March 23 – Sermon
Friends in Christ, may grace and peace be yours in abundance. Amen
Precious Savior, Your tender mercy surpasses human understanding. Through Your sacrificial death on the cross, You forgave us and paid the debt for our sins. Through Your resurrection, You promised us the gift of abiding with You forever. May we surrender our hearts to You so we may come to know the immeasurable riches of Your grace through Your kindness and love toward us in Christ Jesus. Amen.
It is not God’s desire to condemn and destroy. In fact, just the opposite.
Jesus’ parable today tells of a patient gardener. A certain landowner planted a fig tree in his vineyard. It takes about two years for a fig tree to bear fruit. Thereafter, it yields two crops per year, once in late June and again in early September.
This was now year three, and still no figs. The landowner was done with it. “Cut it down!” he orders. But the gardener advocates for the young tree. “Please, let’s give it a little more time. I’ll show it some TLC. Let’s see what it can do with a little extra care.”
In the Gospel reading, Jesus is earnestly questioned by people confused with fear. He’d been approached by people who wanted His take on a recent tragedy. The news of the event had spread rapidly through Galilee. Some Galileans had traveled to the temple in Jerusalem to offer up a sacrifice. While there, they were killed by Pilate’s soldiers.
There was a prevailing sense in that day – if something really catastrophic happened to a person, it was an indication of a divine judgment. They’d done something very offensive and so God poured out punishment upon them.
Media headlines assault us with disaster stories with everything from terrorist bombings throughout the world to the realization that something alien within us threatens our health. Do these things happen because someone has angered God and thus brings on punishment?
Jesus referred to another well-known calamity about 18 souls who were crushed to death when the Tower of Siloam fell on them?” Siloam was a neighborhood in Jerusalem. Jesus asked them point blank: “Were these worse sinners than the other people in Jerusalem?”
Jesus answered his own question emphatically. “No, I say! But remember…you’re all going to die someday, too!”
Jesus clearly dismisses the outright notion that misfortune or a natural disaster, or the suffering from disease or accident, is somehow related to the lack of faith resulting in God’s punishment.
Then we have the illustration of the fig tree. The gospel clarifies the source of our energy and hope in the parable of the fig tree, as an image of conversion. The tree promised much but produced no fruit. “Cut it down” ordered the owner of the tree, “why should it take up precious space and produce nothing?” But the gardener answered ” Leave it alone, sir, just one more year; I will dig around it and put in some fertilizer. Then if the tree bears fruit next year, so much the better, if not, then you can cut it down.
“If” – such a small word, and yet so significant. The gardener says, “If it bears” and “if not”. It is a difference between life and death, productivity and unfruitfulness. It throws the burden upon the tree, upon the person or people. We are nourished – fed by God’s word and Spirit – converting that nourishment into fruit should really be a natural response. But for whatever reason, that’s not happening.
In each of today’s readings, the nourishing grace of God is described but also the demands how that nourishment is spelled out.
A covenant of love is declared in the Isaiah passage. We are called to listen and to live faithfully. Those who are nourished by God’s word are to actively demonstrate justice and mercy. The nourishing Word of God according to Paul in 1 Cor. demands faithfulness in all that we do in our lives. and in the gospel, Jesus warns each of us that there is no room for complacency when it comes to bearing fruit.
Like the tree, we too, shall be judged for our lack of fruitfulness, and I believe that the judgment we experience is directly connected to our negativity, our refusal to be involved, or our thinking it’s too risky to get involved. How are you influencing others because of Your relationship with God in Jesus Christ? In the next months, St. Lukes is going to be doing just that: evaluating the fruits of this congregation. What’s working well, and what needs to be changed. Are you personally and as a congregation, seeking to bear more fruit?
Fortunately in with the parable of the fig tree, we too get a second chance to hear and to respond to God’s gracious guidance and dynamic direction for our lives.
Lent is a time pf preparation for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter. But Lent also calls each of us to honest introspection. It’s a time to examine our faith experience by engaging in extra prayer and study of the scriptures.
What are the areas where our souls have shriveled up and bear no fruit? Are you responding to the fresh urgings of the Holy Spirit to bear the fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness ? Is there a conscious effort to bear the fruit of generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? How are we like that barren fig tree? Jesus reminds us we are all terminal.
Lent directs our vision to take a long look at our faithfulness to God’s word. The Lord will nourish our thirsty souls with the goodness of the Word. Our hardened hearts can be softened and opened through humble repentance. And our parched roots will be refreshed through the compassion of the Spirit. Thanks be to God that we have a patient gardener who will not cut us down.
Jesus in our gospel invites us to make the most of our time, which God has given us. We don’t know when our time on this earth will end, and we’ll meet our Maker. Our lives are in constant need of returning to the Lord our God. We need not fear to make an honest confession, for God wants only His best for us and yearns for us to bear the fruit of the Spirit.
May this Lenten season be a time for us to return to the Lord and giving Him thanks and praise every day for all of the opportunities we’ve been given to love and serve Him and each other. Thanks be to God that we have a patient gardener. Amen
