Luke 13:1-9 "You Want Good News Or Bad News?"
We love to talk about bad news. If we hear about something terrible, we can’t contain ourselves, we have to call someone. Text someone. Post it on social media. Tell the nearest person in the room. Some people seem to be addicted to bad news—can’t get enough of it. Listen to people complain on talk radio all day and turn on their favorite source of news misery as soon as they walk in the door. There’s never been a time in human history when people have been bombarded with tragedy the way we are today. It’s not good for us.
George Carlin said (and I’m going to clean this up a bit for church) he said:
You know my favorite thing on television? Bad news. Bad news and disasters and accidents and catastrophes. I want to see some explosions and fires, I want to see stuff blowing up and bodies flying around! …I want to see a paint factory blowing up. I want to see an oil refinery explode. I want to see a tornado hit a church on Sunday. And I want to see people…” In another bit, he said “I like to watch the news because it’s full of bad stuff that didn’t happen to me.”
C.S. Lewis joked that he never read the newspaper, if there was something important going on in the world he was sure someone would tell him. He said that because he thought it was a dangerous trend in the modern world to be so obsessed with all the sad news of the world that you can’t do anything about—and that was in the early 1960s, long before the 24 hour a day full on assault of news as we all know it.
We’re more likely to trust bad news than good news. We’re drawn to negative words in headlines. Psychologists call it doomscrolling. Doomscrolling can send your mind racing and lead to burnout—make you feel uncertain, anxious, distressed—affects your sleep, steals your appetite, motivation, and desire to do things you usually enjoy. But we love our bad news. The networks know it, too. There’s no money in good news.
We’re going through the Gospel of Luke verse by verse—do you remember what the word “Gospel” means? Good news. So, do you want the good news or the bad news? Well, first, the bad news.
Luke, Chapter thirteen, verse one…
There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. Luke 13:1
“Hey Jesus… did you hear about the guys who were worshiping at the Temple and Pilate sent goons in to murder them on the altar?”
It was probably particularly interesting to the disciples because most of them were also from Galilee with thick Galilean accents. Jesus had made it clear that His current teaching tour was going to end in Jerusalem just in time for Passover. They were probably thinking He might want the heads-up.
Like if I said a group of us were going on a mission trip to someplace where a bunch of Christians from west Houston had just been violently murdered—you might want to tell me about it before we left.
We have no idea why Pilate had them killed. They must have done something to get his attention—he wasn’t a nice guy but it seems unlikely that he just had some random Temple tourists executed in public. Everyone thought they must have had it coming.
Jesus picks up on that part of the story.
Verse 2…
And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Luke 13:2-3
Jesus goes straight for the problem of evil in the world. People say it’s the Achilles’ heel of Christianity but Jesus never shied away from the subject.
Something terrible happened to those men while they were in the Temple praying—clearly they were wicked men being judged and punished by God, right? Jesus says, “Nah. They weren’t any worse than any other Galileans.”
Well, maybe worse than one particular Galilean but we can’t really compare everyone else with Jesus.
So, these unfortunate Galileans, who were probably in Jerusalem for the Passover—that’s one of the few times the general public was allowed in the area where sacrifices actually happened. They’re doing their Passover thing with their Passover lamb, and a bunch of Roman soldiers barge in and slaughter them in front of God and everyone—they bleed out on the altar along with their sacrifices. That’s not cool. It’s the kind of thing that can make people question their faith.
I have a book with old gravestone epithets—they used to put the cause of death on the tombstones. One of my favorites is the grave marker for a nine-year-old girl named Mary. It says she was in the garden saying her prayers when she was struck by lightning and killed. I know. It’s awful. But doesn’t it make you wonder what she was praying? Like, was she asking God to visit her little brother with the black plague? We’ll never know. Mary took that secret with her.
Jesus says when we hear about something murderous happening to someone, our first thought shouldn’t be, “I wonder what they did to deserve it—they must have had it coming!” We need to understand they didn’t deserve it anymore than anyone else. They didn’t deserve it anymore than you and I do. Every violent and deadly thing that happens in the world is supposed to be a reminder of our need to repent—a reminder that we are all born into a world eaten up with sin. We all enter the world full of sin. Everyone and everything that dies is a reminder that we’re going to do the same thing. And unless we repent, we’re going to die with all that sin strapped to us like a giant millstone—death throws us into the outer darkness where that weight drags us to the depths of hell. Jesus is warning us in no uncertain terms—we need to get that sin off our back before we die. We are going to die.
It’s not necessarily going to be at the hand of Roman soldiers but something’s going to get us.
Jesus brings up some more bad news from current events, something that’s a bit more obvious as an act of God.
Verse 4…
Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?
