The Fruits of Repentance

Repent or perish! Have you had someone tell you that? Have you been somewhere and seen folks holding up signs with this message? Some of us are more comfortable with the language of judgment than others of us. My Evangelical friends are, in general, more comfortable talking about judgment. Mainline¹ or progressive Christians are often uncomfortable with repent or perish language. We would rather talk about God’s love. We avoid language of judgment, or perishing, or damnation. And yet, here Jesus is saying “…unless you repent you will all perish as they did”.

Regardless of our personal comfort with judgement language, often our assumptions about judgment are shaped as much by our culture as they are by our religious beliefs. Each certainly informs the other. In the US, we commonly conflate judgment with punishment. When was the last time you heard someone call for judgment, when what they really meant was someone should be punished? Similarly we equate justice with punishment. How often have you heard someone call for “justice” to be done- meaning someone needs to be punished? For some of us judgment means conscious eternal punishment.

As we read the Bible, the text and Jesus have things to say about judgment that seem to make it clear that judgment does and will happen. The text, and Jesus, are less clear about what, exactly judgment looks like. What seems clear is that what we do (actively and passively) matters and has consequences.

At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them–do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.”

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. So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘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?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.'” Luke 13:1-9 NRSVUE

What do we “do” with this text? What do we make of Jesus’ statement “unless you repent you will all perish…”?

The first thing to do is to put this text back into its context, to put it back into the gospel text. The chapter divisions in our modern Bibles are modern additions to the text. The oldest manuscripts don’t have chapters and verses. Those are later additions for our use. Sometimes the chapter breaks are not helpful. This is one of the times when the break between chapter 12 and chapter 13 split up what is one scene or one discourse by Jesus. It will be helpful to read all of chapter 12².

Chapter 12 is full of warnings. It is full of calls to faithfulness. It is also full of assurances of God’s care and concern. But none of these are assurances of God’s protection. Which brings us to the statements about the people killed offering their sacrifices and the people crushed under the tower of Siloam.

In Jesus’ time (and also now) people felt that if something bad happened to a person, or group, or nation they were being punished. Similarly when something good happened they (the person, group, or nation) were blessed. “Everyone” knows bad things don’t happen to faithful people. Bad things only happen to bad people. Even though logically and experientially we know differently, we also want to make sense of tragedy and to not feel as though the world is capricious and uncontrollable.

Jesus acknowledges the world as it is: bad things happen to anyone and everyone. The people affected by tragedies were not being punished. People affected by disasters do not deserve them. As Joel B. Green writes, “It is true that Deuteronomy 28-30 (to name one only one example) insists that judgment will overtake those whose lives are characterized by disobedience, but this is not the same things as arguing that disasters come only to those who are disobedient.”³ People who are affected by tragedy are not more deserving of punishment than other people. And similarly, people who escape tragedy or disaster are not necessarily more holy than others.

Jesus point is that there is something worse than having some disaster, some tragedy happen to you. What’s worse is failing to repent and the resulting failure to live a faithful life. Remember that repentance is not just feeling bad about things. It’s more than regret. Repentance is turning around, changing our ways. Repentance involves actions. Jesus, here, and through chapter 12 is telling people they need to turn around and align themselves with God and God’s ways. Put your treasure in the right things. Be alert. Be on task. Even if your faithfulness separates you from family, friends, and society. Don’t miss being part of the kin-dom of God.

At the same time, Jesus doesn’t promise that aligning ourselves with God somehow protects us from harm. The lives of the disciples, and of the martyred show us that. Being faithful may, perhaps even necessarily, take us into difficult situations. The promise is that God is with us through it all, no matter what. We are not magically protected. But we do not go alone. God cares for us, just as God cares for the all of God’s world. God is with us, always and everywhere.

Then Jesus tells the story of the fig tree. God is a God of second and third and fourth chances. We are still here, we still have the opportunity to change our ways. And also, at some point we all will be called to account- whatever that accounting looks like.

I wonder, what do I need to repent of? What actions or lack of actions do I need to change? What is required of me to be part of the kin-dom of God? These are hard questions. They are uncomfortable questions. And they are questions I should be regularly asking myself, because they require me to look honestly at my life.

At the same time, because we can change our ways, we do not need to despair. The invitation to the kin-dom remains open. Remember that we are “of more value than many sparrows”. God cares for sparrows, and ravens, and lilies, and grass. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.”

1. “mainline” is an older term for larger protestant denominations, usually liberal or progressive, PCUSA, United Methodist, ELCA, Episcopal Church, American Baptists, UCC, DOC, etc. You can read more here. ↩︎
2. You can read it here. And here’s an outline, so we see the flow of the text.
   + Beware of hypocrisy v1-3
   + Don’t be afraid of those who can kill the body… fear the one who can cast you into hell v 4-5
   + You are of more value than sparrows, the hairs of your head are numbered v6-7
   + Acknowledging Jesus v not acknowledging Jesus v 8-10
   + The Holy Spirit will give you the words to answer to authorities v 11-12
   + Parable of the Rich Fool ( storing treasures) v 13-21
   + Don’t worry, God cares for ravens, lilies, seek the kingdom of God v 22-34
   + Parable of watchful slaves, Son of Man’s coming will be unexpected v35-40
   + Parable of faithful or unfaithful slaves v 41-48
   + Jesus as the cause of division v 49-53
   + Interpret the signs of the current time v54-56
   + Settle with your opponent lest you end up in prison v 57-59 ↩︎
3. Green, Joel B. The Gospel of Luke, (Wm B. Eerdmans Co: Grand Rapids MI, 1997) 514 ↩︎