By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
March 30, 2025
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Luke 15:1–3, 11b-32 (ESV)
1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3 So he told them this parable: 11b “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” ’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’ ”
Today we discuss arguably the most well known parable of Jesus. I am sure we have all thought about it many times over the years. I know I have. But like usual when I approach it this week I am once again fascinated by the story.
“A man has two sons and the younger says to the father give me the share of property that is coming to me.” We often look at this story and we focus on one of the two sons. I believe the first time I spoke on this passage while here at Willow Creek, I focused on the older son. The last time I spoke on this parable I focused on the younger son hiring himself out to one of the citizens. This time I am going to take a different approach.
The younger son wanted the property.
Our initial thought is that this was an ungrateful son only concerned with money. We judge this younger son. We fixate on his sinful behavior. This is part of the story and it is right for us to look at that. But there are layers to scripture. Layers upon layers that each reveal something amazing about the kingdom of God, here on earth as it is in heaven.
The word property in English is used four times in this passage. The younger son wants his share of the property, now. This is somewhat uncommon in ancient times but not unheard of. Inheritance law among the Hebrew people was important and structured. This man had two sons so it is actually fairly easy to calculate. The father’s estate would be divided into thirds, and the older son would receive two thirds and the younger son would get a third. The reason behind the double portion is fairy straight forward, when the father passed away the eldest son would become the patriarch of the family, he was the social safety net. The younger siblings would go out into the world to make their own name, while the oldest would remain at the family manor to preserve the family name and estate. The requirement of the double portion came with strings, the younger siblings were always welcome back into the family. If their investments did not pan out the eldest sibling was to welcome them back, ensuring that their siblings did not starve.
The uncommon part of this is that usually the inheritance was not divided until after the death of the father, although it was not unheard of. That is why Jesus uses this to teach. There were contemporary issues at play. Remember there was one conversation with a wealthy man regarding income dedicated to the temple, so it could not be used to assist their aging parents. This is what is going on in this parable. The living parent divided their property prior to their death, and the living children were unwilling to support their parents.
We look down at the young man in this family. He gets that reputation for a reason. He desires wealth and he is impatient. His desire is to live extravagantly and he does not care about much else.
As I mentioned before there are layers to scripture. And the layers that inspired me this week was the word property. Upon first look this does not seem too interesting when we look at the passage in English. But in Greek there are actually two different words used that are translated as property. The first is Ousias (pronounced oo-see-ah). This word refers to capital or financial wealth. This is the property that the young man is speaking of when he is demanding his portion of the inheritance. This word is used two times in this passage, both times is in reference to the young man. The first is when he is demanding his share, and the second time is when he squandered his wealth or property in the foreign land. But I said property was mentioned four times in this passage.
The second word translated as property is bion which is a form of the word bios. Usually when we see this word we think of life because most of us only encounter this word when we are speaking of biology. When used in this manner the word refers to livelihood or manner of life. It is the totality of this man’s being.
I have read this passage multiple times. I have studied and spoke on this passage several times, including at least twice here. And I did not notice that there was two words translated as property, even after reading the same commentaries. This is why the study of scripture is so fascinating. Each time we read them something different is revealed. It is not that it is completely unknown, but the circumstances of our life are different so it hits our minds differently.
This man’s son comes to him demanding a third of his wealth, a third of his property. And this man divides his life between them. I want you to sit with this for a moment. He bestows his life to his sons. He pours his life, his lifestyle into his sons.
I want you to think about what that means. It is more than wealth, more than real estate or financial capital. He gives his life for his boys.
When we think of livelihood, or lifestyle, this includes a great deal. In the Hebrew culture their was a basic educational system within the synagogues where the boys would go and learn the scriptures. This was to train them to become men within the community. Then when they reached what was considered adulthood, around the age of twelve or thirteen, they would go to the temple and offer sacrifices for themselves. At this time there were potentially two paths available to them. They could be invited to live as a disciple of one of the rabbis or they would learn a trade, usually follow in their father’s business. It was an honor to continue with their education, but this was not always an option because to follow in the footsteps of a rabbi meant that your family would be required to pay the rabbis for that education. Most families could not afford to allow their children to take that route, and we see this even in the life of Jesus. When his parents lost Jesus in Jerusalem for three days, they found him with the rabbis discussing scripture and the teachers marveled at Jesus’s knowledge. He most likely would have been asked to stay and learn, to become one of their disciples, but his mother spoke up. She chided Jesus for treating them badly. I always wondered why she was so upset when she should have been overjoyed at finding him safe. But I got to thinking, Jesus embarrassed her. He put her and Joseph in a position where they had to stand before the elite of their community and basically announce that they were financially unable for their son to be a disciple. And Jesus went home with them.