Luke 13:4
A tower near the wall of Jerusalem was in need of repair—it was probably on a long list of things that needed to be fixed. Well, gravity being what it is, one day it finally collapsed. Killed eighteen people. It was all over the news.
I’m sure the local prophets of doom were quick to change their sermon that week. Talk about God’s judgment coming down on the wicked! Sinners under the bricks of an angry God!
We’re always so quick to think the bad things that happen to other people—they won’t happen to us. Try and figure out how we would have avoided it. Find some way to justify why it happened to them instead of us. Why they had it coming. What they did wrong. We all do this.
So Jesus provides an example of a tragedy that was more of a horrific accident.
Every bad thing that happens in the world is a result of sin. But Jesus doesn’t want us to think of tragedies as a sign of judgment on specific people for specific sins, they’re just a sign of God’s judgment on all people. Jesus doesn’t want us to speculate about what God is doing in His secret motives and wisdom—Deuteronomy says, “the secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever.”
That was the mistake of Job’s wife and friends, it’s why he said, “Shall we accept good from God, and not evil?" It’s the mistake God is correcting in Isaiah 45:7 when he says, “I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.”
We’re not supposed to get stuck on that line about God creating evil. God in His hidden raw power is terrifying. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. But the secret things belong to the Lord. They are secret. Bad things happen but we’re not to put words in God’s mouth or assign motives to Him for why things happen or why He does what He does. The universe makes a whole lot more sense once we just let God be God and realize we will never understand everything He does. Our job isn’t to put God in a pretty little box, our job is to look at everything about Him through Jesus—those are the things that are revealed.
Jesus strongly corrects the kind of thinking that looks to justify tragedies in other people’s lives, and commands us to apply the lesson to ourselves. Don’t think about how THEY need to repent, or should have repented, think about how YOU need to repent. The Christian conclusion should never be “they must have deserved it,” it should always be “I deserve the same thing to happen to me—thank God Jesus died for me so I don’t have to perish eternally.”
No matter what terrible thing happens, the take-away is always the same.
Verse 5…
No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” Luke 13:5
How you feeling about Jesus in this story so far?
Bad News of the World I searched “Top world news stories” on Thursday when I was writing this sermon:
Man attacked with huge knife on busy street in London.
Horrifying murder of protesters by government authorities in Iran.
Over 130 civilians executed by Congo rebels.
Over two hundred thousand casualties so far in the war between Russia and Ukraine.
Just a normal Thursday.
Christians tend to be embarrassed by all the bad things that happen in the world. Like it’s bad P.R. for God. In theology, this is called “theodicy”—trying to defend God from the problem of evil. We bend over backwards in all kinds of goofy ways to get Him off the hook—protect His reputation.
He doesn’t want off the hook. It’s not a problem. He’s God. He made the hook. He made everything. He wants us to pay attention. He’s trying to get our attention because He wants to save us. Not from all the troubles in this world, which is temporary, a vapor, a mist, a momentary affliction—Jesus has overcome the world and He wants us to live by faith with the hope that He is saving us for something much better. A new world. A new creation. When He comes again in glory at His second Advent on the last day, all who repent and believe will be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, you will rise just like Jesus rose and live forever.
But Jesus says for the second time, “Unless you repent, you will perish.”
So, do you want the good news or the bad news?
Well, next He tells a nice little story about a very bad tree.
Verse 6…
And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ Luke 13:6-7
A man owns a vineyard, which is primarily a place to grow grapes for making wine. He had also planted a fig tree in the vineyard—there could be several reasons why he might have done that. They were used to check the quality of the soil, they were also used to keep the birds from eating the grapes—if the tree has good figs, the birds will eat them instead. Both of those reasons should remind us of the parable of sower and the seeds. Or, the man might just like figs.
But the owner of this particular tree was frustrated. For three years he kept showing up hoping to find some fruit on the tree but nothing was growing. He was tired of it wasting precious space in his vineyard so he told the vinedresser to “cut it down.” The vinedresser had an idea.
Verse 8…
And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ” Luke 13:8-9
The vinedresser is the guy who takes care of the vineyard. Boots on the ground. He’s the one who gets his hands dirty. The one whose sweat and blood are what make it grow.
You probably see where this is going. Vineyards represent God’s people all through the Bible—His people are His vineyard. So the owner is God. Jesus is the vinedresser. This fig tree is something new in the vineyard, a new people, the church, Christians. Notice how long He’s been tending this failure-to-launch stubborn little tree—three years. We should definitely be reminded of the three years of Jesus’ public ministry.
So God looks at this new people, the ones Jesus is working to save—and He says, “where’s the fruit? I don’t see any fruit. Cut it down.”
Harsh, right?
Should remind us of a bunch of Old Testament stories, though. Several times when God was frustrated with His people and threatened to wipe them out. Moses pleaded on behalf of the people, Abraham pleaded, David, the prophets. They were all pointing to the One who would intercede for God’s people once and for all.
