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JESUS PREACHES REPENTANCE AND HEALS A CRIPPLED WOMAN

Luke 13:1-17

Key Verse: 13:12-13

“When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.”

    Last week God reminded us that Jesus will come again with sudden, unexpected trouble for those who are not ready when he comes. Many souls among us repented for becoming lazy caring for Jesus work while he is out of town. This week the we can think of the urgency and necessity of repenting again and see a glimpse of God's compassion and power of God to set us free from Satan.

1) Jesus preaches repentance

    Let's read verse 1 together. "Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices." It looks at first as if somebody wanted to change the subject. It looks as if they wanted to stir up some political issues with Jesus since he was also from Galilee. Perhaps the fellows who came from Galilee were spreading some intrigue or some sort of anti-Roman sentiments. When they came to the temple to make a sacrifice Pilate found the best chance to show the Jews there is no secret hidden from Rome and that all rebels will be squashed without mercy. To make his point particularly clear he drained the fellows blood into the sacrifice blood that should have been sprinkled on the altar. Obviously it defiled the blood and made it impossible for the priest to offer it on behalf of those fellows. According to the law of Leviticus, a blood offering must be from a creature without spot or blemish. Galilee was on the outskirts of Jewish life. Some villages, including Jesus’ home town Nazareth were considered pretty shady. The death of these fellows at the hands of Gentiles, with no chance of forgiveness, must have left an impression on the mind of many that their secret lives were full of wicked intrigue and sins against God, so much so that God let the government destroy them before they could have their sins atoned for.

    What should Jesus do in light of this terrible news? Should he slink away from Jerusalem to avoid any more political controversy as a Messiah candidate? Should he get mad at Pilate for desecrating the temple and seeking to invalidate the Jewish faith? Maybe that is what the people telling the story hoped for. At least he could be able to tell them why it happened, since Jesus was getting well known as one with prophetic insight. But Jesus had no such cares. Listen to his reply.

    Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." What does Jesus answer tell us?

    First of all, the sufferings we face and how we die are not necessarily related to our individual sins. According to Jesus the fellows who died were no worse than any one else in town as far as their sinful deeds were concerned. It is hard for humans to accept that. We generally consider some sins not so bad while others are quite terrible. Some have no conscience at all when it comes to stealing. They rob from Microsoft without any sense of guilt in their mind at all when they install stolen software on their laptop. The same person would not imagine doing another sinful thing like a shooting rampage in the school or molesting children then eating them alive. People have such a relativisitic view of sins. Even the laws of punishment for trivial sins vs big ones are quite relativisitic from one country to the next. Have you noticed this phenomenon in your life? God is not like people in this. In God's eyes, sin is sin and all sin is equally wrong. Stealing a pack of gum is equally evil with molesting children and eating them alive. We are all equally sinful and deserving death as the worst of the worst sinners in our eyes. Jesus used the story of the murdered Galileans and the death of many in a building collapse to prove this point.

    Secondly, Jesus reply reiterates what we have known from the beginning of the Bible, that the wages of sin is death. Twice Jesus said, "But unless you repent, you too will all perish." Many of the people Jesus was speaking too felt they were OK with God because they kept the laws well enough. Many felt God's promise of eternal life was secure for them because they belonged to the God's chosen people, Israel and were descendants of Abraham. But they were wrong. They were in danger of perishing because of their sins, in spite of who they were and regardless of how good they thought they had been. It was time for them to repent and seek God anew. In the words, "unless you repent" and "you too", Jesus' saying echoes the story of the lazy servant in last weeks passage. There is a similar sense of urgency and diligence in repenting because the people in the examples died suddenly, without expecting that they would be forever cut off from this world. They were doing their own thing in this life, some were even worshiping God in the temple, but they died suddenly when the angel of death came out of nowhere. The world cursed by sin has many pitfalls and the chances to die instantly are all around us. We have to be ready to meet God at any moment, or we will die just like the people Jesus spoke of.

    Then what does Jesus mean when he tells us to repent? What are the benefits of repenting? Repenting got a bad connotation in the middle ages when men invented systematic methods of repenting. Depending on what sin a person confessed, they could be given some repentance procedures to make up for it. Say so many prayers, or climb the stairs so many times. This kind of pennance to prove sorrow abstracted the best example of repenting. See Paul, Peter, & the apostles for the good example of repenting. In a word, when they were convicted by Jesus’ words, they repented and followed him rather than their own ideas. In Bible study we learned that repent, means to turn around your life direction after acquiring knowledge. That’s an academic, literal meaning of what Jesus said. We would like to remain ignorant of the fact that we are sinners and just enjoy or sinful life, but we cannot anymore. Now the word of God has reached our ears, so we are convicted by it or saved through it. In light of this definition, we concluded that repenting for real is turning to God for salvation in Jesus, turning away from praising myself and believing that I am somehow good enough. the basis for repenting might be simply admitting that God was right all along, that I was born in a hopeless state of sinful tendencies, unable in and of myself to be free from their influence and unable to make up for enjoying their heinous pleasures that made me disregard God who made me. It’s humbling to repent in this sense, but it is a good thing. Repenting in this sense is learning to trust God for eternal life, and growing to love Jesus above all because he gave his life to save you from death. In this sense, repenting is growing in Holy desires to live for God and rejoicing with God all day, and looking forward to life with God forever.

