Where Is The Fruit?

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A review of Luke Chapter 12 and Luke Chapter 14 will help encapsulate this text in Luke

13:1-9 and ensure we discover the message to the 1st-century disciples of Jesus. Of crucial

importance to our understanding of the text is the audience that has assembled to hear Jesus.

Luke opens his description by saying, "Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousand had

gathered so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples.,

saying: . ." (Luke 12:1, NIV). Others included in the audience were Jesus (Luke 12:4), the

crowd( Luke 12:5), and some present (13:1).

The subject of Jesus' teaching was the environment that would exist in the end

. Jesus talks about enemies, persecution, how believers should regard their possessions, and

how they should think about worry and anxiety. Finally, Jesus concludes by telling them to pay

attention to the day's events. When Peter asks Jesus directly who his teaching is directed

toward, Jesus uses another illustration to speak to all assembled. He concludes this section by

telling each audience member to understand the times they are living in and to trust God to

care for those who put their trust in Jesus.

Pontius Pilate was the Roman governor of Judea during this time. While the Jews were

worshiping in the temple, Pilot was murdering the Jews for political reasons. Emperor worship

was the main religion sanctioned by the Roman government. Anyone not worshiping the

Emperor was subject to persecution by the state. Religious persecution had become

commonplace. Victims were seen as deserving of the persecution, especially the Jews who felt

this way. The Jews though immigrants, were allowed to practice their religion within limits. The

Emperor would appoint the high priest, and corporeal punishment was disallowed. Taxes were

collected, and the desires of Rome were prominent among the Jewish religious leaders. Thus, as

long as they did as the Romans commanded, they were relatively free from religious persecution.

Moreover, they thought they were better than the other immigrants in the Roman Empire.

Addressing this fallacy of belief, Jesus gives commentary on two real-time situations.

First, persecution of the Galileans, and second, those Galileans upon whom a tower fell. Based

on the rhetoric surrounding these two current events, Jesus surmised the Jews felt they were

exempt from such events due to their Abrahamic birthright and the favor shown to them by the

Romans. Jesus corrects the misunderstanding and informs them that "unless they repent," they

too will reach a horrible end, namely the judgment of God. Jesus concludes his commentary by

telling the parable about the barren fig tree. It is not the same as the parable where Jesus

cursed the fig tree. The two share little in common other than bearing fruit.

Jesus takes this opportunity to speak to the crowd, the disciples, and the others about

spiritual growth and maturity. He implies I believe that the attitude of the Jews is selfish and

self-serving, and they are far from understanding God and God's ways. We, as children of God, in

the same way, a fig tree is to bear figs, must bear the fruit of evangelism. Humans are created

to be in relationship with God in such a way that our lives influence others favorably for faith in

Jesus Christ.

The Gospel of Luke 13:1-9 speaks biblically to the events happening in the life of

humanity. As Jesus was making his way towards Calvary, some folk approached him with some

disturbing news - one about the chilling persecution of some Galileans and the other of the tragic

deaths of eighteen people caused by the collapse of the tower of Siloam. The people are stunned

and are looking for answers and meaning. Given the response of Jesus to their inquiry, one might

infer that Jesus peeped into their minds and discovered that they were more interested in finding

someone to blame for those tragic happenings. We experience this propensity every day,

especially when there has been some sadness in our lives and world. Since many of us in the

church has the false notion that church folk, especially preachers, are supposed to have answers

for everything, we often hear such glib words – "Well, God does not make any mistakes" or

"God is too good to make a mistake. "Some writers call this "secondhand religion" – we recite

what somebody else said without seriously examining what it might mean.

We find evidence of this same attitude in the Bible. You remember when Job's friends

showed up and eventually began to accuse Job of having sinned (Job3:11-4:1-21). Again, when

Jesus encountered the man who was born blind, and his disciples immediately began pointing their

fingers, desiring to blame either the man or his parents (John (9:1-12). In Luke 13, Jesus

contends that sin is not necessarily the "cause of the calamity." However, if our theology is that