Sometimes, you will hear people criticize the church or criticize Christians by saying, “There are hypocrites up there (at church). I’m just as good a person as he/she is. I don’t have to go up there and be with those Christians.”
All of us who are faithful Christians well understand that we are not perfect. We all understand that we need the salvation of Jesus Christ – that, in fact, is why we worship. But we do not believe we are more righteous or more holy than any other person except by the blood of Jesus Christ.
When I was growing up, when I criticized other people, my mom use to say, “Son, when you point your finger at other people, you have three fingers pointing back at you.” So right she was. In Luke 13, we see both of these illustrated in a conversation Jesus has. What about other people? They are more sinful than I am! Well, when you point a finger at others, you have three pointing back at yourself. Luke 13…
THE SACRILEGE OF PILATE – 13:1:
There were frequent uprisings and rebellions on the part of the Jews against their civil leaders, the Romans. In the mindset of many Jews of that day, as well as many people today, if a catastrophe occurred, it was because God was punishing that person.
This is likely what is going through the mind of the Jews when they make this reference. “Doesn’t this prove the Galileans were particularly evil because it happened that Pilate killed some, maybe many, of them while they were worshipping?”
THE NEED FOR REPENTANCE IS UNIVERSAL – 13:2-3:
Jesus takes the opportunity, not to judge the Galileans one way or another, but to bring the discussion around to their own, personal situations. “Do you suppose the Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate?”
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Instead of pointing our finger at someone else, we need to look at ourselves and see if there is some behavior we need to stop doing or some behavior we need to start doing.
ANOTHER HISTORICAL EXAMPLE – 13:4-5:
Jesus offers His own historical example of a tragedy – indeed, tragedies happen all the time to many different people. Jesus reiterates His point: They are not worse sinners, “but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
A PARABLE TO ILLUSTRATE – 13:6-9:
To illustrate the point, as Jesus frequently does, He gives a parable. “Bearing fruit” here is the same as “repenting” in verses 3 & 5. The bottom line is that if we do not repent and bear fruit, we’ll perish. Of course, cutting down the fig tree helps illustrate the point that eventually, judgment day is coming. After that, our destiny will be sealed, based on our fruitfulness – did we repent?
Repent; stop sinning. Make the decision to live right. Christ will take care of the forgiveness of sins.
–Paul Holland