    What about perishing? Luke’s gospel has a character of one or the other to me. In this case, repenting or perishing does not simply mean we will die in some tragic accident unless we repent. Rather it means that we will die in our sins and be forever destroyed in a punishing state of anguish. It could be the end of those Galileans because they died during their dead religious worship, rather than being baptized into Jesus’ name. It could as well be the end of the folks in the tower because they stayed in their house, rather than following Jesus from house to house in these last days of his mission. In this eternal sense of lostness, perishing is the universal end for impenitent sinners, who neglect to follow Jesus. Suffering in this world, and experiencing untimely death are nothing compared to that eternal suffering Jesus alludes to here and which he spoke of elsewhere. Are we any different from the folks Jesus was speaking to at that time? Maybe not. Let's read verse 5 together. "I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." We have to repent too, or we will perish. No one is excused because now we know our masters will. Perishing is bad, but thank God, repenting is not so bad. Jesus’ yoke is easy, and his burden is light. Coming to Jesus is a turn around after acquiring knowledge that he is the Lord of Lords and the only savior. Repenting then is coming to Jesus for forgiveness, and he makes us a new creation, a holy child of God who can serve God with joy and gladness. In light of the options, I don't understand why so many choose to perish.

    Jesus seems also frustrated by the attitude of the people he had been preaching and witnessing to over the years. Right after  telling them to repent, Jesus shared the story of a tree that had no fruit for three years. The owner of the garden was upset and asked the gardener to cut it down. Let's read the gardener's reply in verse 8&9. "'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'" Why do you think Jesus shared such a story? This tree story has many examples around us. One is the cherry tree in the back yard. For three years we did not know it was a cherry tree. But last year M. Matthew dug around it and put a big pile of fertilizer on it. This year there were many cherries and little Peter Perry was happy to pick them. This story also reminds us of all the Juniors. For three years they attended college wondering what to do in the world with their life. One girl testified how despair in the world led her to get drunk. She was about to be cut down for wasting the soil. But Jesus prayed for her and the others. Now there is one year left in school. We want to dig around them and fertilize them this summer with the word of God so they can be fruitful next year.

    There are many examples to see in this parable, most look at Israel, another looks at the whole world from Genesis until today, still another looks at every individual as a tree which Jesus is pleading for. To me the main point is, the servant of God's patience, prayer and diligence to care for the and his love to ask continual mercy for the fruitless tree. I think this kind of situation came up many times in the Bible, with Israel going astray and someone, Moses or another prophet was found pleading for them as a nation. Jesus might be sharing the same agony for the lost people around him who only hoped for a political revolution and the good life under Messiah's kingdom. If we share Jesus' care and practical hope, then we can continually ask God to bless the most fruitless person, and the most backward country and the most disobedient students. If we remember the gardener, pleading for mercy and a little more time, we have to thank God that he is patient with each of us though our gardens are not so fruitful.

    If I think of Jesus the gardener, pleading for mercy and the chance to fertilize the trees, I think the result was good fruit. After Jesus rose from the dead, people began to believe in him. Many Jews started to follow Jesus. They spread their message to many nations. Over the last several thousand years, there were many who repented to follow Jesus and lived a new life worshiping God who sent his only son to die for them. Truly the world became fruitful after Jesus dug around Israel, taking care of the disciples, sharing words of God, and shedding his blood to fertilize the faith of the ancient disciples. It repeats in every nation and place when God's servants give their all to share his kingdom with the lost.

    This adds another blessing to repenting. Repenting is also the chance to share the great victory over sin and death with the whole world. It is the amazing grace of God that we can become his prayer servants for our fellow man. Repenting leads us to the highest blessing of becoming like Jesus our master in so many ways. I had wanted to give up on sharing the kingdom with my family and the crooked world. I wanted to stop bothering them to repent because it seems to annoy them. But this example challenged me again to never give up praying for the fruitless people. As long as we keep the heart of Jesus for the lost souls alive in our bodies, we will see good fruit in due time too. Please think for one moment of your sheep and the students and the unbelievers, and the nation that is going farther and farther from God. Now let's read verse 8 and 9 again. " 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' " Let's work with the same attitude until Jesus comes. If there is no fruit then, I guess God will cut them down. I pray it will not happen to anyone here. But until then, his mercy reigns and we can plead with him again and again.