I have been in that position too many times. I have had to admit that I cannot afford what my children want. I do not have the wealth.
The second path is to return to the father’s house, to learn the business, to work along side your relatives. The vast majority of young Israelites were in this group. And this was the path that Jesus took as well. Jesus went home and learned the trade of Joseph. We commonly know this trade as being a carpenter but it was more than that. He was a craftsman, a handyman, he was a construction worker. Most likely he was a stone mason because the word used can mean all those things. Jesus went home and he learned the livelihood, of Joseph. Joseph and the rest of the family taught Jesus and all the young men of their family. They showed them how to handle the tools. They taught them how to make the material do what they wanted and needed it to do. And by the time Jesus entered his ministry, he had seventeen years of experience in construction. He would have been known as a master builder.
Parents invest their lives, their livelihood and lifestyle into their children. They teach them how to live. They show them what to do, and how to provide for their family. As a parent we teach our children what is important to us and they take these things with them into their lives.
Jesus in this parable says that the man divided his property, or his livelihood between the boys. This man diligently taught the boys what was important to him, and how to live as he did. But all too often the youth do not recognize the wisdom our parents bestow to us. We go off on our own thinking we have everything under control and that we will be successful in our own right. We head out of the house knowing everything but then reality sets in.
This young man gathered all he had. And he went away to a far country. He left home to start his own job. His brother received the farm, he had to make his own way. He would need to get a job in the city so to speak. And we are told that he squandered his property, his wealth, in reckless living.
At this point we are not told what he did with his financial capital. We assume he went out throwing parties and lived it up but this is only alluded to us by the discussing between the father and the older son later in the passage. Jesus does not tell us if that was actually how the man squandered his capital. All we know to this point is that he was reckless.
If we are to look up the word for reckless, it is undisciplined. Usually this refers to a vice, but there are other ways that we can be reckless. Maybe he invested in a business that failed. Maybe he gambled on the gladiator games. Maybe he did throw parties as his brother suggested. He was undisciplined, he went to a far off country and he disregarded the teachings of his father. He turned his back on his father’s property.
“And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed the pigs.”
The last time I spoke on this passage I mentioned that the sense of the phrase, “hired himself out,” was more than simply getting a job. He bound or cleaved to that citizen. Which means he fully integrated himself into their society. He completely turned away from his heritage and he became a citizen of the foreign land. He spoke their language, he ate what they ate, he worshiped how they worshiped. As far as anyone could tell he was just one of them.
But there was a famine in that country, and his job was to feed the pigs. This was an insult to someone of Hebrew heritage. To this day for swine are thought of by the Jewish culture as the definition of unclean. Anything in connection with them is unclean. The food, the skin, the meat, everything connected to a pig is unclean. This was widely known in ancient cultures as well. One of the greatest antisemitic thing to do was to force them to handle pigs. And the abomination that causes desolation that our contemporary end times theologians tend to speak so much about was something that happened historically when a pig was offered as a sacrifice in the temple to the one true most high God. Which desecrated the temple and initiated the revolt lead by Judas Maccabeus.
This man was out in the fields feeding the pigs. He was out in a foreign land, a culture he fully embraced and became integrated into. He was there after squandering all his wealth only to find that his investments dried up and he was starving, longing to eat the slop he was feeding to the pigs. And then there was a revelation. No one gave him anything.
No one gave him anything.
We often overlook this statement, but it is at this point the story changes. After he recognizes this we are told that he came to himself. Something connected in his mind, causing him to change his way of thinking.
“How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!” he says to himself.
I again want us to stop and just let that sit with us for a moment. The man divided his property between them. He divided his life, his lifestyle, his wisdom and teaching. He taught his boys what was important to him. And this young man began to realize something important. In his father’s house, even the hired servants had food. His father’s livelihood, his wealth was not focused on the material aspects of life. He did not care about money or profit. What was most important to his father was life. His father used what he had available to him to invest into the lives of those around him, and not one of his hired servants went hungry. And in this foreign land, no one gave him anything.
Grace and mercy was the true wealth his father possessed. Grace and mercy.
His father did not give out of expectation to receive. Instead his financial profit grew from of his grace and mercy. This young man after losing everything realized that grace was missing from his current cultural experience. Mercy was absent in the society in which he was residing. And he said to himself, “I will repent. I will return. I will go to my father and confess, I will seek his mercy and his grace.”
He rose up and began to walk. He walked from the field of pigs, and began that long journey of self assessment and repentance. And while he was still a long way off, while he was still far from his father his father saw him and ran out to meet him. His father embraced him, kissing him. This young man began to confess his sins to his father, yet while he was speaking his father was putting grace and mercy into action.