So in the parable Jesus says, “Father, leave the tree alone this year, too. Let me do my final work. If it bears fruit next year then all is well and good. If there’s still no fruit—You can cut it down.”
You don’t want to be a fruitless tree.
Also, notice what Jesus says He’s going to do to the barren tree. He’s going to “dig around it and put on manure.” Doesn’t sound very pleasant. Not for the tree and not for the vinedresser.
But here’s the million dollar question—everything depends on how we answer this one. This might be the question that divides one denomination from another.
What’s the fruit?
What is it that God’s looking for? What does He want to see in His people? What will show Him the Gospel seeds have taken root?
What’s the fruit? It’s the same answer…
“I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
The fruit is repentance. Turning away from the bad and turning toward the good. Turning away from sin, and turning toward faith in Jesus. Repent and believe. That’s the fruit.
Repentance also means to replace the fruit of your sin (all the selfish ways you ignore and defy God) replace that rotten fruit with the fruit of the Spirit—which are gifts that all flow from Jesus working in us—from the Gospel taking root in us. Instead of being a barren, fruitless tree planted in God’s vineyard just taking up space—respond to the Gospel with repentance and faith in Jesus. You’ll start blooming with love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. All those things that flow from turning away from your sin and turning toward God—repentance and faith.
That’s the only way repentance happens. Repentance only happens as a response to the Gospel.
So, do you want the good news or the bad news?
Sometimes people say they’d rather have some good news but do you think that’s really true? Do you think people prefer good news over bad news? Doesn’t seem like it to me. I’ve never been glued to the weather channel because the forecast called for a beautiful day of sunshine and blue skies—tracking the good weather system with landfall predictions as it comes in from the Gulf. Ha.
The good news of the Gospel always comes from outside us—it’s not part of our nature. We’re naturally drawn to bad news. We’re more interested in speculation and lies, conspiracy theories and gossip. We like to see people shamed, get what’s coming to them—we like a scandal.
So we doomscroll. On social media or talk radio or the news. We got to keep that bad news flowing all over us, through our eyes and our ears—we suck it up. We bombard our soul with bad news. And we love it.
God has a different plan for us but it’s not easy. He says in Philippians that we should focus on something else—things that are not natural but so much better for us. He says to think about “whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things.”
I know, it sounds so corny. That’s because we’re used to bad news. Good news is an acquired taste. Like black coffee and good whiskey.
What if you made a deliberate attempt to turn away from the bad news and turn toward the good news. What if you made a deliberate attempt to expose yourself to more Gospel than doomscrolling—all that stuff you’re glad didn’t happen to you.
How many hours do you think you spend in an average week listening to all the bad news of the world? How many hours do you think you spend listening to God’s promises of what He does for you through Jesus that you can’t do for yourself. Do you think it’s even close, the balance between bad news and Gospel?
Here’s a practical tip, a little lifehack… Find one or two sources of news that you trust, and try to spend less time there than you do filling your heart, mind, and soul with the Gospel, the good news of God’s promises, the things that are worthy of thankfulness and praise.
If you need some suggestions for trustworthy news sources, check out The Pour Over and 1440 News Digest—those are the two I like. Whatever you do,try to limit your intake of bad news to one or two trusted sources and be done with it for the day. Then find a way to flood your soul with some good news—sacred music, Christian podcasts, books by Christian authors, conversations with church friends, or you know, read your freaking Bible.
People love to talk about bad news. Jesus made it very clear that He wants us to talk about good news. Spread good news. The Gospel. Every tragedy in the world should remind us of what God has done to save us. Maybe if we spent more time thinking about what God did for us through Jesus that we couldn’t possibly do for ourselves—maybe we’d want to text a friend about that. Call someone to encourage them instead of being so eager to be the bearer of bad news.
So, do you want good news or bad news?
Okay, here’s the part of the message the devil doesn’t want you to hear. This is the good news part—try to listen: As followers of Jesus, we have a perspective on suffering the world doesn’t understand. We get to view massacres and accidents from the perspective of the cross. Sin is the cause of all the suffering in the world, and we know where the forgiveness of sins can be found. Which is only in the resurrected Jesus, who promises to be with His people, with His church—especially when you gather like this in worship. You gather here with other believers who suffer all the pains of this world just like you do—you’re confronted here with the suffering Christ on the cross who was glorified in the resurrection. You have His promise that you will be comforted, you have His promise that you will have peace with God—that He’s redeemed you, planted the Gospel in you, and promises not to cut you down, because of Jesus, He sees in you the fruit of repentance and faith—you have the promise of life everlasting after your release from the pains of this world. That’s some very good news, don’t you think? Thanks be to God. AMEN.