Grace, mercy and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

        The text this morning is the gospel lesson, that parable of the fig tree. And also the examples of what had happened, terrible things that had happened to people in the land of Israel that were brought to the Lord, and which He also brought up.

        Lent is, of course, a season of reflection for the repentance of sin, and for the contemplation of the suffering, death and agony of our Lord, Jesus Christ. And frankly, I must tell you that the consideration of the reality of our sins, and our need for repentance is anything but pleasant. Indeed, it requires honest introspection in such fashion that we find ourselves holding in our hands nothing but guilt. And nothing with which to offer to our Lord, Jesus Christ, in payment for that sin.

        It must be recognized that our sin is truly what it is. And it also helps us to recall that we need God’s grace in order to overcome it, for we cannot do so of our own accord or by our own efforts in any way, any shape, or any form. And so, in this gospel lesson today, I must tell you there is some strong language. In fact, we find that the Lord is addressing this very need, this need for the fruit of repentance to be seen. And He does so by means of example, and also by means of parable.

        As harshly, dear friends, as our sins condemn us, it is also necessary to remember the one who is the vinedresser in this parable, for He is the Lord Jesus Christ. Indeed, if you look in your bulletin, in the insert that is in your bulletin, you will find there a sort of decoding of parable, if you will, which might prove helpful to you as we go through this sermon today.

        I must tell you, first of all, that the entire notion of recognizing our sin, and our need for repentance, is not one that finds a popular hearing among us, and certainly not in the world. In fact, many would rather not consider repentance at all. Some avoid repentance by simply redefining sin as not being sin.

        I would point out that many of us, I would say perhaps all of us, have some particular sin that is particularly dear to us. And many times, as we face the temptations that inevitably come our way, we find that in fact, we want to find a way to justify, to reconcile our actions, to so to speak, rationalize our own actions, and so to explain it away.

        A few examples, if I might.

        Couples living together these days without benefit of marriage is a disease which, in fact, endemic in our society. Pandemic even. And I would suggest to you that many couples will argue that this practice is absolutely culturally acceptable now. The reason for that is that an awful lot of couples are doing it. Now, have you ever heard that from your kids? "Well, Mom, everyone else is doing it!" And this, despite clear straightforward language in the scriptures which condemns all sexual sin outside of marriage as, in fact, fornication and a sin against God. Not to mention, detrimental to society and destructive of families.

        There are others who are caught up in a homosexual lifestyle. And insist straightforwardly that indeed, the clear passages in holy scripture that condemns such living are culturally conditioned and no longer applicable in our time. It is necessary, you see, to explain away the clear teaching of scripture in order to justify one’s continuing involvement in this lifestyle.

        Or if you like, in this season of tax preparation, there are a lot of us who, when we’re filing our income taxes, insist that the government gets entirely too much of our money as it is, so therefore it is absolutely justifiable and rationalized that we might just as well do a little fudging on our deductions and such so that we might not send them as much money as we otherwise might. And yet the seventh commandment doesn’t seem to be all that equivocable. It says straightforwardly that indeed, Thou shalt not steal (even if it’s from Uncle Sam!)

        And then there are many who knowingly write bad checks. Who will pass off a bad check as though it were genuine, rationalizing all that way that of course, in here I fully intend that sometime in the future I will pay that debt. But of course, it is a lie. The mere writing of a check like that is the breaking of the eighth commandment, the bearing of false witness, the making of a false promise with the intent to deceive.

        Adding to this reckless disregard for the true nature of sin is today’s prevailing notion that morality, after all, is subjective anyway. That after all, what’s true for you might not be true for me, and what’s right for you may not be right for you. And what’s moral for you might not be moral for me. After all, people have their own opinions about what’s right and wrong, do they not?

        Well, I think that I would not want to stand before the judgment seat of Almighty God and say, "You know, God, I think that maybe you were wrong about what was right or wrong. That maybe you were wrong about what was moral and immoral. And maybe you were mistaken, Lord, about what was acceptable and what was unacceptable." That would be a terrible and fearsome place to be standing, I assure you. For the Lord looks at things much differently than we. And His justice is much different than our rather shallow perversion of justice.

        If redefining sin, isn’t enough, then we attempt to justify our sin by comparing our sins with someone else! By the way, this is exactly what happens in this particular gospel lesson. Right away there’s the opportunity to, for those who are there who are listening to Christ, to bring Him an example of what they mean by comparative sin. After all, there were all those people, those gentiles. Because from time to time gentiles were allowed inside the temple to offer sacrifices in certain areas of the temple. And apparently what had transpired was that Pontius Pilate, the governor of that area, sent in his soldiers, violating the temple, in that particular instance not an unusual circumstance, for Pilate was indeed a ruthless governor. And in the midst of their offering of sacrifices, the soldiers fell on them and killed them, literally mingling their blood with that of the sacrifices. And of course, the conclusion that those who were listening to Jesus drew from this is that they must have committed some terrible, awful, perhaps a secret sin to have had such a catastrophe fall on them.

        Well, you heard Jesus’ words regarding that. In fact, He repeats them twice. He says, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! And then He looks at those to whom He was speaking and He says, But unless you repent, you too will all perish. And then He brings up an example of His own. He says, you remember when the tower of Siloam fell. It was a tower connected with the walls of Jerusalem that apparently had decayed over the years and was not well maintained, and in it’s falling eighteen people perished. And Jesus makes reference to that when He says, Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them-- do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish."

