SPARED FOR ANOTHER YEAR
The Rev. Dr. Russell Rowland
Luke 13:1-9
THIS WEEK, A BASIC HORTICULTURAL COMMODITY
Makes its one-and-only appearance in the Bible.
That’s right: manure.
SEVERAL TRANSLATIONS
Hold their noses and translate it as fertilizer,
Others call it like it is.
King James uses an even more earthy word,
Which those who own King James can research themselves.
BUT NONE OF YOU
Who love gardens, shrubs, saplings,
And the rich, dark earth from which they grow,
Will turn up your noses at manure.
The aroma may even bring back memories
Of life on a farm when you were young.
GARDENING HASN’T CHANGED THAT MUCH
Over the course of millennia—
You still have to get down on your knees in the dirt—
So the aroma of manure would have been just as evocative
To those who heard Jesus’ parable from his own lips.
THE STORY IS AN EXAMPLE
Of how one discussion seems to get sidetracked,
Until you realize that the detour is the real point.
In this case, discussion begins with an atrocity and a tragedy,
Plus the old question about why such things happen.
“EIGHTEEN DIE IN COLLAPSE OF TOWER”:
That’s the disaster news.
“Pilate mingles Galileans’ blood with their sacrifices”:
That’s the atrocity du jour.
Headlines have changed little from Jesus’ time to ours;
Today, it’s an earthquake, a bombed marketplace.
SUCH HEADLINES
Give Jesus the perfect opportunity
To address what’s bothering us—
Why do bad things happen to good people?—
Like those Bibles with an index in the back,
Referring us to verses for each problem and situation.
BUT, THE BETTER WE GET TO KNOW JESUS,
The more familiar we become
With his habit of not answering our questions.
This can be frustrating at first—frustrating enough
That many look elsewhere.
IN RESPONSE TO THE LATEST DISASTER,
Jesus says, “Unless you repent, you will likewise perish.”
That would not be on my list of things to say at a funeral.
It isn’t very comforting, and not intended to be.
THE PROBLEM MAY NOT BE WITH HIS ANSWER.
The problem may be with our question.
It may in fact be the wrong question—
And his answer is designed to get us back on track.
YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE OF LIFE,
And your own struggles with unbelief,
May have taught you that there is no answer
To the question of why bad things happen to good people.
THINGS HAPPEN TO PEOPLE.
Illness and accidents don’t discriminate on the basis of virtue.
We are not promised a charmed life in return for being good.
We are promised God’s presence, “in trial and rejoicing.”
THOSE WHO RECEIVED ASHES ON THEIR FOREHEADS
Heard those ancient and unerring words:
“Remember that you are dust, and to dust you shall return.”
Our faith asks us not to deny our own mortality,
But to accept it, and begin living at that point.
We must die with Christ, in order to live with Christ.
JESUS IS REFRAMING OUR QUESTION:
“Ask not what God can do for you,
Ask what you can do for God.”
REPENT, OR PERISH! HE SAYS.
That is, get with God’s plan, or get passed by.
Shape up, or forget it.
Don’t be offended if Jesus is undiplomatic.
After all, he doesn’t have a lot of time.
GOD IS DOING A NEW THING AMONG US.
Have we not just nodded politely,
Agreed that that’s very nice,
And gone on with business as usual?
THE STORY IS TOLD
That one little girl came home from Sunday School
Very disappointed with herself and her classmates.
“We were taught to go into all the world,
And make disciples of all nations,” she said.
“But we just sat.”
THAT’S THE SIN OF GOOD PEOPLE.
European Jews were railroaded off to cremation,
While their good neighbors just sat.
Afterward, the world said, “never again.”
There have been several more genocides since then,
And we civilized nations just sat.
HOW OFTEN, IN LOCAL CHURCHES,
Does someone come up with a novel, creative idea
For a way members can get involved with the needy,
And everyone else thinks of reasons why it won’t work—
It would cost too much money, we don’t have enough workers,
It might get the parlor or the kitchen dirty.
What is supposed to be a church in mission, just sits.
SO, THOSE WHO NEED TO REPENT
Are not just them, it’s also us.
Until we realize and admit it,
We are likely to knock on the gates of heaven,
Only to hear a voice within say, I never knew you.
BUT HE TELLS US A PARABLE!
Just when the ax is raised to fell the tree,
A voice speaks, with which all gardeners can identify:
A voice that wants to give the fig tree one more chance.
“HOLD ON, SIR.
Let me give it some special attention,
Dig around it, spread some manure,
Water it more, pick off the bugs.
Give it one more year. ”
WELL, BY THE GRACE OF GOD,
The prophetic ministry of Jesus Christ,
And the Spirit that intercedes for us
With sighs too deep for words—
This is that “one more year.”
THIS IS THE YEAR OF GRACE,
The year of the second chance,
The year of the Lord’s favor.
Perhaps last year we “just sat.”
Perhaps last year, we again failed to bear the fruit
That befits repentance.
THE GOOD NEWS
Is that the God who will not willingly lose,
Or give up on, any of us wayward children,
Gives the church another “one more year”—
In hopes that this will be the year the war ends,
When diseases are healed, when the starving are fed,
When the homeless return, when the captives are freed.
WILL A TIME EVER COME,
When the vineyard owner finally gives up on the fig tree?
I don’t know. I don’t want to find out.
But I do believe that this is the year
The gardener talked him out of,
And I don’t wish to go on disappointing the owner forever.
I CAN FEEL THOSE PATIENT HANDS
Spreading fragrant manure around my roots—
Not just for the sake of a good crop of figs,
But because that gardener loves all living things,
And can’t find it in his heart to give up on any of us.
IF “REPENT OR PERISH”
Sounds harsh, even fundamentalist,
Seminary professor Kae Evensen points out
That the flip side of the message is “be forgiven and live.”
SHE WRITES THAT THE HARSH WORDS
“Are only half the story. The other half,
The grace that is given in response, does not depend on us,
But on the One who will not allow us to be separated
From God’s love.
These words we would prefer not to hear…
Are spoken by one who will ultimately bear them for us.”
THAT SOUNDS RIGHT TO ME.
Before we are judged, before we are cut down,
We are just as patiently and lovingly nurtured for growth,
For fruitfulness, as is the tree in the parable.
Those of us who have experienced the love of God
Literally from our birth—in baptism, in church school,
In the “love, support, and care” of our fellow members—
CAN NOW UNDERSTAND
That all this nurture has been directed
Toward our fruitfulness in bringing good news to the poor,
Healing to the afflicted, comfort to the bereft,
Peace where there is war, relief where there is want.
We are to meet those needs, the way a fig tree produces figs.
Right now. This year!
ROBERT FROST WRITES OF A LITTLE GIRL
Whose dad grants her a few feet of ground
So she can have a garden all her own—
But she must, of course, do all the work herself:
“SHE WHEELED THE DUNG IN A WHEELBARROW
Along a stretch of road;
But she always ran away and left
Her not-nice load,
AND HID FROM ANYONE PASSING.
And then she begged the seed.
She says she thinks she planted one
Of all things but weed.”
THE POET’S LITTLE GIRL
Wobbles that wheelbarrow through the sunlight
Of a summer long ago.
I think of a Savior
Who looks at sinners and sees disciples;
Who looks at barren branches and sees figs.
Well, he’s looking at us!
AMEN.
