mirror.
Jesus’ response brings the focus of His hearers back to where it needs to be: on their own relationship with God. On their own need to repent. Jesus tells them, in effect, “Were those people sinners? I don’t think that matters right now. The question is . . . are you? Don’t worry about them. I’ll worry about them. You worry about you. Unless you repent, you too will perish.”
But this message isn’t for first-century Jews. Today’s message is for . . . who? Right, “me.” Today, Jesus tells us—I mean me—that unless I repent, I too will perish.
Whenever I see an act of sin somewhere “out there” Jesus today tells me in this Gospel lesson that I must not through the window, but into the mirror. I must look into the mirror and see what He sees: a sinner. In this lesson He doesn’t ask me to judge the presence of sin in other’s lives. He doesn’t ask me to confirm tragedies as evidence of His judgment. He doesn’t ask me to compare myself to others. What He asks is that I acknowledge my own sin.
This is tough! I know God’s Laws, I try to live by His commands. I try to be a good person. And so, when I see someone else that’s not living according to God’s ways I’m tempted to call His attention to it. When I see that scantily dressed young woman in the supermarket I’m tempted to write her off as someone possessing less moral virtue than I. When I the drunk staggering out of the bar I’m tempted to dismiss him as having less Christian character than I do.
And it goes on and on. I read the news and hear about the “Barbie Bandits”—who, it turns out, worked as strippers before their little bank heist—and I look down on them. The teenagers who gave the toddlers some pot and laughed while the 2 and 3 year olds got stoned . . . the pop star diva running around, checking in and out of rehab . . . I read about these people and I’m tempted to tell other people so that we can shake our heads together. I’m tempted to tell God and point out what great sinners these people are.
And when I see these people, if my nose so much as even tips—just even tips—upwards, then Christ’s words convict me. His words convict me as a sinner, not them. See, God can’t deal with a “them.” He can only deal with a “me.” And the “me” that He wants to deal with is the person who’s talking to Him right now. And to that person, to that “me”, He says, “Unless you repent, you too will perish.”


During this Lenten series, we’ve been talking about how Jesus Christ becomes our Savior. But today it’s even more personal than that. Today I learn about how Jesus becomes my Savior. He deals not with “them,” but with me. We’ve learned before that “it’s not about you.” Well today it is. When it comes to sin, when it comes to what stands between me and God, it most certainly is about me. And when it comes to sin, Jesus deals with me only on a one-to-one basis. When it comes to sin, Jesus doesn’t deal with a “them” . . . He only deals with me. And my sins are worthy of condemnation.
And yet Jesus offers me hope. Read the last few verses of the Gospel lesson. Luke 13:6-7, “A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?'
In this parable, I am the fig tree. God the Father is the owner of the vineyard. He looks to me for good fruit, but I don’t bear any. He looks to me for repentance from my own evil actions, but He can find none. And since He can’t find anything in me that is worth saving, He condemns me to be cut down. I will become fuel for the fire.
But what happens? The caretaker intervenes on my behalf! Luke 13:8-9, “8'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'”
Jesus Christ sees my sinful life, He sees that I have no good fruit, but still He steps in between the Father and I and offers to work on my behalf. He goes to the Father, asking for patience. “What you say is true, Father . . . but let Me work with him. Let Me nurture Him. Let Me cause him to bring forth the fruit of repentance.”
And then Christ goes to work on me. He cares for me, He bears the weight of my sin. He goes to His own tree and offers Himself to the fire. All this He does because He is still working with me on a one-to-one basis . . . all this He does so that He can have me in His garden. All this He does so that He can be my Savior. And because of His work, when the Father looks over His garden again, He will look at me, see the work of His Son, He will be pleased, and I will be saved.
Today Jesus asks you to be a “me.” Not looking at anyone else, just to Christ. Jesus Christ wants to deal with you on a one-to-one basis. And unless you repent, you too will perish.