        What’s He saying? He’s saying that everybody’s sin is an equal-opportunity destroyer. That indeed, sin effects us all, and you can’t point to anyone else and take any comfort in anyone else whom you perceive is a worse sinner than you. In fact, in so doing, you make yourself, and myself, out to be a worse sinner than them, for we have just entered into the sin of self-righteousness.

        Try as we might, I insist that we cannot fool God into thinking that what He has described as sin isn’t sin! He’s not going to believe it. He’s going to insist that His ten commandments are not the ten suggestions. And they are not subject to negotiation. And what’s more, He’s going to insist to us that they are a reflection of His clear and holy nature and will. That’s what they are, these laws He gives us. And so often we look at them as unrelenting, demanding, hoops through which we must jump. But that is not all they are. Indeed they are unrelenting. Indeed they are unyielding. For God’s word will not be changed by whatever prevailing notion that we may hold of it today.

        But instead, we would echo the words of David, who says in Psalm 119, I delight in your laws all the days of my life! How can you delight in something that is demanded that we can’t fulfill? Simply because we realize why they were given! They were given to us, yes, to point out our sin, but also to demonstrate to us that if we live according to them by His power and grace, then indeed will we avoid the consequences of sins we did not commit. They are indeed a hedge of protection around the people, granting to us a better life, and are therefore an inestimable blessing.

        Well, may I point out, that in this gospel lesson there does not appear to be a lot of gospel. Repent or perish! Well, let’s all just go home and weep and moan. But let me assure you that in the parable He gives us there is gospel indeed. That there is hope for God’s people. That there is hope for lost sinners. That there is hope for those who have tried to avoid what the reality of sin actually is, or tried to redefine it, that there is hope for those who try and rationalize and justify. There is hope for us.

        Listen carefully once again to the parable. It is brief. Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree, planted in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it, but did not find any. 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?' (That’s law!) "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'"

        God’s longsuffering and patience for lost and condemned sinners like you and me is nothing short of utterly astounding. To His self-righteous listeners who listened to this parable, there was nothing there but death and judgment. If you’ll look at that insert in your bulletin for a moment, you’ll find out that this vineyard in this parable is not the world, as you might suppose, but rather it is Israel. And the tree is Jerusalem. And the three years the owner has been coming to look for fruit on the tree is the time that begins, according to most scholars of holy scripture, with the preaching of John the Baptist until the very time of the speaking of this parable. And what’s more, the one year of continual work on the part of the vinedresser, is the remaining time of Christ’s earthly mission. Which is now growing short. He is heading, for the last time, to Jerusalem. And the owner of the vineyard is God the Father. And the vinedresser is Christ Himself. And what’s more, the fruit that the owner seeks is the fruit, yeah, you guessed it, of repentance, that gracious work of God that changes us from unbelief to belief, and who leads us only to trust in Him and what He has done.

        Please notice the activity of the tree in all of this. The tree does nothing. It just sits there! It is the vinedresser, it is Christ, who comes and who plows and who cultivates, and who casts manure for the good growing of fruit. Christ does everything, and we do nothing. That’s the way it has always been. Our human nature finds it impossible to do anything. We are born with our backs toward God. We are born dead, blind, enemies of God, in the words of St. Paul.

        There is no fruit apart from the work of the vinedresser. Apart from the work of Christ. Fruit, you see, is the evidence of existent faith, and faith is simply the gift of God. God still speaks. He speaks as clearly to us today as He did to those listeners as He told them this parable. Indeed, when He speaks the parable He speaks also to you and me. He speaks through the means of grace. And when it comes to the vinedresser’s activity in our lives, the divine vinedresser will come to us and no means of grace will be overlooked. The power of His word will be given to you as you hear it preached to you this day. The power of His word continues to strengthen and nourish as we study His word in scripture in Bible Study and in home study and devotions. The power of His word continues to work His fruit of repentance in our lives again and again when we come forward to receive the Lord’s Supper, His very body and blood, the very purchase price paid for your sin and mine.

        God does everything. And He keeps on doing everything, to make sure that we remain fruitful and repentant. Indeed, this is the fight of His life! As I explained to the children about the big brother who offers protection, Jesus will do anything, sparing nothing, so that we will not be lost. He will go to the scourging post. He will go to the mocking crowds. He will go to the scorn. He will go to the cross. He will breathe His last, and bleed, for you and for me. There is no price He is not willing to pay. He will endure hell that should have been ours, so that we indeed might bear fruit.

        Dear friends, God graciously calls many to faith. And He always promises to preserve a remnant of Israel, of which we gentiles are a grafted part. That judgment which awaits those who find their righteousness in themselves, and in their rationalizations and justifications, is a vain and empty and deadly trap. Rather, God graciously works with us patiently, to call us to faith, and to make us His own.

        In baptism, He calls us by name. And our name is also inscribed in Him. He calls His own. He produces the fruit. And all we can say is Glory to God! For in Him, and in Him alone, in the divine vinedresser we find that we have life. In Jesus’ name, Amen.