And this is where the other son comes into the story. The other son did not leave. The other son did not demand his portion of the inheritance, yet his father divided his property and gave it to him as well. He had lived with the father. He had known everything the father had known. He had participated in the life of the father never once turning away.
But he refuses to participate today. His father comes out to him. Again the father meets his son at a distance and this son complains to the father. “Never once did you give me a goat to celebrate with my friends, but when this good for nothing son of yours comes, this one that devoured your property with prostitutes you kill the fattened calf.”
This is the forth use of property, and this again is bion or bios, the form word that means life, livelihood, or lifestyle. This older son is complaining that this younger brother had devoured his father’s good name, he became an embarrassment to the father’s reputation.
This older brother, although he lived with the father, had not understood the father’s teaching either. He, like the younger brother, was focused on profit and wealth, he was focused on the transaction and getting what is deserved. The younger son did not deserve a celebration. He sold himself to a foreign culture. He was a sinner. He did not earn his place in that family. But neither did the older son.
The father said to him, “You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.”
Grace and Mercy. No one gave him anything. And he came to himself.
I sat this week in study. I sat in prayer. And I came to myself. We live in a worldly system where the norm is so often, “no one gave him anything.” we live in a society where everything is transactional. Our world leaders go out demanding payment for assistance. We become irate because we are seemingly not getting the same treatment as someone else. And we want that to change. But we are missing the point of the kingdom. It is not about profit. It is not about property in the sense of financial gain, but life.
Our focus should not be on what I get but what I can give to encourage others. It should not be on my own enjoyment, but how I can be a blessing to those around me. We so often sit in the pig slop lamenting because “no one gave me anything,” or we sit brooding over the fact that someone is getting something they do not deserve. And we fail to live. We fail to recognize that the true profit of life is in others. The kingdom is loving God, embracing the holy spirit, and living the love of Christ with others. Let us come to our senses and reflect that life, that lifestyle with all we meet this week.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 10, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 3:13–22 (ESV) 13 Now who is there to harm you if you are zealous for what is good? 14 But even if you should suffer for…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church May 03, 2026 Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 2:2–10 (ESV) 2 Like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, that by it you may grow up into salvation— 3 if indeed you have…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 26, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili Query 4 (Faith and Practice of EFC-MAYM pg 61) Do you provide for the suitable Christian education and recreation of your children and those under your care, and…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
March 23, 2025
Click here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 13:1–9 (ESV)
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 6 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. 7 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?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
Where does one start with today’s passage? With this month’s Quaker Query? With this week?
Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and in humble dependence upon Christ, the spiritual gifts with which you have been entrusted?
For those that may be newer to our Meeting, the Quaker Queries are something unique that Friends contribute to the Church’s spiritual practices. They are a series of questions that pertain to the beliefs we say we hold, and we are to consider them prayerfully, allowing the Spirit of God to examine our hearts as we confess our answers to Him. I say it is unique to Friends, but it really is not. People have asked probing spiritual questions since the beginning of time, but it is something that the Protestant branch of the Church have neglected and something we as contemplative people picked up.
Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Of the ten Queries we have in the Faith and Practice, this is one of my least favorite. My mind wanders as I consider it, and I often ask myself if God is keeping attendance records? The answer is no, God does not keep attendance. But there is something more to this, do you participate in them actively.
When I first came to Willow Creek, I came as a co-pastor. This was something new to me and to John Harkness, and we had to figure out how to divide the tasks between us, and to make sure we were seen as equals. Sunday mornings it was fairly easy to do, we just divided things up every other Sunday, and for Easter and Christmas we both stood aside and focused on praise, scripture and Holy Silence. This left the mid week services. Who would teach and who would listen? Or would we divide that up too. At the time we had a few children in the church, and we wanted to make sure the parents knew that they could bring their children so I opted to teach the kids, because we were of similar maturity.
I loved those discussions. I would come to church those Wednesday evenings with a small lesson prepared, a lesson I still do not think I ever gave since I am fairly certain they came to bible study with a goal to see just how far off topic they could get me to go. We had lessons on cheese, and how we could teach people about Jesus by looking at a quarter. I do not know if any of them actually learned anything, but there was one topic that was discussed. Church is boring. This statement actually rattled me a bit. I was trying my hardest to make our discussions as interesting and fun as I could possibly do, and yet it was still boring. Had I failed?
I looked at those students that evening and said yes it is boring. And then I asked them why is it boring? Several answers were given, answers I am sure you could probably anticipate. We were not singing enough popular songs. We needed more videos. I would rather just play games. I looked at them and eventually I said, “Church is what you want it to be. If it is boring it is because you want to be bored.”