Road to Redemption: The Unwilling

(Pastor’s snoring is heard)
Pastor's wife. approaches the sleeping pastor.
Pastor's wife: Hey! Wake up! You’ve got a sermon to deliver!
Pastor: Huh? No! Just give me five more minutes . . . *snore*
Pastor's wife: Come on! You’re the pastor, it’s your job to give God’s Word to His people!
Pastor: (sleepily) I don’t feel like it today . . . just tell them to go read their Bibles, or something.
Pastor's wife: (pulling hard at pastor’s arm) Come ON! You’ve got a job to do!
Pastor: No! I don’t wanna!
Pastor's wife pulls pastor up as they continue to argue. Pastor grudgingly steps into pulpit.

The preceding has been a dramatization. Of course I want to preach today. I love coming to church every Sunday . . . or do I? *da da daaaaaaa!*
No, of course I do! I’m just like you. I like getting up early on Sunday morning, just like you. I like spending my entire morning here, just like you. I like hearing the same stories week in and week out, just like you.
* . . .
Okay, I guess both you and I could have a better attitude about Sunday morning sometimes, couldn’t we? Sometimes we’re just unwilling to put forth the effort to get the most out of a church service. And although God tries to get our attention, there are honestly times when we’re simply not listening.
But you know what happens when Stephanie is talking and I’m not listening? She feels like I’m ignoring her. When I don’t listen to her, I’m not giving her the respect she deserves. In effect, I’m rejecting her in favor of whatever’s going on in my mind at the moment. I’m turning away from her and turning to my own needs.
When we don’t listen to God, aren’t we doing the same thing? There is no middle ground, really. It’s not as though we can say that we truly value God, that we truly value His Word, that we truly honor and respect what He has to say when we deliberately turn away from His Word. And when we turn away from His word, we turn away from His Son. When we reject the opportunity to hear His Word, we reject His Son.
This problem of rejecting Christ—that’s the basic problem we see in today’s Gospel lesson.
Does Jerusalem have God’s attention? Read verse thirty-four: Christ says (Luke 13:34), “34O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing!”
Does Jerusalem have God’s attention? In Exodus 19:4 God reminds them, “4You yourselves have seen what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.” In Deuteronomy 32:9-11 the people of Isarel are reminded, “9 For the LORD's portion is his people, Jacob his allotted inheritance. 10 In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye, 11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions.” And in Psalm 91:4 they are promised, “4 He will cover you with his feathers, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness will be your shield and rampart.”
But in 2 Chronicles 36:15 we’re told, “The LORD, the God of their fathers, sent word to them through his messengers again and again, because he had pity on his people and on his dwelling place. 16 But they mocked God's messengers, despised his words and scoffed at his prophets until the wrath of the LORD was aroused against his people and there was no remedy.”
Jerusalem would have —not just could have, but would have—God’s protection . . . if they wanted it. But instead they choose to reject it. Over the course of their entire history God has come to their aid when they were oppressed. Over the course of their entire history God has sent His prophets to educate them, to instruct them in His ways, to teach them how to live as God’s people.
But the problem with prophets is that they often had things to say that Jerusalem didn’t want to hear. It’s hard to hear a word of rebuke . . . to be told to get your act together. Their itching ears demanded something other than the truth, and so finally God says of them in Isaiah 30:9-11, “9 These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD's instruction. 10 They say to the seers, "See no more visions!" and to the prophets, "Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions. 11 Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”
The problem with Herod, with the Pharisees, and with Jerusalem isn’t that they lack God’s protection, but that they decided long ago to reject it! They turned away from the will of God, the clear, concise teachings of the Word of God that He spoke through His prophets. While they claimed to love God, in reality they despised Him so much that the mere presence of one of His messengers incited them to anger and violence. Jerusalem despised God so much that they killed His prophets rather than be forced to hear Him.
But even though Jerusalem rejects God’s prophets, even though they despise the Word of God, even though they reject God Himself . . . where is Jesus still going? He is headed to Jerusalem.
Even though Jerusalem rejects Christ Himself, He still is headed there. He knows that He goes to Jerusalem to be rejected, to be crucified . . . to die. And yet His ministry carries Him there. “I must keep going today and tomorrow and the next day”—Jesus is going to keep doing the work for which He was sent, and He’s going to do it faithfully, day in and day out. He’s not going to be kept down, but each and every day that God has given Him He’s going to get up, He’s going to beat down Satan, He’s going to bring health and healing to people, He’s going to give the Gospel all the way to Jerusalem and on the cross He’s going to be it! Nothing will keep Him from reaching out with God’s love to the people of Jerusalem. Nothing will keep him from being God’s love to the people of Jerusalem. Such is the love that Christ has for them.
That’s the kind of Savior we have: a Savior that serves; a Savior that offers Himself even when His own people turn their backs on Him. A Savior that goes to the cross even when you turn your back on Him.
Because it’s not Jerusalem that has rejected God’s attention. It’s not Jerusalem that’s rejected His prophets . . . it’s you. It’s me.
“The Third Commandment: Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not despise preaching and His Word, but hold it sacred and gladly hear and learn it.”
Remember that? It’s from the Small Catechism. It goes on to say in the explanation that you sin against the third commandment—you despise preaching and the Word of God—when you don’t attend public worship, when you don’t make regular use of the Word and the Sacraments, and when you use the Word or Sacraments negligently or carelessly.
God has given us His Word. He’s given us His Sacraments. Add to those to those a pastor to proclaim God’s Word to you and now you’ve got the same blessings and offer of protection that God longed to give to Jerusalem. The question is, then, do you treat those things any better than Jerusalem did?

