MARCH 7, 2010  SERMON TEXT

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

Dear friends, as you all know, there is something unsettling about a person dying in a tragic, unexpected way. That unsettled feeling is only heightened when the person dies while they are paying homage to God, or doing something religious. If nothing else the event causes people to pause for moment to think about it.

As you consider the unfortunate, ironic circumstances of such a person's death do you too begin to speculate about that person’s relationship to God.

If in the midst of this sermon, for instance, one of those large stones in the arch above this pulpit were to come loose, leading to my demise, apart from the celebration that would ensue, I would suspect that some might be tempted to think that it was either something I said or something I was about to say that brought down God's wrath upon me. Incredibly unfortunate deaths lead to speculative, even self-righteous answers as to why they happen.

Some Galileans, who had apparently irritated Pontius Pilate in some way, were offering sacrifice to God in the Temple one day. Pilate, perhaps in a symbolic gesture, put them to death mingling their blood with the blood of the sacrifice they were offering. What kind of a person dies such an ironic death?

These people, striving to live in fellowship, in communion with God, were struck down, God seemingly caring very little about their plight.

Apparently. some of the people had asked Jesus, "did you hear about those Gali-leans?" To which Jesus responded "do you suppose that these Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans, because they suffered such things?"

There were eighteen people at the tower of Siloam when it fell. All eighteen of them were killed. Experts suggest that the tower was at one time part of the eastern wall of the city of Jerusalem. Those people were there, minding their business, when all at once the tower fell on them and crushed them.

In this case, there really isn't any suggestion that there was a religious reason for these folks to be at the tower of Siloam. This was just an exceptional tragedy that got people to thinking what it must have meant in terms of God's judgment. Man, what kind of sinners must those people have been? The tower of Siloam, after-all, had stood in that place for centuries, apparently waiting for that fateful day, that seemingly appointed death of these unfortunate sinners.

Our reaction to another person's suffering can say an awful lot about our understanding of repentance and grace. Repentance is really what this whole reading from Luke 13 is about, isn't it?

The people saw the suffering of others and they speculated about what that suffering meant in terms of that person's relationship to God.

Jesus cautioned them, reminding them, in essence, that when it comes to sin, "all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God."

When the Galileans died and the people in Jerusalem died at the tower of Siloam, Jesus asked the important question, "do you think they were worse sinners than all other men?" In essence, do you think they got what they deserved? On a continuum of sinfulness do you think you deserve less?

Repentance is what this whole reading from Luke 13 is about. Again, as Jesus said, "unless you repent you will likewise perish."

We are going to talk about the nature of repentance then for a few moments, what repentance is. But first, a few words about what repentance does and what it doesn't do.

Repentance does not save you from your sin, but you cannot be saved without repentance. Does that make sense?

I'll say it again. Repentance doesn't save you from your sin, but you cannot be saved without repentance.

Sometimes a person will say "God forgives me my sins when I confess them to Him." In some sense that is true, as John says in his first Epistle "if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

There is a danger though that we begin to think of the act of repentance as the "life force," if you will, of our salvation…when, in fact, Christ is the "life force" of our salvation.

The fact is, many times you and I commit sins and we are not even aware that we have committed them. The question becomes "does God forgive you for those sins, or does He wait for you to confess them before He will forgive me?"

Well, since you’re not aware of them, surely it is the former. As the psalmist says "who can understand his errors?" In other words, who can know and discern every sin that he or she has committed?

You don't, and probably should never try to confess every sin because frankly you aren't even aware of the vast array of sins of which you are guilty. If repentance saves you, then you are, in theological terms, in a heap of trouble.

Rather, God, by the grace of Christ has given you a new relationship with Him. In fact, He has placed you into a new realm, the realm of grace. As St. Paul says elsewhere, He has "transferred us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of His beloved Son in whom we have redemption, even the forgiveness of our sins." "Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace IN WHICH WE STAND."

Our salvation, your salvation is in Christ, in His bloody sacrifice, His atoning death, in this grace IN WHICH YOU NOW STAND.

And yet, you cannot be saved without repentance…as Jesus said in Luke 13, "unless you repent you will likewise perish." Repentance is that acknowledgment that before you even do or don't do anything you are simply not right before God.

Let me try to illustrate…Some of you may have seen a few years ago the movie, it was a comedy, called "The Terminal." If you didn't, don't tune me out here. I think I can still make the point. The movie was about a man from a little country called Krackoziah. Tom Hanks played the lead role.

The man had arrived in New York City on a flight from his homeland. Apparently during the flight there was a military uprising in his country which rendered his Visa invalid. His government had been overthrown and so there was no authority to stand behind the issuance of his Visa.

To make a long story short he had to stay in the customs area of the terminal for what turned out to be months. He lived in a section of the terminal that was being remodeled. No one seemed to notice him. Initially he didn't speak any English at all. He wasn't sure what his status was in America. All he knew was that he wasn't allowed to set foot on American soil, to leave the terminal.

He would fill out the forms to leave and he would wait in line to present his forms to the clerk at the desk. And every time, the woman at the desk would take out her red stamp and she would mark his form "unacceptable." Tom Hanks looked at the form and in his Krockozian accent said "I am unacceptable."

And there in is the basis of repentance. "I am unacceptable" to God. No matter how many times I get in line and come back thinking I finally have everything in my life in order, that dreaded red stamp falls rendering its verdict. "I am unacceptable" to God, that is, apart from the grace of God in Christ Jesus.

The latter part of that statement, dear friend, is of greatest importance because repentance includes the trust that God has given us, the trust that He has given you, to lean upon the grace and mercy of His Son Jesus Christ. Tom Hanks, again the actor who played the key role in the Terminal, kept coming back to the clerk at the desk, in some ways symbolic of our Christian faith. He kept coming back knowing that at some- time that other stamp, the green one, would finally fall. "Acceptable."

To repent is to acknowledge that you are no better than the Galileans whose blood Pilate mixed with their sacrifices, nor are you any better than those people who perished beneath the tower of Siloam in Jerusalem.

To repent is to acknowledge that your "acceptance" before God is in Christ Jesus, who, in His death, carried your sins from you "as far as the east is from the west." "Acceptable," that is the good news.

You are "acceptable" to God.

And more than that, you are holy and righteous before God because of the sacrifice of His Son.

You know, I don't expect one of those stones above this pulpit to come crashing down in the next few minutes, but, if one did, what could you say? What would be the sinners appropriate response? How about…

"Just as I am without one plea
But that thy blood was shed for me
And that thou bidd'st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come."
"Just as I am and waiting not
To rid my soul of one dark blot,
To thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come."

Christ Is Risen.

AMEN