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Luke 13:1-9
1 At
that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose
blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, “Do you think
that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than
all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all
perish as they did. 4 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
others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will
all perish just as they did.”
6
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. 7 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?’ 8 He
replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put
manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can
cut it down.’”
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Take
a second and imagine this with me:
There’s
a small apple tree in your yard. Every fall, you saw the tree filled with
fruit. For years the tree provided you with the most delicious of apples; a
quick and easy snack to grab as you pleased.
Until one year, the tree didn’t provide you a multitude of apples. In
fact, there were no apples that year. Or the next year. Or the next.
What
would do you?
Would
you give the tree one more year? Would you tend to this tree that was now
barren? Do you have hope that all it needs is just a little more extra care?
Or
would you cut it down? Would you replace it with a new tree? How long would you
be willing to wait for this new tree to produce apples?
Now,
due to the Gospel passage we all just heard, we have an idea of what we should
do. Helpful hint: it’s keep the tree for one more year. Right?
But
let’s be honest. If this is an actual tree that we’re talking about and not
some analogy with a deeper meaning on judgement and grace or lifelessness and
resurrection; if this was an actual apple tree in our backyard that hasn’t
produced fruit in three years, how many of us would cut that tree down? How
many of us would plant a new apple tree? And how many would just go get our
apples from the closest Martin’s? If we’re just talking trees and apples here,
I’m choosing the latter choice. Obviously.
But
we’re not just talking trees and apples or just trees and figs. This is a
parable of Jesus, and we know there is a much deeper meaning than the
convenience of a healthy snack.
In
Jesus’s parable, there is a vineyard owner and a gardener. The vineyard owner,
after seeing a fig tree that has been barren for three years, tells his
gardener to cut it down. But the gardener tells the vineyard owner to let the
tree have one more year and he, the gardener, will tend to it, he will dig
around it, he will lay manure to surround it; he will give it the extra special
care that it needs. And if, after all that special care, if then the tree fails
to produce any figs, should it be cut down.
As
you might guess, in this parable, humankind is the barren tree. And sometimes,
individuals as a part of humankind, are the barren trees. So to interpret
ourselves into this parable, I want to approach it from three different moments
where we find ourselves: the moments when we become the barren tree, the
moments when we are the barren tree, and the moments when our barren tree is brought
back to life.
I’m
going to return to the first moment later in this sermon, the moment when we
become the barren tree. Instead, I will start with when we are the barren tree.
In
moments when we feel like we are fruitless or even lifeless, perhaps when we
feel our perceived sin is at its greatest, God responds with the extra special
care we need; with compassion and love and grace. And when God responds with
that care in the times we need it most, it is our responsibility to respond
with a willingness to be brought back to life. Because while God’s patience is
great and while it can last forever, our own lives do not, which means when we
become lifeless or when we sin, we must repent and turn back to God because we
can’t be brought back to life without God. We would just remain the lifeless,
barren tree that we are. And at any moment, that tree can be cut down, maybe
through a tower falling or a mosque shooting, through a car accident or through
cancer, that tree can be cut down.
I
admit I sometimes get nervous saying things like that, to “repent or perish,”
which is the actual heading of this passage. I get nervous preaching that
because I don’t want any of us to interpret this passage out of misguided fear.
The reason we repent is not solely for the reason that if we don’t, our tree
will be cut down; we repent because as I said: when we need to repent, God
responds with extra special care, with love and grace. And when we’re feeling
lifeless, feeling extra love and grace is exactly what we need. And because we
need it, we repent so that we’re given more. We repent to continue to receive
the love and grace that God provides when we need it most.
And
so when our tree is brought back to life, when we are brought back to life, we
see that no barren tree, no person no matter the circumstance, is beyond the
redeeming, reconciling power of
God.
This includes ourselves and our neighbors. None of us, not a single human
being, gets to declare when the time for Jesus to restore is up. Because every
time God sees a person that needs attention, God responds as a faithful
Gardener. God says, “Give me time. Let me dig and tend. Let me nurture and
nourish, prune and water. From me, expect transformation, growth, and fruit.
Then we’ll all see what happens. Don’t cut it dead just yet.” That is what God
our Gardener says.
Because
the truth for all of us is that God sees none of us as a problem. God calls us
to repent and be reconciled, and God will call us to do this through
extraordinary measures to make sure this happens. And no amount of death,
physical or metaphorical, can stop what God will do: resurrect, restore, and
redeem.