This is what is at the heart of this query. This is why I struggle with it so much. Church is boring. But what am I doing? How am I participating? Am I contributing and using the gifts and abilities I have to assist those within our Meeting to make it less boring?
You might think that this is a call to change our format, to change our music, to change how we worship, maybe putting in a light show and some smoke or bubble machines. No, that is entertainment, that is not participation. Sure we want musicians to use their gifts, but that does not make it any less boring, because the church is a body. It needs a proper diet, regular activity, and rest. Just like our physical bodies, we are what we eat.
“There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, ‘Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?’”
This seems like a weird passage, especially a weird passage to bring up while discussing a query. But I want us to think about this.
The Gospel writer Luke is one that was very careful in his writings. He tried very hard to report things accurately. He even says in the first verse, “Inasmuch as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things that have been accomplished among us, just as those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of the word have delivered them to us, it seemed good to me also, having followed all things closely for some time past, to write an orderly account for you, most excellent Theophilus, that you may have certainty concerning the things you have been taught.”
We are not sure who this Theophilus is. But some scholars believe that the reason Luke was so meticulous in his Gospel, why he made sure of including the names of certain people, as well as places and events, was because Luke was preparing a legal defense for his friend Paul, who was facing a trial that could claim his life. It could be that the most excellent Theophilus was the one that was presiding over that trial. I want us to consider this as we think about today’s passage.
Luke writes this down, he includes a testimony of a horrific event where people of faith were murdered by the Imperial Governor while they were worshiping. He did this because the ferocity between the Hebrew people and the government was well known in the Imperial courts. Pilate was known for his draconian sentiments to rule. He was swift to use the sword to quell any potential uprising, and when the Hebrew religion required the entire population to migrate to one place at one time, violence was sure to follow. With all that being said, we do not know of which incident Luke speaks of today. There are some historical accounts outside of scripture that could fit the description, but none fit completely. This does not mean that it did not occur. The incidents we do know of, were horrific, so it is possible that it occurred but it was not as terrible as other events so it did not make it to the imperial courts.
Luke wants us to know that people came, likely from the very event, and shared the story with those around Jesus. But Jesus takes that conversation in a direction that was unexpected.
The Galileans were known for their nationalistic tendencies. It was from Galilee that the Jewish wars that eventually brought war to Jerusalem began. The Galileans were often regarded as the uneducated, rural extremists. They were quick to encourage taking up arms, because they did not have much to lose. Unlike those that lived in the more established urban centers of the region. Some might have considered these men to be freedom fighters, martyrs of sort. While others would consider them to be fanatics that got what they deserved.
They were discussing this among themselves and Jesus calmly chimes in. “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners that all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way?” This stopped the conversation cold.
Do bad things happen to bad people and good things happen to good people? This is a common belief among many. It was one of the belief systems within the Zoroastrian faith in Persia, it is something many religions in the East hold to, and something that many today believe. People get sick because they have sin, your business fails because of sin. If your marriage crumbles its because you had sin. At times yes, that is very true, but there are other times where this is not the case. And this line of thinking shows us that the people of ancient Israel were more pluralistic than we might think.
They incorporated within their thought process aspects of the dualistic spirituality of the people of Persia while they were in exile. They include the philosophical thoughts Hellenism. They hear spiritual discussions from exotic locations and they attempt to harmonize them with their own faith. And Jesus calls them out. He asks them if these are good men or sinners. And if they were good why did they suffer?
The world is filled with many spiritual teachings. Many within our community are good people, according to our world’s standards. But are the better than everyone else? And when suffering happens, does this mean they were hiding secret sin?
Jesus says, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
The clear understanding of this verse, the surface understanding is that Jesus is saying that everyone is a sinner. He is saying that no one is good. That we all deserve to have our blood mingled with our sacrifices. And I have heard many sermons saying that. I am not one that lets things sit on the so called clear understanding of scripture. I know that there is something more to what Jesus is telling us. Some teaching that sheds light to a greater understanding of God.
I think this can be found in pronouns. Jesus asks, “Do you think they are greater sinners since they suffer.” And then he say, “No I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Notice the pronouns. They and you. They were judging them. They were focused on them, and Jesus says you.
We cannot know if they are good or bad. We cannot know if they were spiritual or not, if they believed in God, in Jesus, or if they were secretly practitioners of the dark arts. We cannot know them unless they tell us. Everything we can say about them is pure speculation. And you can go onto Facebook and Twitter…I mean X and see where that gets us. Speculations divides, it kills community. It sets us up against each other in an us verses them formation. And once we get into that train of thought, we are no longer able to approach a discussion rationally. Instead we want to cut off the seemingly erroneous branch.
