Lent 3, February 28th 2016, thoughts going in

Now there were some present on that occasion who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. 2 He answered them, “Do you think these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered these things? 3 No, I tell you! But unless you repent, you will all perish as well! 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them, do you think they were worse offenders than all the others who live in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you! But unless you repent you will all perish as well!” 6 Then Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the worker who tended the vineyard, ‘For three years now, I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and each time I inspect it I find none. Cut it down! Why should it continue to deplete the soil?’ 8 But the worker answered him, ‘Sir, leave it alone this year too, until I dig around it and put fertilizer on it. 9 Then if it bears fruit next year, very well, but if not, you can cut it down.’” (Luke 13:1-9)

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,

T.M.