So
we’ve addressed what God is doing when we are the barren trees and when our
barren trees are brought back to life. But why do we become the barren trees in
the first place? Friends, that’s a tough one.
I
can tell you that we become lifeless due to sin, but sin in itself is
complicated to explain. The word “sin” has origins in archery actually, like
missing the center of a target. To sin means to miss the mark of what God
intended. And sometimes we don’t know what God intended, which means at times
it’s actually pretty easy to miss the mark. Whether intentional or not, whether
by our own means or by the means of others, we all miss the mark of what God
intended.
When
we are the barren trees, I mentioned this might be at moments when our
perceived sin is at our greatest. I say “perceived sin” because I don’t think
sin is specific actions that can always be named, but rather it’s whenever we
miss the mark of what God intended. We become a barren tree when we believe
that God can’t correct the mark that we missed.
I
want to share a quick story with all of you.
When
I was thirteen, around the same age as our confirmation students, my youth
group went on a two-hour trip to a waterpark. During that trip, while we were
all on the bus, two of our youth leaders were having a conversation about a
same-sex couple they knew. This couple they were talking about had been trying
to have a baby for several years, but unfortunately, each time one of them
became pregnant, the pregnancy would end in a miscarriage. I’ll never forget
what one of my youth leaders said as to why this was the case. The words are
seared into my memories. She said, “Obviously this is God punishing them for
the lifestyle they live.”
I
apologize for how offensive this is, especially for those of you who have
experienced any kind of loss during pregnancy, whether your own or someone you
love. And although I wasn’t even certain if I believed these words for myself,
my youth leader’s words were the ones I believed the church believed. For many
years, I was deeply hurt by the church. I spent my years as a youth angry at
the church and angry at God. And for several other reasons along the way, I
refused to go back to church. When it came to my own relationship with God, I
felt lifeless.
But
here I am, a pastor in a church, with a focus in youth ministry. Part of the
reason I am is because one day I knew that God wanted me to make sure the youth
in my life never hear a message of poor theology that harms their relationship
with God rather than lifts up their relationship with God.
To
believe God punishes a certain group of people because their perceived sin is
greater than their neighbors is poor and inaccurate theology. What did Jesus
say about the Galileans who were killed? What did Jesus say about the eighteen
that died when the Tower of Siloam fell on them? Were their sins any worse than
their neighbors? Were they killed because of these sins? Twice, to make it
clear, Jesus declares, “No!” They did not die because their sins were worse; in
fact, they didn’t die because of their sins at all. Although tragic, their
deaths happened and from the perspective of humankind, happened at random, and
were beyond any of our control.
So
isn’t that message still true today?
When
50 people of the Muslim faith are killed in a mosque shooting? When nearly
three thousand died in the September 11 attacks? When 17 million were murdered
during the Holocaust, 6 million of which were European Jews, two-thirds of that
specific Jewish population?
How
about when a teenager hears a poor message about God from someone they trust?
Or what about a parent who loses a child? What about those who struggle with
depression? Or those who fight off cancer?
What
does Christ say about them?
It’s
not out of punishment, I can tell you that. Christ says that those are the ones
who need extra care right now. Those are the ones who need Christ’s love and
grace more than ever. There’s nothing obvious about why bad things happen, or
why we might feel like barrens trees at times, but Scripture reveals that the
way Christ responds to our lifelessness with love; now that’s more obvious.
I
believe I first heard my call to ministry when I was 13-years-old, the day that
I heard that message. I didn’t realize this until I was 21. Because when I
entered into a moment of lifelessness, I needed nearly ten years for God to
transform me into a person with a call to serve God and the people of God.
During that time God cared for me with love and grace through the people in my
lives, with parents who loved me, with friends who encouraged me, and with
mentors who empowered me. Obviously this was God the Gardener at work.
I
urge you to remember this:
So
much of what’s been labeled broken, impossible, and dead is ripe for radical,
God-revealing transformation, growth, and new life. That’s the promise of the
resurrection. Obviously.
Let’s
go back to that scenario:
You’re
back in your backyard, and you see that apple tree that once produced a
multitude of apples that you’ve enjoyed over the years. Due to unforeseen
circumstances, reasons beyond your control, that tree is now barren.
And
if that tree is more than just a tree, and if that tree represents a youth who
is lost, a neighbor in need, a stranger who is grieving, or even yourself,
possibly angry or hurt at the world and at God, what do you do with that tree?
Do
you cut down or do you tend to it with extra special care, with love and grace,
in the same way we know that God does?
The
answer is obvious.
Thanks
be to God. Amen.
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