Jesus turns the table and says, “No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” The only people you have any control over is yourself. The only person you can speak for is yourself. The only person you bear full responsibility for is yourself. We can speculate all we want on what someone else thinks but what about you?
This leads us to the parable of the barren fig tree. The fig tree is a symbolic plant. It symbolizes peace, prosperity, and hope. In the the area surrounding the Mediterranean figs bear fruit twice a year. The first fruits come out in February, and when the leaves appear these first fruits are ripe. Then later in the summer just prior to autumn the second harvest is ready. The fact that it bears fruit twice a year is why it became a symbol of prosperity. And peace comes from what is required to establish an orchard.
The prophet Micah says this, “3 He shall judge between many peoples, and shall decide disputes for strong nations far away; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore; 4 but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree, and no one shall make them afraid, for the mouth of the Lord of hosts has spoken. 5 For all the peoples walk each in the name of its god, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God forever and ever.”
It takes years to establish a vineyard or an orchard. It takes work. Pruning, grafting, irrigation, harvest at just the right moment. To be able to sit under our own fig trees means we have the time to dedicate to our fields and orchards. We have abundance because we are not going out to war. So like the olive branch the fig tree is a symbol of peace.
Jesus says, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to his vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tee and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’”
Think about that for a moment. There is impatience in this man. He wants the prosperity and peace right now and if he cannot have it at this moment he wants it removed.
“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.”
The owner wants to cut it down, the ruler wants the fruit right away, but the laborer understand something that the owner does not understand. The owner does not work with the plants, he does not know what goes into it. All he knows is the profit. It is the vinedresser that knows what is required to make the plant prosper. It is the people within the community, the fields, that know how to bring produce from soils.
This man knows the life cycle of the tree, he knows the seasons. He knows with just that if he could only invest some time and energy into this tree. If he opens the soil to let the air get to its roots. If he mixes manure into the soil to provide the organic material and nutrients the plant needs to produce fruit. And if the tree gets one more years worth of rain. Then it will bear fruit.
But how does this vine dresser know? He has learned. He has developed an understanding of tree, has gained intimate knowledge of its physiology. This man knows that tree almost as well as he knows himself. That tree must breath. That tree must eat. That tree must drink deeply. And that tree will not get what it needs unless someone like himself invests the time and energy into it.
Do you attend regularly the services of your church and participate in them actively? Do you prayerfully endeavor to minister, under the guidance of the Holy Spirit and humble dependence upon Christ, the spiritual gifts with which you have been entrusted?
We are what we eat. We can walk away from here today and think that Church is boring. We can like the owner of that vineyard say, cut it down, give up, forget about it. We can like the people telling stories about the Galileans make judgments on what others are thinking or doing, or we can give it a chance.
What are you doing to prepare for worship each week? What are you watching, listening to, reading, or consuming through out the week to get you here to this place? Are you taking care of your body? Are you taking care of your church?
Church is boring, if you do not participate. It is boring if you come here expecting to receive, to be entertained, to be blessed. If you are coming here spiritually empty and filled with the world you will get just what you expect out of this time together. If you come here after listening to the divisive news reports all week, that is what you will get out of it. Are you giving it a chance or do you just want to cut it down?
There are some who are hear because they need hope. Are we able to give that to them? There are some here that need peace, are we able to give that to them? There are some here that need rest, are we able to give that to them? The church is a body, with many members and each of us work together so that we can nurture each other to health so that we together can bear fruit. But this all begins with you. Unless you repent, unless you turn and return to God, you will likewise perish. We perish not because we have sinned but because we have not been grafted into the living branch of Christ. We perish because we are choked of the breath of the spirit, and do not drink of the living water. We perish because we do not eat of the bread which is the very life of Christ.
Church is boring. Its boring unless we give it a chance to thrive.
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 19, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:17–23 (ESV) 17 And if you call on him as Father who judges impartially according to each one’s deeds, conduct yourselves with fear throughout the time…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 12, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili 1 Peter 1:3–9 (ESV) 3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born…
By Jared Warner Willow Creek Friends Church April 05, 2026 Click here to join our Meeting for Worship Click to read in Swahili Bofya kusoma kwa Kiswahili John 20:1–18 (ESV) 1 Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the…
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By Jared Warner
Willow Creek Friends Church
March 16, 2025
Click Here to Join our Meeting for Worship
Luke 13:31–35 (ESV)
31 At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.” 32 And he said to them, “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. 33 Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ 34 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! 35 Behold, your house is forsaken. And I tell you, you will not see me until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!’ ”
As we walk with Jesus, as we become the body of Christ’s church here in our community, this state, nation, and within the world we face many struggles. All of humanity has struggles. I recently watched a YouTube video where a mental health workers was talking with his daughter in the car. They pulled up a light and the car in front of them had bumper stickers all over the place. He said that they had mountains, marathons, stickers of hiking and adventures. He asked his daughter why they put those stickers on their car. She told them that they wanted everyone to know that they were adventurous, brave, and active. He asked a series of questions that eventually led his daughter to come to the conclusion that this person was lonely, shamed, hurting, and wanting to be heard. Life is filled with struggles, not just for those that have Christ but everyone.
