Friday, March 14, 2014
Luke 13:6-9 And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, 'Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"
IT'S LENT ... REPENT
Jesus told this parable to urge His disciples to repent when confronted with tragedies in life, to look not into the mind of God or the hearts of those who were struck down, but rather to look into their own hearts. "You repent yourself!" He said. That is, "See and confess your own sin; and turn to God trusting in Me for forgiveness." True repentance -- the saving repentance God works in human hearts -- consists of both sorrow over sin and faith in the Savior from sin.
God is like a patient gardener, giving us time in which to repent and bring forth the fruits of repentance. When we see lives tragically cut short, our reaction ought to be (where heart-searching is concerned) deep gratitude to God that He has given us more time to turn from sin to Christ -- and to show it in our lives.
Purple has been the "church color" for Lent for centuries -- for this is the the color Christians have long associated with repentance. Perhaps that was because in ancient times the richest hues of purple came from a small, some-what rare shell, which when crushed yielded one drop of dye. A vivid reminder that real repentance begins with a heart crushed in contrition.
At the same time, cloth dyed purple was rich in appearance and costly to acquire. It came to be associated with and reserved for the apparel of kings. Royal purple! Repentance that begins with a crushed heart is raised from the depths through faith in the saving Gospel that the very King of heaven became man, shed His blood and laid down His life to secure for us forgiveness of sin and peace with God.
The royal banners forward go; The cross shines forth in mystic glow
Where He in flesh, our flesh who made, our sentence bore, our ransom paid.
O Tree of beauty, Tree of light, O Tree with royal purple dight*;
Elect, on whose triumphal breast Those holy limbs should find their rest;
On whose dear arms, so widely flung, The weight of this world's ransom hung
The price of humankind to pay And spoil the spoiler of his prey.
(The Lutheran Hymnal, 168:1, 4-5)
* "dight" means arrayed or dressed
