Unless You Repent

God Instructs the People of God

Listening for God in Changing Times:

Return to Obedience

Luke 13:1-9

The Message

Unless You Turn to God

 ^1-5About that time some people came up and told him about the Galileans Pilate had killed while they were at worship, mixing their blood with the blood of the sacrifices on the altar. Jesus responded, "Do you think those murdered Galileans were worse sinners than all other Galileans? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die. And those eighteen in Jerusalem the other day, the ones crushed and killed when the Tower of Siloam collapsed and fell on them, do you think they were worse citizens than all other Jerusalemites? Not at all. Unless you turn to God, you, too, will die." ^6-7Then he told them a story: "A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren't any. He said to his gardener, 'What's going on here? For three years now I've come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?'
 ^8-9"The gardener said, 'Let's give it another year. I'll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn't, then chop it down.'"
  
For Reflection 

"You can lead a horse to water..."   When bad things happen, is it always a result of God's hand?  Not in these passages.  Those who suffered death were just a sinful as all the others.  The apple tree was given chance after chance to bear fruit.  The Gardner will invest even more into this fruitless bush.  How does this story parallel your life?
Pray
to respond the the Spirit which resides within you.  Pray for others that they will also respond to the spirit.  Offer thanksgiving for the love and care God has extended to you.