But there is something different with the struggle of faith. We are caught between worlds so to speak. We have this unimaginable hope that comes with the resurrection, which we will celebrate in about one month. This hope should empower us, strengthen us, allow us to see that there is nothing in this world that can possibly hinder us because Jesus has overcome, and for those that believe that same power is within each of us.
I am not what people might call charismatic. I am a systematic and rational thinking person. I like to contemplate, observe, and listen before I move forward. But I believe that God can do amazing things. I believe this not because God has healed me of some disease or disorder. I suffer with chronic migraines and have been deaf my entire life. I have prayed often for healing in these areas, yet I remain with fog in my head and mumbles ringing in my ears. But there are other things.
As you all know last week we were out of town at a hockey tournament. Albert’s team got 4th place if you were wondering. We left for the weekend and things were fine. We were preparing to go to one of the events we scheduled and things were fine. We finished the event and went to pay for souvenirs and by card was declined. In the hour we were at the event several automatic bills came though at once, bills that I was expecting at the end of the month not the beginning. And I stood wondering what am I going to do. Luckily we had a little savings that I could transfer around but it was not a good start to the weekend.
We were in St. Louis and this is one of the only places near us that have stores with a full inventory of gear, so we went to the store to try things on. Albert tried on the various items we would need replaced. He picked out the ones he liked and we made a list. And all I could see were the price tags. And with each item he tried, I felt sick. Literally sick. My head pounded and I was nauseated. One of these items he will need in two months when we go to the next tournament, and that item was the most expensive, and I had just had a card declined. I know I am revealing too much here. But I need you to know that God is able and since I have not been healed I see that power in other places.
We returned home and the next morning after I dropped Albert off at school and before I started work for the day I sat down in my big blue chair and just stared. I did not pray in any cognitive sense, I was just there almost in shock. After a while I began looking at the mail we received that morning and there was an envelope addressed to me and within that envelope was a check for the amount needed for the piece of equipment Albert would need. I had not shad a conversation with the person that mailed the check. They did not know what we would be needing. And they definitely did not know the price of hockey equipment, but the amount on the check would cover the price of the item plus shipping.
Some might call it a coincidence, and it might be. This has happened several times over the course of my adult life. When James graduated from basic training, and when he got married someone randomly sent a check that would cover just what was needed. For me it shows that God knows what we need and cares. Even before we have the words to say God is working.
We have that power and hope available to us and yet we still struggle. We still wonder how we will make it. We wonder if we are good enough. If anything really matters. We question our very faith because the world around us seems so dark.
We struggle and we know that we should have faith. We should have hope. We should have joy not sorrow. We think to ourselves, if I do not act as if I have everything together, people will think I do not have faith. And my struggle will cause others to deny Christ because I still struggle. We think this silently in our minds, but we act differently. We put on a mask or a costume. We deny the truth about our emotions and our situation and we let the people around us believe that we have it all together while we are falling apart inside. We have hope, we have faith, but we are scared and confused.
This is where I was as I began praying with this weeks scripture. I come to it in a place of weakness and in joy. In despair as well as utter amazement at the power and love our God has for us. I come to today’s passage with the usual mixed emotions and stresses of life.
“At that very hour some Pharisees came and said to him, ‘Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.’”
The first thing that jumped out to me is who was speaking to Jesus.
When we look at the gospels the Pharisees often come across as the villains of the story. This does not give us a clear picture as to who they actually are. They are people similar to us. They are religious people, members of a religious society that shaped their contemporary culture. If they were present during medieval Europe they might look like the leaders within the Catholic Church. If they were in Russia or Ukraine, again they would look like the priests and monastics orders within the Orthodox Church. In England, they would probably resemble the clergy of the Church of England the would go to anoint the king. In America today, who do you think they would resemble? Yes, they would resemble the Evangelicals. Because the Evangelicals within our nation are the dominate religious expression within our contemporary culture.
I want you to think about that for a moment. I just mentioned five different groups and likened them all to the same ancient religious order. How can that be possible? From the outside we may not see the difference between these various groups but within they seem vastly different. Some would say that they are the true church, the church established by the Apostles and preserved by the Holy Spirit. And others might say that they are raving heretics. That is often how we approach the people within the gospels when we see a generalized term like Pharisee. We are on the outside, we see them as one, but within the group there are various factions. Yet they as a whole influenced their contemporary culture.
