ANOTHER CHANCE
Lent C3, March 11, 2007
Scripture Isaiah 55:1-9, Luke 13:1-9
How many of you have watched the news or read the newspaper this past week or two? Were there any things that blew your mind? Just didn’t make any sense to you? What about those tornadoes, randomly killing folks and destroying their homes and schools? More suicide bombings? An earthquake in Indonesia killing at least 70? Veterans not getting care?
In our Gospel reading for today Jesus commented about a couple of tragedies—one caused by Pilate, the other one an accident. In some ways his comments were confusing: Do you think these Galileans that Pilate killed were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you,” but then he adds, “unless you repent, you will all perish as they did?” He goes on to discuss the tower of Siloam falling and killing 18, “do you think that they were worse offenders tan all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you,” but then the same warning, “but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Is he contradicting himself? He seems to make clear that these people’s sinfulness had nothing to do with their being killed; maybe what he’s saying is that there is no rational explanation for what happened. He certainly doesn’t say it was God’s will. Have you ever heard someone say that when someone has been tragically killed? We want so much to make of sense of things that make no sense that we put words into God’s mouth that are our own, not God’s. It’s hard to let God be God. We want to explain things that only God can know.
One of the great ministers of our time, Wm Sloane Coffin, lost his son, Alex in a tragic car accident. At the time he was the senior minister at Riverside Church in NYC. The following Sunday when he got in the pulpit, he thanked the people for their messages of condolence, for their many acts of kindness, but he also raged. He raged about the well meaning folks that hinted that Alex’s death was God’s will. He said,
"Do you think it was God's will that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper...that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm, that he probably had a couple of 'frosties' too many? Do you think it was God's will that there are no street lights along that stretch of the road and no guard rail separating the road and Boston Harbor? The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, 'It is the will of God.' Never do we know enough to say that. My own consolation lies in knowing that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God's heart was the first of all our hearts to break." [1]
It is hard to let God be God. We long to make sense of senseless tragedies and want to find reasons when there may be none. I think more than anything else, Jesus was telling us to not look for cause and effect explanations. Instead he’s telling us to turn our
attention to our own lives, not to judge other people’s lives. Then Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the fig tree. According to my commentaries, figs were easy to grow in this land where Jesus lived. Figs can grow almost anywhere. The tree may take some time to get started, but after three years, there would be no excuse for a barren fig tree. The owner of the vineyard tells the gardener that he’s been checking out this tree for three years and there’s been no growth; so he yells, “Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?”
I don’t know how many of you remember John the Baptist saying that every tree that does not bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown in the fire. This was said shortly before Jesus came to John to be baptized. It was soon after that Jesus started his public ministry, just about three years before today’s gospel reading. So now we have Jesus telling this parable where the gardener comes to the defense of the fig tree, asking for another year to dig around it, put on some extra manure—in others words give it some special attention and nurturing. The gardener was not ready to give up on this tree; there is hope in the gardener’s voice.
Who’s the gardener? Jesus? God? Who is in the vineyard? You or me? The church? The whole earth? Could this be the year that we need to repent? The year that we need to work on getting our lives straight with God and each other? When Jesus talked about the tragedies at the beginning of this chapter in Luke, was his warning to repent related to that our time here on earth is not finite? Jesus or the gardener will keep trying to expand and soften our hearts, yet we can’t keep putting everything off until tomorrow. Remember that the fig tree isn’t doing anything bad, it just isn’t doing anything except taking up space in the vineyard. Right now you and I have another chance to be who God has created us to be! Lent is an especially good time to look at ourselves seriously and ask those hard questions. Am I where you want me God? Is there something more you need me to do? How can I be more who you want me to be? Do I need to spend less time working and more time praying? Do I need to stop saving money and start spending more of it, giving more of it away, enjoying more leisure? Do some of you need to ask questions like: Do I refuse to believe that I can be forgiven? Or maybe, “How can I forgive someone that’s hurt me so deeply? Is there anyone out there that needs to ask, “Am I so busy making a living that I’ve forgotten to make a life?” Turning around is always possible no matter how fast you are going. You may have to put on the brakes to slow down but you can always turn around or turn to God.
