Exodus 3:1-15, Psalm
63:1-8, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke
13:1-9
Whew, there is a lot going on in
these few verses. A lot of confusing things going on in these verses. Even as I
was studying and meditating on these verses I found myself going in many
different directions before I decided what to share with you all.
For me the gospel can be broken
down into two distinct sections and I think that each one carries its own
message. Let’s take a deeper look at the first section before we talk
about the parable. When the crowd asks Jesus if the people who had died in a
horrible manner were worse sinners than others, they are really asking is the
age old question....“why do bad things happen?” At that time society believed that
sickness or other hardships were caused by the sins of the person or sins of
their parents... Remember the story of the man who had been blind since birth
that was brought to Jesus? The people ask him who has sinned and caused his
blindness, this man or his parents? Jesus responds by saying that neither this
man nor his parents caused his blindness, and then returns his sight.
In today’s world we continue to ask
this question usually in some form of “why do bad things happen to good
people?” We struggle with the idea that if God can help good things happen in
our lives then does that mean that God makes the bad things happen to? Or is
there sin involved? Or is it just a series of random events that just goes
along with being a part of creation where anything can happen to anyone at any
moment? Unfortunately, Jesus does not give a direct answer to all of these
questions, and neither can I.
What I can tell you is this, from
the first portion of our reading Jesus is clear that we need to repent. Our need
for repentance is not to save us from bad things or death, it will not keep us
in a protective bubble where we will face no harm. Instead it brings us
into a deeper relationship with God. Each week during service, we have the
opportunity to confess our sins together. We stand or kneel side by side and
repent of the things that we have done or left undone that do not honor God.
Each of us think of different things in our own lives that we are repenting
for, while we say these words together. If we truly repent our sins, and
amend our lives to reflect that repentance then we are promised forgiveness.
Repentance will not a be a shield to protect us from harm, but because we are human and it is in our very nature to slip up, to sin, our God loves us so much that he continually gives us opportunities to be forgiven.
Repentance will not a be a shield to protect us from harm, but because we are human and it is in our very nature to slip up, to sin, our God loves us so much that he continually gives us opportunities to be forgiven.
Jesus then tells a parable to help
illustrate his point. Parables were a common rhetorical device used by
Jesus to convey the mysteries of God and salvation in a way that the audience would
understand. This means taking things that are familiar to the audience
and using them to make a point. That is why Jesus uses a lot of
agricultural imagery through his parables because these are the things his
audience is familiar with. A parable involving a fig tree appears in many
of the Gospels, but it is only in the Gospel of Luke that we hear this
particular parable.
Jesus tells of a landowner who had
a fig tree that had yet to produce fruit. The landowner wants to cut the tree
down and use the space for something else, but the gardener asks for one more
year to care for the tree to see if it will produce fruit. The landowner agrees
to wait one more year before cutting it down.
When studying parables it is common
to try to line up each character with an actual person. This is usually a very
helpful way to learn about the deeper meaning within a specific parable, but it
can also lead to problems because sometimes our ideas of which character is
which can lead us astray from what Jesus is actually trying to illustrate. For
example with this parable,
“It’s fairly common to assume that
the landowner is God and the gardener Jesus. But this does not match with how
Luke portrays God in the rest of his Gospel. Nowhere in Luke do we find a
picture of God that needs to be placated by a merciful Jesus. Rather, Jesus’
portrays God as a father who scans the horizon day in and day out waiting for
his wayward son to come home and as a woman who after sweeping her house all
night looking for a lost coin throws a party costing even more to celebrate
that she found it.”[1]
I mention this, because I too fell into this thinking upon
my initial reading of this parable. The problem with this line of thinking is
that it separates God and Jesus into separate people with separate ways of
dealing with humanity.
I think we do Jesus, and ourselves,
much more service to think of God, the whole Trinity, as this peculiar gardener
who is partial to this seemingly barren fig tree. God does not mind loosening
the soil around us and even spreading manure in the hope that we might bear
fruit. Why? Because God loves us and wants the best for us. See ultimately
this is a parable of grace; a parable in which we see just how much God loves
us, even when we do not do exactly what God wants.
In this parable we are the fig
tree. We are the ones who should be bearing fruit, but are not yet. We are the
ones who need more care. We are the ones who need to be ready to be nourished
by our relationship with God. To be ready to be pruned, and watered, and yes to
even have manure spread around us. Notice here that each of us has an active role;
we must be open and ready to allow these things to happen. We show we are ready
for God to work in our lives by attending worship, by being involved in the
life of this parish, by serving others, and by committing ourselves to prayer
and repentance.
When our relationship with God
blossoms and bears fruit we are more able and willing to spread the Kingdom of God to others. That is how we live
out our relationship with God. That is how we show thankfulness for the
forgiveness that God has given us. That is how we live out our baptismal
covenant in a world hungry for justice and peace among all people.
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