We see Pharisee, and immediately our mind recalls the arguments Jesus has had with them in the pages of scripture, we assume they are resisting Jesus, but that is not what these pharisees seem to be. They come to Jesus and they strongly urge him to leave because Herod is out to kill him. They command him to get away, to save himself.
These are not words of condemnation but words of hospitality and concern. They care about Jesus, they want to act in his best interest. They know that there are people within their society that do not like what Jesus is saying and doing. These pharisees may not completely agree with everything that Jesus is doing, but they do not wish harm to fall upon him.
Did these pharisees believe Jesus? Were they disciples? We cannot know this. All we truly know is that they were religious, and members of the religious society that influenced the culture. And that they were willing to have civil and intimate conversations with Jesus, because they wanted him to remain alive.
How does Jesus respond to this concern? “Go and tell that fox, ‘Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.’ O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
I have read this passage many times throughout the years. And I always found it odd. Seemingly out of place within the context of the rest of the passage. He is lamenting over Jerusalem, yet he is not in Jerusalem but in Galilee. He speaks of Jerusalem as being the ones that are going to cause him harm yet Herod is not the ruler over Jerusalem. So yes when the Pharisees speak to him he is under threat by Herod, because he is in Herod’s region of influence but when he speaks, he does not seem to be concerned.
It is out of place. It connects a couple of different steams of thought together in a way that seems illogical. And as I sit with this passage I often feel as it I am out of sync.
It is because I am out of sync. I have been looking at this through a life experience that did not allow me to see beyond my own mind. You see I could be seen as a contemporary Pharisee. I am a leader within a branch of the dominate religious society within our culture. I have no power but I am comfortable within my position. We do not call ourselves Pharisees because that is a bad word among us. The pharisees are the villains, and we cannot possibly be the villains we are bible believing Christians. Unlike those other groups.
So often I have read this passage and I have recognized several points. Jesus speaks of Jerusalem, which is the symbol of religious faith within that culture and time. Jerusalem, was the center of the faith of the Hebrews, it contained the temple to God, which scholars say is likely to have been the greatest single religious structure devoted to a single deity. It was awe inspiring, drawing people to it from with all of Judea and Roman Palestine, but if we are to believe the scriptures other nations would also send representatives to this place to offer sacrifices as well. When Solomon receives the queen of Sheba, she is there to offer sacrifices and to seek wisdom, and she traveled a great distance to get there. We so often think that Israel was this isolated culture but forget that Israel was at the center of great empires. They were at the cross roads, never great in their own right, but offering more influence than their size normally should.
Jerusalem is there at the center of faith, and Jesus laments over it. I read this and what I see is Jesus lamenting over the religious elites that are unwilling to listen to the will of God. That is what I have always seen, and I am not wrong for seeing it that way. And neither are you, because I am sure you also have understood it like that. Jesus is lamenting over people that embrace religion over the true relationship with God. People like those being controlled by the Pope, or by the Patriarch of Moscow, or the Bishop of Canterbury. Or maybe you might see it as people being more concerned with the ways of the world instead of faith. We have all heard messages saying that we need to be a church on fire and not lukewarm.
This week though I realized something, it has been there all along and some of you might have seen it or heard it. But Jesus is not talking about Jerusalem. He is talking about those people that are right there in the room with him. The ones that are sitting at the same table, wishing him to leave because the fox is on the prowl.
They are encouraging him to go, to save himself. Save himself from what? Herod wants to kill you.
This is what struck me this week. They knew Herod wanted to kill Jesus. One might say well of course, he was getting too powerful. But we are thinking of things in a way that might not be accurate. There were famous people in ancient times, and some of them did get killed. And we understand what can happen if someone opposes a tyrant. They could be speaking in a generalized frame, saying, “if you don’t stop it you are going to get yourself killed.” But these guys knew that Herod wanted to kill him, and Jesus told them to go and tell that fox something. These pharisees were leaders within society. They went all the way up to the very top, they were men of power. They knew Herod wanted to kill Jesus because Herod told them as much. And Jesus knew that they knew this information because they heard it from Herod himself.
Herod potentially could have sent these men to speak with Jesus. Sending them with that threat because Herod killed his cousin John the Baptist because John spoke out against the leadership, and Herod could but did not want to do the same to Jesus. Just leave go somewhere else.
These men were pharisees, they were members of the religious order that held the seats of power within the culture. And they like that power. They were politicians and religious. They relished walking that fine line.