Well . . . do you?

Let’s start with the issue of the pastor. Have you, as the people of Our Saviour Lutheran Church, consistently treated all the pastors that God has given you with the respect and honor that their calling rightly deserved? Do you consistently treat your current pastor with the respect and honor that his calling rightly deserves?
Now I don’t want to be mean about this, and I’m understand that I’m not being petty. But I am trying to drive home a point: when you despise the prophet—when you despise the pastor—you despise the Word that he brings. When you despise the Word, you despise the God who gives it. And when you despise God, you are unwilling to receive his gifts of protection, comfort, and security. You don’t want to be under his wing.
Or have you, as the people of Our Saviour Lutheran Church, consistently held the public worship service in such high regard that you go out of your way to attend and to participate? Or do you come and just go through the motions? Have you ever gotten up in the morning and said, “Church? I don’t want to do church again! How boring!”
Do you realize what you’re saying to God? “God I don’t want draw near to you with a true heart and confess my sins! God, I don’t want to hear that my sins are forgiven in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit! I don’t want to praise thee, to bless thee, to worship thee, and I don’t want to give you thanks for thy great glory! I don’t want you to create in me a clean heart, O Lord, and I don’t want you to lettest thou thy servant depart in peace! I don’t want what You have to give, I don’t want to hear Your Word, and I don’t want You.” That’s what it sounds like to God when you despise preaching and His Word.
Shame on us. For every time that you or I have turned away from God’s Word, we have killed the prophets and stoned those whom God sent to us. Christ has longed to gather us under the protective wing of His Word and Sacraments . . . but we were not willing.
But if Jerusalem’s sin is true of us, then thank God that her redemption is true of us, as well! Even though we’ve despised the Word of God . . . where is Jesus still going? He’s still going to the cross. He’s not daunted by our sin, He knew about that a long time ago, and He’s not going to let that stop Him from earning for us the forgiveness that we need.
He’s not going to be kept down, but each and every day that God has given Him He’s going to get up, He’s going to beat down Satan, He’s going to bring health and healing to us as His people, He’s going to give us the Gospel all the way to Jerusalem and on the cross He’s going to be it for us! Nothing will keep Him from reaching out with God’s love to you. Nothing will keep him from being God’s love to you. Such is the love that Christ has for us.

Does this change things for us? Oh, you bet it does. It’s much easier to run from God, to hide from His Word, to be unwilling. But the church that can see the folly of that path, the church that sees that being unwilling leads to destruction; that is the church that can receive the Word of God gladly. It is a church that can hear the Word of God and receive it with great joy. The church that hears the words of Christ’s rebuke and yet also hears His words of forgiveness . . . that is a church that walks with Christ, following Him on the road to redemption.