Thoughts going in, Sunday March 3rd

Luke 13:1 Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 Jesus answered, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? 3 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. 4 Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them--do you think they were more guilty than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish." 6 Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, 'For three years now I've been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven't found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?' 8 " 'Sir,' the man replied, 'leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.' "

            This Sunday's gospel reading presents several challenges. First, what does the story of the pilgrim-worshipers mowed down by the Roman governor Pilate...evidently in the very act of worship... have to do with a group of people who died evidently in a freak accident when a tower fell over on them? Second what do either of these stories have to do with the parable Jesus tells about the fruitless fig tree? And then there are sub-questions about the symbolism within the parable. Is the landowner God? Is the care-taker who begs for another year Jesus? Are each of *us symbolized by the fig tree, or was it a national symbol for Israel? In other words, was this a prophetic parable that Jesus told regarding the fate of national Israel (like the statement "your house is left to you desolate" from last week's gospel)? And if it is a national/prophetic parable, what significance could it possibly have for proclamation to us in our day? And then finally, what does ANY OF THIS have to do with Lent?

            Let's deal with the question of whether this is a national/prophetic parable first. Even if it was, by the time Luke relates it to his audience, it's a past tense event. In other words, most scholars date Luke a good ten or more years AFTER the destruction of Jerusalem. Any reader of this Gospel would be able to say "it's too late." Israel has already perished. And yet Luke includes the passage anyway. That tells me that the evangelist was inspired to see this passage as having TIMELESS significance to all generations.

            Next, let's look at the relationship between the two events and the parable. Here it's good to remember how it is that Jesus usually uses parables. He usually uses them as TEACHING TOOLS; teaching tools that do 2 things. First, they clear up misconceptions on the part of those around him, and second, they explain the (often 'aha way') God is at work in the life of the world. So if we start there, then it becomes safe to assume that the parable SOMEHOW encompasses BOTH of the earlier stories... those murdered by Pilate and those who are killed in a freak accident. [btw, when Jesus says in vs 3 (and 5) unless you repent, you too will all perish, he doesn't mean that they will DIE if they don't repent. They will all obviously die. The Greek word is 'apollumi.' It is used in a theological sense: to be LOST; ultimately; eternally; forever]

            So, putting it all together... the point that Jesus is correcting on the part of the crowd is that bad things do not happen necessarily to bad people. God was not making a 'commentary' on the righteousness of those who were mowed down in the act of worship; nor were those who died in a freak accident being 'judged' by God. Jesus is stating that NEITHER scenario says anything about God. Rather, both indicate the fact that we live in a chaotic/random world.

            But because we live in a chaotic/random world, there is a teaching moment--hence the parable. To perish... to be eternally lost... is a real possibility. One must repent and produce the fruits of repentance in THIS LIFE. That's the point of the 'year of grace' for the fruitless fig tree. So long as we're still on this side of the ground, sucking air, we are in our 'year of grace.' The landowner isn't God... with the gardener being Jesus... as one commentator points out, that sounds more like the 'god' of the heretic Marcion...who just can't wait to chop people down. The landowner is, rather, simply 'mortality'.... or if you prefer... a personification of 'the way things are' in this world; a personification of random/chaos who may at any moment come up to a tree and say "times up." In that sense, the gardener is God's grace; a personification of the Gospel message that envelopes lives with the hopeful expectation of being embraced, and hence, producing fruit. Either way the fig tree will die eventually but the point is to produce fruit while here.

            This, then, is what makes the passage so Lenten-applicable. Recognizing the random/chaotic nature of life; recognizing that repentance and acceptance of the Gospel are what's called for; and recognizing that we are now in our 'year of grace,' but none of us knows how long this year will last.

Cheers,

TM