What kinds of questions do we need to ask about ourselves as the church? Are we being faithful, praising and loving God and doing good with those both near and far? Are we spending our money the way that God would want us to do? Can others know we are disciples by our love towards one another, by our hospitality? Just this week, I got a response to my newsletter article about hospitality from someone that has left our church because they felt so misused by members in the church outside of the Sunday service.
Is our church being fruitful? Fruitfulness is used 55 times in the New Testament. Each of these things (and more) is referred to as a fruit: repentance, practicing the truth, answered prayer, an offering of money, Christ-like character and winning unbelievers to Christ. In the Bible, fruit and growth often go together as in the fig tree parable. Many of the kingdom parables that Jesus uses are about numerically growing. The great commission is to go share the Good News with others. How are we doing? At our retreat, evangelism was one of our goals. Are we doing all we can?
In our Hebrew Bible reading today in Isaiah God is inviting everybody to a banquet. “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” And then in the second verse—listen carefully—“why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” The reading goes on to remind the people of the covenant that God has made with them because of his steadfast, sure love of David. God is not into exclusiveness. In several places the words signify that not just the Hebrews and not just the righteous but everyone is invited to share in the life of this new community, even the evildoers who repent and “return to the Lord” as they will be pardoned. God’s ways are beyond human comprehension. Can you believe that God is giving us another chance? Even the psalmist in our Call to Worship acknowledges that the abundance God has given him is like a rich feast. All of us can have this intimate relationship with God such that our soul will cling to God and God will protect us under her wings.
Could this be the year? Do you think we will have an abundant harvest of figs? Who’s willing to help the gardener?
Let us pray. Gracious God, we want to be your people, to be faithful and fruitful, to repent of our wrongdoing or lack of doing and turn towards you, our strength and our salvation. I seek you, my soul thirst for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Lord, show us the path you want us to take and forgive us when we turn the wrong way. Thank you for loving us and giving us another chance. In Jesus’name. Amen
[1] Coffin quoted in a sermon by Rev. Barbara K. Lundblad online.
Scripture Isaiah 55:1-9, Luke 13:1-9
How many of you have watched the news or read the newspaper this past week or two? Were there any things that blew your mind? Just didn’t make any sense to you? What about those tornadoes, randomly killing folks and destroying their homes and schools? More suicide bombings? An earthquake in Indonesia killing at least 70? Veterans not getting care?
In our Gospel reading for today Jesus commented about a couple of tragedies—one caused by Pilate, the other one an accident. In some ways his comments were confusing: Do you think these Galileans that Pilate killed were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you,” but then he adds, “unless you repent, you will all perish as they did?” He goes on to discuss the tower of Siloam falling and killing 18, “do you think that they were worse offenders tan all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you,” but then the same warning, “but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Is he contradicting himself? He seems to make clear that these people’s sinfulness had nothing to do with their being killed; maybe what he’s saying is that there is no rational explanation for what happened. He certainly doesn’t say it was God’s will. Have you ever heard someone say that when someone has been tragically killed? We want so much to make of sense of things that make no sense that we put words into God’s mouth that are our own, not God’s. It’s hard to let God be God. We want to explain things that only God can know.
One of the great ministers of our time, Wm Sloane Coffin, lost his son, Alex in a tragic car accident. At the time he was the senior minister at Riverside Church in NYC. The following Sunday when he got in the pulpit, he thanked the people for their messages of condolence, for their many acts of kindness, but he also raged. He raged about the well meaning folks that hinted that Alex’s death was God’s will. He said,
"Do you think it was God's will that Alex never fixed that lousy windshield wiper...that he was probably driving too fast in such a storm, that he probably had a couple of 'frosties' too many? Do you think it was God's will that there are no street lights along that stretch of the road and no guard rail separating the road and Boston Harbor? The one thing that should never be said when someone dies is, 'It is the will of God.' Never do we know enough to say that. My own consolation lies in knowing that when the waves closed over the sinking car, God's heart was the first of all our hearts to break." [1]
It is hard to let God be God. We long to make sense of senseless tragedies and want to find reasons when there may be none. I think more than anything else, Jesus was telling us to not look for cause and effect explanations. Instead he’s telling us to turn our
attention to our own lives, not to judge other people’s lives. Then Jesus goes on to tell the parable of the fig tree. According to my commentaries, figs were easy to grow in this land where Jesus lived. Figs can grow almost anywhere. The tree may take some time to get started, but after three years, there would be no excuse for a barren fig tree. The owner of the vineyard tells the gardener that he’s been checking out this tree for three years and there’s been no growth; so he yells, “Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?”
