3^rd Sabbath in Lent

March 9/11, 2007

Victor H. Nixon

CHANGE IS POSSIBLE

Luke 13:1-9

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One of my favorite films, On Golden Pond, won three of the ten Academy awards for which it was nominated in 1981.(1) Henry Fonda starred in his final movie role as Norman Thayer, a crusty but caring old man caught up in a love-hate struggle with his daughter, Chelsea, played by real-life daughter, Jane Fonda. In one scene, wife and mother Ethel, played by Kathryn Hepburn, confronts Chelsea about putting off the task of working on her relationship with her father: "Chels," she says, "Norman is 80 years old. He has heart palpitations . . . and trouble remembering things. Just exactly when do you expect this friendship to begin?"

Like Norman and Chelsea we also tend to put off important, challenging tasks, thinking that we’ll get around to them one day. We know that we need to exercise more, eat sensibly, and take better care of ourselves physically, but rationalize around the urgency of making changes in our personal lifestyles. To quote another famous old movie line: "I won’t think about that today; I’ll think about it tomorrow."

We may need to work on primary relationships by spending quality time with family, friends or colleagues. Re-arranging one’s schedule is difficult, however, so we procrastinate, assuming that such changes can start any time.

Global warming is happening faster than scientists earlier predicted. Polar ice is melting due to greenhouse gases from burning fossil fuels. Seas are rising. Drought is occurring more frequently. People will suffer. But most of us are in a state of denial. Rather than change our personal and national lifestyles, we defer the problem to the next generation.

Certainly we believe that a deeper relationship with God is important for ourselves and for our mission as the church. Yet, prospects are slim to none that we may actually engage in more disciplined spiritual practices. Worship is something done periodically, if it fits our schedules. Prayer is mostly for times of crisis. We’d like to know more about the Bible but it takes time to read or study it. Having a specific ministry or serving others is not on the radar screen. As for commitment to tithing, we’re waiting until we can afford it. The truth is we may even be uncertain about how to begin a process for deeper relationship with God and even self-conscious about asking for guidance. It’s just easier to put off improving our relationship with God until some vague tomorrow when we’ll have more time or greater resolve.

Avoidance, however, does not address the need to change. Ethel pointed out to Chelsea that her father was eighty years old and showing pronounced signs of old age. Time is not standing still for any of us. So, Ethel’s question is still pertinent for you and me. Vic, when do you expect this change in your life to begin?

Today’s biblical story implies a similar question and confronts our tendency to speculate about the spiritual welfare of others rather than improving our own spiritual health with some degree of urgency. As Jesus continues his journey towards Jerusalem, we hear him speak about events and tell a parable that addresses the urgency of change (repentance) and forgiveness because God will hold us accountable.

Just prior to our text in Luke, Jesus had urged his listeners to settle differences with an accuser "while on the way to court,"—that is—while there was an opportunity to avoid harsh judgment. Then, Luke recounts how some people told Jesus about an atrocity committed by Pontius Pilate. Apparently, a group of Galileans, worshiping and making sacrifices in the Temple, was slaughtered by Roman troops and their blood mingled with the blood of sacrificial animals. One could speculate that Pilate believed they were involved in a resistance movement and this was his zero tolerance policy for insurgents.

Jesus responds to this news with a curious question: "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?" This is an unsettling question. Whether in first century oppression by the Roman Empire or in a post 9/11 era in our country, we’ve learned that the world can be a scary place. In the face of human evil and natural violence we look for explanations and ask: "Why did this happen to these people?"

That’s not the question Jesus asked, however. His question was whether the suffering of those Galileans who were massacred by Pilate, or the eighteen victims who were killed when the tower of Siloam unexpectedly fell upon them, were more sinful than others in Jerusalem. His question acknowledges that we have an immediate tendency to follow an old line of thought—one that is rooted in ancient biblical faith. According to such thinking, suffering and death are explained as a consequence of sin.

Imagine someone asking, "The children who were killed recently when a tornado tore through their school in Enterprise, AL—were they more sinful than all the other sinful people in Enterprise? The hundreds of Iraqi citizens killed on any given day by terrorist acts in Baghdad—are they more sinful than all the other residents of Baghdad?

We recognize the absurdity of those kinds of questions in the face of such overwhelming tragedies. So, like those first listeners, we are relieved when Jesus says that this is not about the sinfulness of victims of human evil or natural disaster..

Relief, however, is short-lived because Jesus goes on to offer a solemn challenge: ". . . unless you repent, you will all perish as they did." While he refuses to frame the discussion in the well-worn question of why bad things happen to people, Jesus stresses that our need for repentance and forgiveness is no less urgent. The perennial question, "Why?" is not a major concern. Rather, it is because the world is dangerous and life is tenuous that addressing our need for repentance and forgiveness is even more urgent. It is as though Jesus is saying: You have no guarantee of a tomorrow. Just when do you plan on starting to change so that you can experience the life God wants to give you?

Then Jesus tells a parable as a way of further emphasizing this important teaching. It’s a story about a fig tree. There’s nothing much better than a ripe fig picked right off the tree. Delicious! My first was from a tree in my in-law’s backyard in McGehee. Fig trees are uncommon in Arkansas, but not for Jesus’ original followers. They knew that it makes no sense to have a fig tree that doesn’t produce figs. Better to cut it down and plant another one. We understand that about fruit trees.

What we may not understand is that the fig tree is a common biblical metaphor for the people of Israel or Judah. To refer to a fig tree that doesn’t produce figs is to refer to God’s people who do not repent, that is, who do not change and follow God’s ways. Here, Jesus uses this same metaphor to illustrate the certainty of God’s judgment. We are accountable to God for bearing fruit—good deeds on behalf of God and others—says Jesus. Oh, my!

Thank God for the gardener! The gardener appeals to the vineyard owner for one more year to attempt to get the fig tree to produce fruit through cultivation and fertilization. The gardener appeals for mercy, even in the face of judgment. Through the parable Jesus is saying that, in spite of our failure to change and follow God’s way and our failures at the daunting task of discipleship—God has not given up on us. There is still time for some cultivation, nurture and growth.

My Aunt Ferne, the matriarch of the Nixon family, called recently and began our conversation by saying she was preparing to die so she was putting her house in order. She was teasing, of course. But there’s a great truth here. Our time is not limitless. That’s the whole point of Jesus’ teaching and the parable of the barren fig tree. Realizing that we have only one year to "repent" and "bear fruit," the emphasis shifts to a question about the wrongs we have done, the urgency to make them right, the things we have left undone and the opportunities we have before us to make a difference for God and for others, to begin bearing the fruit we were created for.

We don’t have to look further than today’s headlines to know how fragile life is. Despite our tendency to delay the most challenging tasks until some distant tomorrow, life continues to come at us with an immediacy that is both alarming and liberating. Jesus’ parable of the barren fig tree reminds us that no task is more important than turning toward God, receiving God’s forgiveness and beginning the new life God offers us.

This season of Lent is provides us with a new perspective. During this time of repentance and reflection, we are encouraged to take a closer look at ourselves and to address the unfinished business in our spiritual life we’ve been meaning to get around to "one of these days." For some of us, it may be a need to re-order our priorities and genuinely place God first in our lives. For others, it may be slowing down enough to discern what God is calling us to do with our lives. Whatever the particular issue may be for each of us, there is still time for the fig tree to bear fruit. God has not given up on you. Change is possible. So, the persistent questions remains: Just when do you expect this new life to begin?

Thanks be to God. Amen.

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