The Bungee Cord 3/21/22

Hello,

I believe that the Bible is not meant to be a monologue from God to us, but is meant to be a discussion starter between God and us. So, at my church, we’ve been trying to hear the Gospel lesson with questioning ears. After the Gospel is read, people, who have small sheets of paper in their bulletins, are asked to write a question that comes to their mind after hearing the Gospel. The questions are collected, and for the sermon I draw out questions and respond to them. This Sunday’s Gospel had this parable in it:

Then he (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. 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 round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”

Preceding this parable were some words on repentance, and that is where the first question that I drew from the basket came from. “What does this parable have to do with repentance?”

It was a question that caught me a bit off guard, as I hadn’t thought about it before (I usually prepare for these “sermons” by studying it for questions that I expect to be asked). My answer was that repentance has to do with being in a place where God can work on the soil of your life, but I am afraid that my expounding on that idea was a little foggy as I answered off the cuff. So, after some time to contemplate that question, here’s what I would answer.

Consider if you were that tree, who would you want to have his way with you? The owner? Or the gardener? The owner looks at that tree merely as an investment for production, an asset or a liability. Let it live if it lives up to the expectations of the owner. Cut it down if it doesn’t. The gardener looks at the tree as a work of his hands, something that he takes personal pride in. It’s life is the result of hard work and sweat, of sleepless nights thinking about what he could do to bring fruit to its limbs. The gardener has invested his life in that tree, cutting it down would be heartbreaking to him.

If you were that tree, to which of these two would you cry out, “Have mercy on me.”

Right before this parable Jesus reminds the people of the way that the world deals with us. Like heartless rulers of today, Pontius Pilate killed a bunch of people and mixed their blood with the blood of the sacrifices that were being made in Jerusalem. Like tragedies that befall us out of nowhere, a tower in Jerusalem fell and killed 18 people. The world treads hard on the soil of our lives making it impenetrable to nourishment, and it is hard, if not impossible for the fruits of hope, peace, love and joy to ripen in our lives. The world that measures our worth by our productivity is always looking at us, like the owner in the parable, with an axe in hand ready to do some tree chopping.

But that is not the way that God deals with us. As a matter of fact God used a chopped down tree to give his Son’s life for us, to loosen the hard soil of our lives with piercing nails and spear. And into that loosened soil God poured that cross-shed blood, giving the nourishment of the forgiveness of sins. He, like the gardener has invested himself in us, giving everything he has for us. Determined to enliven us with a constant flow of grace and mercy, a flow that nothing in all of heaven or earth could keep fruit from bursting forth from our lives. Peace, hope, faith, love, joy.

If you were that tree, which would you turn to when your life is barren. Who would you cry out to, “Have mercy on me.”?

I am that tree, and I know my answer. I bet it is the same as yours.

Have a great week.

God’s grace and peace, (ggap)

Pastor Jerry Nuernberger

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