Jesus teaches about the need to get right with God
(From the Gospel of Luke, chapter 13, verses 1-9)
Everywhere Jesus went, he healed people who were sick. He taught everyone about the Kingdom of God.
One day he was teaching and healing near the Sea of Galilee. Someone told him, "Jesus, some people from our village went to Jerusalem to pray and worship God in the Temple. While they were there, the Roman governor Pilate ordered his soldiers to kill them." The man began to cry. He continued speaking, "My friends were killed in the Temple. How could God let that happen? Was God mad at them? Did God think they were bad people?"
Jesus asked the crowd, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were worse sinners that all the rest of you?" He knew that many people believed that if something bad happened to you it was because God was angry at the way you were acting and wanted to punish you.
Jesus told the people around him, "When you sin, you turn away from God. This bothers God, because God want to be very close to you. But God doesn't want to punish you for your sins. God wants you to repent. God wants you to try again. When you repent, you turn back to God and try again to live the way God wants you to."
Then Jesus told them this parable:
A man had a fig tree in his vineyard. One day he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, "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?" The gardener 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."
Questions to think and pray about:
Have you ever wondered if God has anything to do with bad things happening to good people?
Have you ever done something that you knew would disappoint God? How did you try to set things right with God?
Do you know that God loves you very, very much, even when you mess up and make mistakes?
Jesus' parable is about bearing fruit. What does it mean to "bear fruit" for God? How are you "bearing fruit"?