by Sal Huckel
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Read Matthew 3:1–12
Today’s passage invites us to the banks of the Jordan, where John the Baptist was preparing the way for Jesus’ ministry. His humble lifestyle and calls to repentance were already bringing the people to respond to their sins and be baptised by John in the river. Not surprisingly, also came the conflict with the Pharisees and Sadducees.
John’s reprimand and call to repentance is stark. We might feel that it was well deserved. After all, we do know much about the Pharisees and the Sadducees and their apparent hypocrisy. Paul himself was a Pharisee. While the Pharisees and Sadducees had doctrinal disagreements, they were united in their efforts against Jesus. Here, John’s warning is for them all.
What can we learn here today? We can study the baptism John was bringing, how Jesus’ baptism is the one we need and the meaning it has for us now to be baptised into Jesus’ baptism. We can also ponder what it means to ‘produce fruit in keeping with repentance’. How does that look? What do we need to repent of? We sometimes hear that Jesus simplified the Ten Commandments and that we don’t need to worry about all of those anymore; we are not ‘under the law’. However, Jesus said he did not come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfil them (Matthew 5:17).
Unless we understand God’s law, we cannot properly repent. We may feel the law is less prescriptive and onerous ‘since Jesus’, but if we begin to unpack the Ten Commandments and look at Martin Luther’s explanations – the Small Catechism is very helpful on this – we will see that they go further than we might expect. It’s a misleading idea that ‘Jesus replaced them’. Helpfully, rather like the ways in which it is best to teach children, Luther offers positive instruction to further expand on the negatives.
Start today with commandment number one: ‘You shall have no other gods before me.’ We don’t have to look very far to see the things that compete for our attention, love and trust. How can you fear, love and trust God above all things today? To produce fruit in keeping with repentance, we need to follow through with this.
Father God, help me to more fully understand the law written in our hearts (Romans 2:15) and produce fruit in keeping with repentance. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Sal is married to Pastor Matthew Huckel, and they live in Victoria with their six children, enjoying their ministry with Moorabbin–Dandenong Lutheran Church. Their two eldest children are excited to study at undergraduate and postgraduate levels during term time in Sydney. Theology, music, philosophy, literature and history are passions the family shares and explores together. Sal loves writing, speaking and walking to the beach at every opportunity.
Where is the vineyard?
by Kathy Matuschka
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But the residents of the city were divided: some sided with the Jews, and some with the apostles (Acts 14:4).
Read Acts 14:1–6
Every reading since Sunday has included (and even featured) a vineyard. Where is our vineyard today? The only organic elements seem to be people! And the people are in a muddle, to put it mildly. The community is not in a healthy way.
When Paul and Barnabas visited Pisidian Antioch during Paul’s first missionary journey, almost the entire city listened to them speak (Acts 13:44). While not all were converted, many Jews and Gentiles became followers of Jesus.
As they continued to Iconium in the same region, Paul and Barnabas were met with increasing opposition. While some locals were interested, others plotted to stone them. So they continued to Lystra, where they sadly were stoned!
As we read, we might wonder whether their mission to this region will bear fruit. But already in Acts 14:21,22, there is evidence of new shoots appearing: Paul and Barnabas returned to Iconium and encouraged those who had become followers of Jesus!
Later, Paul visited the region with Silas, and we read that one of the converts was Timothy, who joined them on their missionary journey. And so, the church grew.
It’s easy to judge the Jews who refused to recognise the coming of the Messiah and the fruit of God’s Spirit among them, resisting a new message from God to the point of violence.
But how often do we encounter division within Christian churches, between followers of Jesus? People feel passionately that either something needs to change or that it needs to remain unchanged. Each person believes themselves faithful to God’s word. Anxieties manifest themselves. Tensions increase as people choose sides. Judgements get made, and we hurt one another.
Dear God, thank you for planting me in the ‘vineyard’ where I am. Please forgive me for the times I judge my fellow believers harshly. Please help me to see the ways I inadvertently encourage misunderstanding or division in your church. Renew my heart and mind. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
Pruning season
by Kathy Matuschka
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He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit (John 15:2).
Read John 15:1–16
Yesterday, we finished our reflection imagining ourselves as fig trees in need of digging and fertilising so that we might bear more fruit. You don’t mind if we continue that train of thought, do you? (Ouch!)
Today, we zoom in to consider one plant in a vineyard. Jesus describes himself as the vine, and those who follow him as its branches. (Paul does something similar in Romans 11:17, when he refers to us Gentiles as wild olive branches grafted into a cultivated olive tree through Jesus Christ.)
The verse above has been very important at different times of my life. I first encountered its power as a young adult, when I wondered why serving God was not bringing me greater joy and satisfaction. I thought I was following Jesus, but I continued to struggle with depression, shame and self-doubt. What was going on?
One day, as I was reading this passage, I noticed that God cuts off branches that bear no fruit (I remembered that bit), but there was more! The branches that bear fruit are pruned so that they can bear more fruit. With the help of God’s Spirit, I saw I was being lovingly pruned so that I could bear more fruit. It still didn’t feel great, but what a comfort it was to know my loving Lord cared enough about me to personally intervene in ways that would enable me to become more fruitful!
This passage continually comforts me when pruning time comes around. I’m learning that pruning time is a time to be still. It’s not time to concern myself with how fruitful I am or where this is leading, but to rest in God’s wise and loving care.
Dear Jesus, thank you for coming to live with us and doing all the work so we can be connected to you forever. Thank you, Holy Spirit, for empowering us to grow in fruitfulness. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.
This isn’t smelling great!
by Kathy Matuschka
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He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it’ (Luke 13:8).
Read Luke 13:6–9
So far this week, a vineyard has featured in every Bible reading. The vineyard has had a versatile role, covering the thriller (bad vineyard tenants), romance (Song of Solomon) and historical (return of the exiles from captivity) genres. Today, the vineyard plays a supporting role, with a fig tree taking centre stage in a parable.
The fig tree is planted in a vineyard. While it offers shade for the workers, it fails to produce fruit for the owner, who instructs his worker to cut it down. The worker begs for one more chance: he will dig around it and apply fertiliser. Then, if it still doesn’t fruit, they’ll cut it down.
The story’s context is that Jesus has just been teaching about the end times. Reflecting on recent tragedies, he assures his listeners that the people who died were not worse sinners than anyone else. Jesus challenges them to remember that death comes to everyone, and so they should repent (learn to see things God’s way) while they still can.
Like the vineyard worker, God is patient and merciful, but there is a hard deadline for them – and for us. The deadline is our common humanity: we all die.
Life and death are unpredictable. Death often comes suddenly. The drama of the fig tree is left in suspense: Will the tree bear fruit, or is it in its final year?
As Christians, we live with this suspense. We are not always confident about our fruitfulness. Sometimes God digs around our base, which leads us to feel wobbly and uncertain. Sometimes God allows something in our lives that doesn’t smell like it would be good for us (like fertiliser)!
Jesus urges us to repent. As individuals and communities, God’s Spirit calls us to see things in a way we haven’t before. So that we can produce fruit that we never imagined we could.
Dear God, thank you for your patience and mercy. Thank you for what you are doing in my heart right now. Please help me to bear good fruit. Amen.
Kathy is learning to give up her struggle to make sense of God and God’s world, and instead rest in the mystery of love that holds her each day.