24 March 2019 – 3rd Sunday of Lent
1
Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9
Our Gospel reading seems to involve two different and completely
disconnected portions, but I think there is probably more than what we can see
only on the surface. In the previous
chapter, Jesus had said, “You know how to interpret the appearance of
earth and sky, but why do you not know how to interpret the present time?”
(Luke 12:56)
However, as we attempt to “interpret the present time”,
it must be done within the biblical context because our “present time” is all
kinds of messed up in a fruitless culture that does not seem
to know if it’s coming or going; what’s in and what’s out, what’s good and what’s
bad. Even we of the Eternal Covenant
seem much more aware of, and more willing to respond to, what is right in front
of us than of what is beyond what the eye can see.
It also should not escape our notice that as Mainline
Protestantism is on the decline (lack of fruitfulness), hatred and greed and
contempt for one another are horrific and getting worse (rotted fruit)! This is our own “present time”, yet there
are only modest differences between “then” and “now”.
When Jesus refers to the “present time”, I think
it is safe to say He is referring to that
time, His time on the earth. Yet within
the context of both portions of this brief passage, there is much we can glean
for our own “present time” if we are willing to look closely and heed His words. The reason?
We are still in the Messianic Age.
The Lord’s return will mark the end of that age.
The text is not clear about exactly what had happened
with Pilate and the mixed blood. Early
Church fathers had speculated the Galileans had been caught performing an
illegal sacrifice (illegal according to Roman law). Maybe to put others on notice who might be
also tempted, Pilate ordered the execution of those who were performing the
sacrifice and had allowed their blood to be mixed with the blood of the sacrificed
animals.
We might even think of this as a sort of cultural
assimilation. From a strictly religious
point of view, that would be horrifying to those who had witnessed it – and perhaps
even more terrifying to those who had only heard about it. And given that ancient Jewish belief equated
suffering with the measure of one’s sinfulness, they seemed to think those who
were executed had been harshly judged by The Lord. So when this crowd reported to Jesus what had
happened, our Shepherd turned them away from that narrative and toward the
Greater Narrative; the manner
of death is of no consequence.
The matter
of death, on the other hand, is what is facing us all; “but unless you repent, you will
all perish as they did” (Luke
13:3,5). That, our Lord seems to
say, is worthy of our utmost respect. As
Jesus had also taught, “Do not fear those who can kill the body but
cannot kill the soul, but rather fear The One who can cast both body and soul
into hell” (Matthew 10:28).
Repentance, then, is key to the first portion of this
passage and leads us into the second portion.
Jesus is downplaying how
the Galileans had met their end. As He
said, “These were not ‘worse’ sinners than any others – but unless
you repent, you will all perish as they did”.
Not necessarily by the same means, but our Lord is telling
us something we prefer not to think about … and even sometimes attempt to deny:
that we are mortals, and time as we know it will absolutely come to an end. Sooner or later (and we do always hope for
later!), our mortality will catch up to us one way or another. Young and
old. Rich and poor. Black and white. Good and
evil.
Then we move to the second portion of this passage,
the three unfruitful years of the fig tree.
The land owner wanted the tree removed since it was “wasting good soil” not
doing what it was created to do, not doing what he planted it to do – “bear
fruit”. Three years. Why three?
St. Augustine had this idea. “The
tree is the human race. The Lord visited
this tree in the time of the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob), as if for the first
year. He visited the human race in the
time of the law and the prophets, as if for the second year. Now here we are in the dawning of the third
year, the time of the Gospel, the time of Messiah.”
Now given that the Third Year is still seeing no fruit,
the tree failing to live up to its full potential according to why it was planted,
the “Gardener” nevertheless intercedes.
Of course we can see the Land Owner as The Father and the Gardener as
the Messiah. Just one more year, the Son
(the Gardener) pleads: “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”.
The Merciful Father allows the Merciful Shepherd His
due. His intercession is accepted, and
He is given until the end of His season to give the tree all it needs to grow
into what it was created to be. The
manure, Augustine believed, represented humility. Rather than a determination to stand on its
own and try to go its own way or merely exist, the tree would need help. More to the point, the tree (representing the
human race) would need to admit its need for help and allow itself to be
assisted and given all it needs to thrive
rather than merely survive.
The message is simple and must be taken to heart. We are in the “third year”, but that season
will one day come to a close. The “Gardener”
seems to be saying this season, this “third year” is His time for intercession –
not the end of the Age but in
the big middle of it. He has intervened in
our behalf and has been granted the time – and the authority – needed to help
the tree to not only grow but to bear fruit, to reproduce.
St. Paul said as much in his letter to the Corinthians:
“These
things (the examples of the past) were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the
ages have come (the third “year”, the third season of redemption)”
(1 Cor 10:11).
Clearly Jesus is not physically with us, but He leaves
us His Body The Church to tend the soil and nurture
– not merely comfort - the human race. We cannot simply leave things as they are and
hope for the best. Like our Shepherd,
who is Lord of the Church, we have been given to the end of the “season” to do
all which is necessary to help our charges to not only thrive but to reproduce
as well – to “make disciples who are
equipped to make disciples”.
The tree existed and was not hurting anyone. As our common cultural mantra goes – that the
Church allows to go unanswered - it was a “good” tree only because it wasn’t a “bad”
tree. Yet the tree is under Divine judgment
which, at the end of the “season”, will be rendered according to its ability
and willingness to reproduce. And that
will depend on the care offered by the “gardener”, the Church, the Body of Christ,
which must serve as the Light in a sea of darkness.
We are now in the midst of Grace itself. We are given the time and the spiritual gifts
needed to nurture and to build up the human race, and each “eye”, “hand”, “arm”,
and “leg” – each member of the Whole Body – has a part to play, a role to
fulfill according to our gifts. Let us
not squander the good soil – or the time – placed under our authority. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment