Luke 13: 1 – 9 Guilt by Association

Luke 13: 1 – 9 Guilt by Association

At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them --do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!" And he told them this parable: "There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, 'For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. (So) cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?' He said to him in reply, 'Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'"

Who is more guilty? Those who are directly involved in a bad situation or those nearby? Those nearby have maybe just escaped for the moment. Unless they break free of what is going on around them, unless they in Jesus’ words “reform”, their judgment is only delayed, not done away with. This in another of Jesus “signs of the times” warnings. Look around says Jesus. See where you are heading, if you allow yourself to be swept along with the crowd. He finishes with a short parable about a barren fig tree. A farmer had a fig tree that had not produced one fig in three years. He is ready to throw in the towel and cut it down. But his laborer asks for a little more time- to fertilize it, to cultivate it, to give it one more chance to produce. Apparently time and patience are not infinite, for either fruit trees or people.