Sermon "Repent and Live" March 7, 2010 Luke 13:1-9

Using manure to save a fig tree reminds me of this story that has three morals. A farmer was out in his pasture in winter spreading hay for his cows. He was amazed to see a nearly frozen Robin laying on the ground, barely alive. He didn’t know what to do for it until he saw a steaming cow pie near by. He placed the Robin in the middle of the manure pile. Slowly the bird began to revive. It began to struggle to get out of the manure, and as it did, the Robin started to sing. A cat hunting near by heard the singing, came over and pulled the Robin out of the manure and ate it. The first moral, not everyone who gets you into a mess is against you. Second moral, not everyone who pulls you out of a mess is for you. And the third moral, when in a mess, don’t sing.

PRAYER

We used to get our sensational disaster stories from the tabloid newspapers at the grocery check out. Now we hear about them on the TV news channels. Pat Robertson stated that the earthquake in Haiti was the result of a curse put on them because of pagan voodoo practices 200 years ago. Jesus, what do you think of Pilate mixing the blood of Galileans with their religious sacrifices? Amazing how we seem fascinated with disasters to someone else. Why do they happen? Did they deserve what happened to them? There must be a reason. No, Jesus said, the reason has nothing to do with who sinned the most, or God being a cruel and arbitrary judge. In fact all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, as St. Paul put it in Romans. So living a repentant life is the only solution to the consequences of sin. And repentance is not so much "I’m sorry" as it is a turning to God and saying, "I can’t, but you can." And in our turning toward God, God chooses to forgive for the sake of Jesus whose body and blood became the manure that brings us back to life.

This is how it works. I am going to tell you a true story that helped me see what repentance looks like. I was called to the hospital to see a woman I had never met. She was pregnant and wanted an abortion rather than a baby. First she wanted to see a pastor. The medical staff knew me, so I was called. I met Helen in a small conference room. She was visibly shaking, eyes red from crying. I learned that she was raised Roman Catholic, which caused a great deal of guilt about her wanting an abortion. I tried to put my feelings about abortion aside to understand what her true feelings were.

She told me that God would condemn her to hell if she had the abortion. In fact she felt like she was already living in hell because of the mistakes she had made in her life. She didn’t feel any love for or from her husband, or anyone else for that matter.

Then her real feelings came to the surface. She was actually afraid to have the baby. She was afraid she would not be able to love her child. She was afraid to bring a child into the world she was trapped in. She didn’t want the child to experience the same hell she was going through.

You might say she was put into the manure pile by someone who was against her, herself and her view of God as a moral judge. But one thing was sure. While in that mess, she wasn’t singing.

I began sharing with her my view of God as I understood God, filtered through Jesus our Savior. I believed Jesus was taking her mistakes, her brokenness unto himself on the cross. I told her that turning to Jesus she would find forgiveness, mercy and acceptance. It seemed as if these were new, unimaginable ideas to her about how God relates to us.

Then I asked her a crucial question. "Do you think God is giving you the gift of a son or daughter so you will have another chance to love someone and be loved by someone?" The silence in the room was deafening. She stared at me so intensely, it was as if she was trying to see into my heart. Her question back to me got to my heart. "Do you really believe that or are you trying to trick me into having the baby?"

I assured her that I really believed that God was there for her if she would open herself up to his merciful and loving presence. I told her God was giving her an opportunity to find out what love was all about. We prayed together. She gave birth to a wonderful baby boy. Her turning to God brought her out of the mess. In her repenting she began to live through the love of Jesus.

My sermon title could just as well have been "Repent or Perish." That’s the way of the world under Satan’s grip. You get what you deserve. If the disaster didn’t happen to me, I must be doing it right. Therefore we have to work out our own salvation by behaving ourselves. To which Jesus says, "unless you repent, you will perish also." Repentance is not what we can do to get out of the mess. Repentance is telling God we can’t get out of the mess, turning to Jesus and saying help.

What we don’t understand is that Jesus is in the mess, in the manure pile with us. It is his sacrifice on the cross, his blood and flesh giving us new life. Jesus goes into the mess with us, dies with us, and we are raised to new life as he was raised to new life. Jesus said repent. Turn from the world, turn from keeping score of past sins, turn from on your own thinking. Jesus wants to show us another way, based on forgiveness, love, and moving toward a future of life as a gift forever. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Thank God for that. Amen.