"I Tell You, Nay..." And Why This Isn't About Us
Sermon Text || Year C: Third Sunday in Lent
I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke 13:3 or 5, KJV
When I was a lad, we would cite the “plan of salvation” and the verses to go along with it. When I was an adult, I passed on what I knew. This included the classic line that I’m guessing a lot of you have heard… “Luke 13:3 or 5.”
Why the “or 5” you ask? Because Jesus said it twice.
I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish. Luke 13:3
Let’s talk about this verse, what Jesus meant, and why it doesn’t make much sense to apply this passage to us. Of course, we still need to “repent,” but more on that later.
"I Tell You, Nay..." And Why This Isn't About Us
Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.’ ” Luke 13:1–9
Likewise?
Where the KJV has “likewise,” the NRSVus has “just as they did.”
Well, who is they?
Sometimes we can be so familiar with a passage, and so quick to skip over verse 4 with our “or five” that we miss what Jesus is actually saying here.
So, there are two major tragedies that everyone knew about: (1) there were people from Galilee who Pilate had killed, and (2) there were some who were crushed by a tower. The assumption in both of these stories is that they must have done something to deserve these circumstances.
Jesus’s answer is that something bad happening to someone doesn’t mean that they deserved it. Like with Job, sometimes bad stuff just happens.
However, Jesus takes this opportunity to warn them: unless you repent you will perish in a similar way.
What way is that?
The Romans will seek to destroy you, and buildings might collapse upon you.
You see, Jesus had a specific event in mind. He knew that if the people did not “change their mind” about what the Messiah was to be like, what the kingdom was to be like, how the prophecies were to be fulfilled, and what God is actually like, then they would be in danger of continuing the cycle of violence, and this would have horrible repercussions.
In Luke 19:41ff, Jesus said,
As he came near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, “If you, even you, had only recognized on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. Indeed, the days will come upon you when your enemies will set up ramparts around you and surround you and hem you in on every side. They will crush you to the ground, you and your children within you, and they will not leave within you one stone upon another, because you did not recognize the time of your visitation from God.” Luke 19:41–44
In another passage, Jesus similarly said,
“When you see Jerusalem surrounded by armies, then know that its desolation has come near. Then those in Judea must flee to the mountains, and those inside the city must leave it, and those out in the country must not enter it, for these are days of vengeance, as a fulfillment of all that is written. Woe to those who are pregnant and to those who are nursing infants in those days! For there will be great distress on the earth and wrath against this people; they will fall by the edge of the sword and be taken away as captives among all nations, and Jerusalem will be trampled on by the nations, until the times of the nations are fulfilled. Luke 21:20–24
In both passages, Jesus warned of exactly what he did in Luke 13: national judgment.
In foreseeing these things, Jesus was standing in the tradition of the prophets who often warned that practicing injustice would lead to the escalation of violence. Jesus offered them another way: change your mind.
Three Strikes or Four?
In the parable following these statements, Jesus told a parable of a fig tree that didn’t produce fruit for three years. The landowner wanted to have it destroyed, but the man working in the vineyard asked for one more year.
In the book of Amos, Amos addressed the nations in Amos 1-2. He started with the nations before moving to Judah and then Israel. In each of the addresses, he said, “Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of _______, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment…”
When Amos reached Israel, he condemned them for perverting justice. Read his scathing rebuke:
Thus says the LORD: For three transgressions of Israel, and for four, I will not revoke the punishment, because they sell the righteous for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals— they who trample the head of the poor into the dust of the earth and push the afflicted out of the way; father and son go in to the same young woman, so that my holy name is profaned; they lay themselves down beside every altar on garments taken in pledge; and in the house of their God they drink wine bought with fines they imposed. Amos 2:6–8
This pattern of three and four seems similar to what Jesus does in Luke 13, and I can’t help but think they are related, especially given Luke’s emphasis on economic justice.
Now, all of this is fine and good, but how might we apply it to ourselves today?
What About Us?
I do believe that we need to “repent.” Even though this passage was about a specific time and place and people, it doesn’t mean that it has no meaning for us today; otherwise, it wouldn’t have been included as Scripture.
First, repentance means to reconsider. It is a mental reset. We open ourselves up to the idea that we might be wrong, that our knowledge is less than perfect. We then consider what God is saying to us, and allow what God tells us to transform our lives.
One thing we might change our mind about is the idea that bad things happen to bad people. I think many of us have lived long enough on this earth to know that there always isn’t a rhyme or reason to why bad things happen. They just do.
But just because bad things can happen at random does not mean that they always do. When we make decisions, those decisions have consequences. Sometimes these consequences are minor: a scratch or a bruise or a hard lesson learned. Other times these consequences are far worse…
When we think over the course of our lives, we might remember a small decision that had major consequences, but do consider that the small decisions we make today can have huge consequences for our future, whether they be good or bad?
The seemingly small decisions we make today to better ourselves may end up changing our lives in huge ways while the small bad decisions we make today may end up hurting ourselves and others.
Yes, we need to change our mind and will to align with God, and when we do this, watch what fruit we’ll produce through the Spirit!
Lectionary Reading: March 23, 2025 - Third Sunday of Lent
Old Testament: Isaiah 55:1-9
Psalm: Psalm 63:1-8
New Testament: 1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Gospel: Luke 13:1-9