Now consider what Jesus says again. “Behold, I cast out demons and perform cures today and tomorrow, and the third day I finish my course. Nevertheless, I must go on my way today and tomorrow and the day following, for it cannot be that a prophet should perish away from Jerusalem.” Herod threatened him. And Jesus tells the people from Herod’s court, I am going to do what I a doing today and tomorrow and the day after that. And I will continue to do what I think is right and you are not going to do a thing to stop me.
In these words Jesus is encouraging us to be brave, to stand for what we believe even if everyone around us seems to disagree. He is telling us we should not look at the things this world see as powerful and shy away from doing the very thing we know in our core we should be doing.
This reminds me of the stories surrounding the Quaker Abolitionists, people like John Woolman and Levi Coffin. They did not believe it was right for humans to own other humans as property, and because of this they refused to participate. John refused to purchase items that were produced with products of this unethical practice. And he would not write wills for individuals unless they freed any enslaved person. Everyone around him told him that this was a bad decision. They might have agreed with him in theory but how can you survive or keep a business going if you do not consume sugar, cotton, or fabric dyes? What would you wear or eat? What would you even sell when the entire American economy was saturated with products produced by slavery? Yet John remained remained steadfast in his beliefs. John traveled throughout the countryside and even sailed to England where he spoke out against the practice to those that held power and he died and was buried in England not seeing an end come to the practice. But he inspired others and eventually his message was heard and England stopped the trans Atlantic slave trade. But that did not stop the practice.
Levi Coffin live a couple of generations after John and he too was convinced that the practice was wrong. He refused to sell any retail product produced by slaves, and this was his entire livelihood as he was in the retail business. Everyone said his business would fail if he continued to hold to his beliefs, yet he continued to only sell items he knew were produced by willing labor. Levi eventually put his words into greater action by helping individuals escape from bondage in the underground railroad.
Both of these men faced certain death for what they spoke out against. Yet they did not back down because they knew it was right. The entire empire and nation was against them yet they continued. In Levi’s case, his own church rejected him. They agreed in theory but, in their opinion, he had taken it too far, so they wrote him out of the Meeting.
Jesus looked at those pharisees and said I am going to continue doing what I am called to do. I will do it today and tomorrow and the next day after that. I will do it here and I will go to Jerusalem. I will take this message to the very heart of our society and I will not back down.
But then he changes his tone, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it. How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”
Tell the fox he says in one breath and then there is this melancholy. He is willing to do what he has to do. He will do what is right in the face of power, and yet how he wishes those that he loves would join him. Oh how he wished the religious leaders and the influencers of society would join him in this mission. You see the pharisees were religious people. They were good, ethical, moral, upright people. I would want them all to join our church because they would be great people to have around. Hard working and righteous. But there was a problem they were more concerned with power and influence than they were with doing right. They were more focused on the appearance than the reality. They were more concerned with being correct than the people.
They wanted the influence so they went to the courts of the fox. Jesus speaks of the fox, and then he transitions to speak of chickens. Some of you may understand the imagery here while others may not, but chickens live in flocks. The hen protects her brood by hiding them under her wings, covering them and keeping them safe while the other hens in the coop scream and flop and make a nuance of themselves, and the rooster kicks and chases. When a fox comes into the hen house the chicks are usually safe because the adults will give their lives to protect them. But occasionally there will be one that decides to venture out from safety. This is the image Jesus is giving us. Jerusalem was set up to influence the world but not to be the world. Its leaders venture out the world and they are then subjected to the influences of the world. At first it seems great they can do many good things for the community but they are just a chicken living within the fox den.
This is the intoxication of power. We go out for a good reason but then we are consumed. And eventually we cannot see that we are working in opposition to the very one we once claimed faith in. Jesus calls us to continue his work today and tomorrow and the following day. He calls us to cast out demons, and perform cures. We can focus on the miraculous of this or the mundane but either way the calling is to provide comfort and aid to those less fortunate. We are called to speak of the things of God where ever we are and if necessary to use words, as St. Francis once taught. We should do this boldly without concern about the world. But we then need to come back under Christ’s wing.
We go out and we work. We might even be influential in the world. But what are we doing, why are we doing it, and who are we doing it for? We can get caught up in the intoxication of power believing that we are making a better society. And only too late realizing that we have invited a fox into the hen house. Or we can look at the person next to us and decide to do whatever we can to make their day better. I have rambled a great deal today. But the point I am making is this. There is suffering and pain all around us, and we live with it as well. We have illness and times where we do not know if we can afford what we need. Even Jesus lamented that things were not how he wanted. This struggle is not sin, it is not lack of faith, it is simply part of life. The point is where do we turn in that struggle? Do we rush to God in our time of need seeking safety under her wings or do we turn to the ones in the world that look like they have it all together, only to find that they are a fox?
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