I don’t know how many of you remember John the Baptist saying that every tree that does not bear good fruit is to be cut down and thrown in the fire. This was said shortly before Jesus came to John to be baptized. It was soon after that Jesus started his public ministry, just about three years before today’s gospel reading. So now we have Jesus telling this parable where the gardener comes to the defense of the fig tree, asking for another year to dig around it, put on some extra manure—in others words give it some special attention and nurturing. The gardener was not ready to give up on this tree; there is hope in the gardener’s voice.
Who’s the gardener? Jesus? God? Who is in the vineyard? You or me? The church? The whole earth? Could this be the year that we need to repent? The year that we need to work on getting our lives straight with God and each other? When Jesus talked about the tragedies at the beginning of this chapter in Luke, was his warning to repent related to that our time here on earth is not finite? Jesus or the gardener will keep trying to expand and soften our hearts, yet we can’t keep putting everything off until tomorrow. Remember that the fig tree isn’t doing anything bad, it just isn’t doing anything except taking up space in the vineyard. Right now you and I have another chance to be who God has created us to be! Lent is an especially good time to look at ourselves seriously and ask those hard questions. Am I where you want me God? Is there something more you need me to do? How can I be more who you want me to be? Do I need to spend less time working and more time praying? Do I need to stop saving money and start spending more of it, giving more of it away, enjoying more leisure? Do some of you need to ask questions like: Do I refuse to believe that I can be forgiven? Or maybe, “How can I forgive someone that’s hurt me so deeply? Is there anyone out there that needs to ask, “Am I so busy making a living that I’ve forgotten to make a life?” Turning around is always possible no matter how fast you are going. You may have to put on the brakes to slow down but you can always turn around or turn to God.
What kinds of questions do we need to ask about ourselves as the church? Are we being faithful, praising and loving God and doing good with those both near and far? Are we spending our money the way that God would want us to do? Can others know we are disciples by our love towards one another, by our hospitality? Just this week, I got a response to my newsletter article about hospitality from someone that has left our church because they felt so misused by members in the church outside of the Sunday service.
Is our church being fruitful? Fruitfulness is used 55 times in the New Testament. Each of these things (and more) is referred to as a fruit: repentance, practicing the truth, answered prayer, an offering of money, Christ-like character and winning unbelievers to Christ. In the Bible, fruit and growth often go together as in the fig tree parable. Many of the kingdom parables that Jesus uses are about numerically growing. The great commission is to go share the Good News with others. How are we doing? At our retreat, evangelism was one of our goals. Are we doing all we can?
In our Hebrew Bible reading today in Isaiah God is inviting everybody to a banquet. “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” And then in the second verse—listen carefully—“why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?” The reading goes on to remind the people of the covenant that God has made with them because of his steadfast, sure love of David. God is not into exclusiveness. In several places the words signify that not just the Hebrews and not just the righteous but everyone is invited to share in the life of this new community, even the evildoers who repent and “return to the Lord” as they will be pardoned. God’s ways are beyond human comprehension. Can you believe that God is giving us another chance? Even the psalmist in our Call to Worship acknowledges that the abundance God has given him is like a rich feast. All of us can have this intimate relationship with God such that our soul will cling to God and God will protect us under her wings.
Could this be the year? Do you think we will have an abundant harvest of figs? Who’s willing to help the gardener?
Let us pray. Gracious God, we want to be your people, to be faithful and fruitful, to repent of our wrongdoing or lack of doing and turn towards you, our strength and our salvation. I seek you, my soul thirst for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. Lord, show us the path you want us to take and forgive us when we turn the wrong way. Thank you for loving us and giving us another chance. In Jesus’name. Amen
[1] Coffin quoted in a sermon by Rev. Barbara K. Lundblad online.
posted by Sermons given at Deering Community Church @ 1:08 PM
