H. Repentance (13:1–9)
H. Repentance (13:1–9)
1. People who perished (13:1–5)
Luke does not say why some people told Jesus about the slaughter of the Galileans. Perhaps they were Judeans who cited it more or less approvingly as an example of the kind of judgment of which Jesus has just been speaking. Jesus does not go along with this, but uses the occasion to drive home the urgent need for repentance.
1. This incident is not known to us from any other source, but it fits in with what we know of Pilate’s character. Some Galileans had evidently gone up to Jerusalem to worship and had been put to death by the governor as they were in the act of offering sacrifice. That their blood had mingled with that of their sacrifices was a particularly horrible detail. It is difficult to see what could justify an execution at such a moment.
2–3. It was commonly held that disaster was a punishment for sin (cf. John 9:2). So Jesus immediately makes the point that these Galileans had not been singled out for a horrible death because they were worse sinners than others. He calls on his hearers to repent, otherwise they will all likewise perish. Plainly he does not see any need to argue that they are all sinners and need repentance. As elsewhere, he takes universal sinfulness as basic. The words about repentance are introduced ‘with special emphasis’ (Schweizer); they are important. His likewise can scarcely mean that they will be killed in exactly the same way. Perhaps the thought is that the manner of the death of the Galileans gave them no time to repent. Jesus’ unrepentant sinners were setting themselves on a course which meant unrepentant death in due course. Or the point may be the execution by the Romans. Unless his hearers repented they would likewise suffer at the hands of the Romans.
4–5. Jesus goes on to speak of another disaster in Jerusalem, also unknown to us apart from this reference. His hearers are not to suppose that the eighteen people who had been killed when the tower in Siloam fell were worse offenders (really ‘debtors’; people owe God obedience) than others. But their fate is a warning to his audience of the urgency of repenting. Luke uses a present imperative (with continuous force) in verse 3 and an aorist (of a single decisive action) here. Repentance is both a once-for-all event that shapes the whole subsequent course of the life and a day-by-day affair that keeps putting sin away.
2. The man seeking fruit (13:6–9)
Now comes a parable that brings out two things: the need for repentance and God’s slowness to punish. The preceding passage has stressed the importance of repenting and this one highlights the fact that opportunity does not last for ever.
6–7. Jesus sets the scene with a fig tree in a vineyard (and thus in fertile soil). The owner has been looking for fruit for three years, which seems to indicate a well-established tree. A failure to bear for three years sounds ominous. It was unlikely that such a tree would bear again. So the owner gives the command, Cut it down. Not only was it not bearing fruit, it was taking up ground that might otherwise be productive.
8–9. The vinedresser counsels patience. Perhaps treatment of the soil and the application of manure for a further year will bring results. It will give the tree one last chance to produce. But the vinedresser recognizes facts. If it still does not bear that is the end of the matter. Yet even so he does not say ‘I will cut it down’, but you can cut it down. He will take no initiative in destruction. The fact that evil is not punished here and now does not mean that God approves of what sinners are doing; it means that to the end God is merciful.