Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 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? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
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. 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?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
They told Jesus about some Galileans whose “blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices”. Pilate had slaughtered worshipers in the midst of their worship and so the people wondered, does God punish sin that way? That isn’t just a 2000 year old question, is it? Mother Emmanuel Church in Charleston. The Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh. The mosques in New Zealand. That’s a “today” question too! Jesus tells them… and us, NO! God does NOT work that way! And not with collapsing buildings, hurricanes, flooding, tornadoes, earthquakes, volcanoes, plane crashes or anything else either! God does NOT work that way!
That word “sin” carries a ton of baggage with it, and apparently sin, and the consequences of sin have been misunderstood... well, basically forever. Here, Jesus is talking more about capital “S” sin, otherwise known as our very human condition of being broken. For me, that root brokenness seems to always boils down to “fear.” Fear is always the gross, crusty, toxic mess left at the bottom when you boil off all of humanity’s creative “lower case” sins... things like anger, hate, greed, selfishness, violence and all the rest. Jesus was less interested in those “lower case” sins here and more interested in healing the root human “capital S” sin of brokenness. Jesus came so that we no longer had to walk only a path out of brokenness, but could instead know and walk the path God created us to walk... a path toward abundant life.
God did not create us to walk this life in fear. We were created to walk a path that leads to abundant life... a life filled with meaning and purpose and dignity! Jesus told the people then, and tells us today, that when we keep walking a path that begins out of our brokenness... the path of fear... it may feel familiar, but it’s filled with pain. The world, our culture, the neighbor kids, TV preachers, the devil... they all might insist that path, the path away from fear, is the only one there is... but Jesus came to insist, “NO, no it’s not” and put us on a path toward life! That “pull yourself up by your bootstraps” path... that “might makes right” path... that is a path that leads only to pain, and God did not love us into being, only to live our lives in brokenness and pain.
The horrific and tragic deaths that happened in Jesus’ time were not caused by a God punishing sinners. The horrific and tragic deaths that happen in OUR world and in our time are not caused by a God punishing sinners either! But in Jesus’ time AND in ours, the reality remains... human brokenness... capital “S” sin... living out of fear... all of that leads to pain and eventually to death. We see that all too often. Anger, hatred and violence, all born out of fear... fear of not being in control, not being first… THAT is the sin that led to the death of worshipers in Jesus’ time and fear is what leads to the white supremacy that leads to the slaughter of worshipers in our time too. It’s a pain we walk into, not a pain God inflicts upon us. So, what’s a broken human to do?
Jesus answers that question with a parable. A vineyard owner plants a fig tree counting on it to make her some figs. God’s the vineyard owner and we’re the trees... we’ve been planted to bear fruit... to live! We’ve been planted to reach out to our neighbors, care for the other... mourn with our community after a tragedy... stand up against hatred, selfishness, lusting after obscene amounts of money and power, white supremacy, racism, sexism, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism and all the rest. THAT’S what we’ve been planted for, but speaking for myself... THIS particular bald fig tree is full of figgy brokenness. Perhaps you can relate to some of that. Bearing fruit is hard. My neighbors are all too often mean and cruel and ignore science! And so... I just don’t make the fruit I was planted to make.
But here’s the thing... that may not be very good, but it’s about the best I can do on my own... living out of my figgy brokenness! And here’s a secret, NONE of us trees can do any better! We need a gardener! That’s Jesus, by the way... to give us more time, to dig around us and pile on the manure with grace filled abundance. Then, because that was first done for us, God calls us to get out there and make the fruit God created us to make! To do the same for others that the gardener has first done for us! Giving our neighbors... even THOSE neighbors... more time than we are inclined to give them… digging deeper in those relationships than we are inclined to go… AND piling on more of our precious resources than we think we able to share.
And these days I am more and more convinced that talk isn’t enough. We need to SHOW the world what that looks like. We can’t just talk about the Promised Land... we need to show them what the Promised Land looks like… not just talk about the Kingdom of God but SHOW them and give out tons of free samples of the fruit that grows there... the fruits of compassion, love and joy. We must SHOW the world that longer tables are better than higher fences. We must SHOW the world the steps onto a path of love, compassion and peace… so they can SEE where to put one foot and then another and another. We need to SHOW them that it’s possible to walk a path that doesn’t lead over the edge of a cliff.
God doesn’t zap sinners from on high. But a path walked out of fear leads inevitably through terrible places filled with hatred, bigotry and violence and if we stick to that path long enough, it eventually ends at the edge of a cliff where gravity is always turned on. God’s desire for us is to walk a path toward abundant life and not death. God desires that so much, God sent Jesus, God’s Son to put us on that path toward life. May we SEE the path we’ve been loving put on by the Gardener and then boldly show a hurting world what it looks like when a community of regular people, all filled with normal, human brokenness, but lovingly cared for by that Divine gardener, walks together, not in fear away from death, but joyfully in faith on a path toward abundant life instead! Amen.
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