Any great teacher will be asked to comment on current issues as Jesus is here. We don’t know anything more about these events, but this was obviously a hot topic at the time. Jesus answers in his usual way, evading the political issues and focusing on the spiritual lessons to be learned by those who are present. His point is this: judgement is coming for all of us. So rather than speculate about others, we should be focusing on ourselves. Our self-assessment should focus, not on our quantity of failures or achievements. But on our fruitfulness. The Jews at this time were riven by conflicting political ambitions but somewhat united by a general sense of religious superiority. Ironically, their religiousness was keeping them from being fruitful because they were more concerned with religious self-justification than mercy and justice. Christians, and whole churches, can become fruitless when they remain preoccupied with distinguishing themselves by their own zeal or religiosity. Fruitful lives grow out of the humble soil of repentance. By this, I mean a willingness to be corrected by the Spirit of Christ in the deepest agendas of our hearts. You might be outwardly moral and zealous and yet full of inward hypocrisy. If you assume this doesn’t apply to you, then you are lost. But if you assume that it probably does and you seek God’s mercy and help, then your life will abound in fruitfulness. For spiritual fruitfulness grows out of repentance. Where there is growth, there will be fruit.
Ask God to search your heart and transform you in his mercy.
Read Luke 13:1-17
