Repentance is a turning to God in honest consideration of his mercy and your own mortality. In fact, Jesus is using the physical fate of those tragic victims as symbolic of the spiritual fate of unrepentant sinners. It will be clear, on our last day, that the question we should have been asking all along is whether or not our lives make sense.
Are our lives bearing fruit for God out of gratitude for the grace given us? Are we living in true faith? He came looking for fruit on it, but he did not find any. Cut it down. Why even let it use up the soil? If it produces fruit next year, fine. But if not, then cut it down. These days we have drip irrigation and plenty of water, but in that arid land the tree would take large amounts of scarce water and absorb precious nutrients at the expense of the other plants in the vineyard.
So, what would you do in a situation like this? The meaning of this parable is at first quite terrifying. The gardener intercedes, saying that he will fertilize and dig around the tree to see if it will bear fruit. And although nothing further is said, we assume the owner allowed this mercy. The fig tree is given a temporary grace-period, instead of its due destruction. I love this parable because of the one who tells is. He took the ultimate consequence of all sin and died the death we deserved.
You can have my fruit and I will save you! Whoever believes in me shall not perish, but have eternal life. I will work in you to produce the fruit which God desires. You need to loosen up the soil so that the roots can get the air and water they need to grow. The same is true of us spiritually. Over time the human heart can get hard and cold, just living in this world and from all sorts of other influences and worldly ideas that seem to seep into it without our noticing.
But when we repent, the Lord unearths the sinful attitudes and mindsets that crop up. Could this be a partial explanation as to why that tower fell on those eighteen people so long ago? Could this be a partial explanation to so many of the terrible things that happen in this world, or at the very least the one good thing God is constantly seeking to work out of the senseless tragedies sin causes in his world? We hear tragic news all the time and it is easy to grow numb, but we must not for there is a greater purpose.
Live a life of repentance. Turn to our God of mercy and find peace and hope. Pray on behalf of individuals and their families, and ask God to empower you to help them as you are able.
May the Spirit produce faithful fruit in your life and may you rejoice in the senseless love of Christ. Lutheran Synod.
Our Sermons A list of our latest Sermons. Reassurance is important, your kids will need it and so will you. The younger the child, the more true this is. Me, too. Provide opportunities to express thoughts and feelings.
In fact, responses to trauma and tragedy will most definitely be sensory. It might help to offer your children the opportunity to draw, paint, play with clay or playdoh, and join them in the creative process.
Show them ways they might be able to move their bodies to release some of the big feelings stomping feet, clapping hands, running or doing jumping jacks, squeezing a pillow or favorite plushy, wrapping up in a cozy blanket, giving a hug.
Practice the movement with them. Use books or favorite storybook characters to tell a story about the event or emotions offering various outcomes or interactions to help your child make some sense of what they are experiencing.
Normalize emotional responses. Get really curious about their experience and ask lots of questions. In processing images they might create or other non-verbal forms of expression facial expression, uncommon act of aggression, body tension, posture changes, etc. Hitting hurts. Does that hurt, too? The same goes for your own feelings. Trust your instincts. No one knows your children better than you do.
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