2) Jesus heals a crooked woman

    The next story shows the grace and power of God at work in Jesus. "On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all." That's a very scary story, and so dreadful to imagine the sight of the young lady who was controlled by the crippling spirit. She might look like an ape lady, hobbling around on her hands and feet because any time she tried to stand up, her body would not obey. The spirit in her bent her over severely. How ashamed she must feel to even venture out of her house after all those years of people staring at her. What amazing faith she had to seek Jesus help, coming before him at the only opportunity she could find, when she heard Jesus was in the synagogue. She knew it was the Sabbath day, perhaps she thought to wait for a chance to make an appointment for Jesus to check her out. Apparently she knew he could help, and she believed he would help but she had to get to Jesus and pray for a chance. She had to meet with Jesus. She came to the synagogue, determined to stay all day until dark and to follow Jesus wherever he went afterward in order to ask his help. She would wait in line no matter how long just for ten second consultation. Nothing was going to stop her. That was her faith when she set out that morning.

       Jesus must have felt her faith all morning long while he talked about the kingdom of God. He felt her agony of life and his heart was moved when he realized that all the while that is was the Devil who brutally punished the beautiful daughter of Abraham. Rather than wait for evening, as he had many other times, Jesus stopped his lecture and called the crippled woman to come over so that God's compassionate grace may pour out toward her. Let's read verse 12&13. “When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.”

    It was a day in the life of Jesus, blessing the silent but earnest faith of one child of God at a time. It was the happiest day of the woman's life when her body was restored to proper functionality. Until now all she could see in the world was people's dusty feet and perhaps some flowers by the way. Now she stood up and looked around at all the people she barely knew before. Their eyes were wide open and their faces were smiling with joy too. What could she do but praise God? Halelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah .... I am sure the crowd joined in too singing for a few more choruses.

    Just when the Hallelujah chorus was moving full speed, the synagogue ruler got upset. What a strange person. He stood up with great indignation and screamed at the people, "There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath." It looked like the party was over. Jesus had this kind of trouble before when he helped people in on the Sabbath days by healing them. He was not impressed by the synagogue rulers loud complaint at all. Jesus saw the burst of indignation as a chance for another life changing instruction about hypocrisy.

    The Lord answered him, "You hypocrites! Doesn't each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water?" Yes, they did that but they did not complain about that or consider it breaking the Sabbath. It was basic life giving responsibility to keep the ox or donkey alive and happy. They had a clear sense of responsibility to serve their animals with every day necessities, but no heart to serve the faithful people who had one chance in their life for help from God. Comparing their heart toward the woman Jesus called he a Daughter of Abraham. Isn't she so much more valuable and much more important than the donkey? Yes. Jesus asked, "should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?" Yes.

    The ruler became a hypocrite when he cared more about his donkey than about the people who were seeking help from Jesus. He could not love the suffering people with compassion because he felt they were breaking the law.  He blamed them rather than helped them. It's a mess, but that is how the religious hypocrites shut the door on the people who wanted to enter the kingdom of God. The hypocrisy gets bigger because they told the sick people to obey the law but then went and disobeyed the law themselves by feeding their donkey. It means their religious standard was based on their relative point of view. If there was obvious benefit for them, they could tweak the rules for their particular situation.

    Jesus met this kind of problem several times. It happened because the leaders simply would not accept Jesus as the Lord. He is the Lord of the Sabbath, King of Kings and Lord of Lords. He is the one who fulfills the legal need of keeping the Sabbath for his people, and he sets his people free from the curse of the law to serve God correctly. As the leaders let their donkeys free to have a drink, and just as Jesus set the woman free from her physical bondage, Jesus came to set the people free from Satan's spiritual grip. His grip on the world has power because of the law that proves we are sinners and condemns us to death for disobeying God. But Jesus sets us free. It is mentioned in Hebrews like this: He shared our humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. Freeing people from the power of Satan is the most important life-giving responsibility for Jesus. He is the master who leads his servants from death to life on the Sabbath and every other day. The religious leaders simply could not see Jesus as the Lord and provider and caretaker of their souls. Their fear of death was too great, so they fell into condemning everything that Jesus did, no matter how good it was. After Jesus rebuked the synagogue ruler, he was totally ashamed. But the people there were totally amazed. Luke said the things Jesus did were wonderful.

    Let’s read the key verse one more time. “When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, ‘Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.’ Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God.” Today, let's thank God today for Jesus’ lesson warning us again to repent. Let's thank God for his patience and help as we pray for the fruitless world and the crooked people. Let's pray to see his wonderful work of salvation among us as Jesus sets people free to praise God now and forever.