RCL - Lent 3 C - 07 Mar 2010 - Br. Scott

Parish of March - St Mary's North March - and - St Paul's Dunrobin, Ontario, Canada
Br. Scott Borden, OHC
RCL - Lent 3 C - Sunday 07 March 2010


Exodus 3:1-15
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
Luke 13:1-9

When I was making arrangements for the Diocesan prayer program, I was asked if I would preach on Sunday - and I said sure. I was even asked a second time; and a second time I said sure. Then I read the lessons for today... If I had realized how prominent a place manure has in this Gospel reading I might have thought differently...

Manure adds an interesting earthiness in this Gospel passage. For many of us, our only encounter with manure, at least the literal kind, will be in the form of the sanitized, composted fertilizer sold in garden stores. It doesn’t smell at all. Roses love it. In some ways, this is the way we want our Christianity - sanitized... nothing objectionable... nothing smelly...

That’s not the way of Jesus. Its not the real world. George MacLeod, founder of the Iona Community, observed some years ago that the church was too ethereal while its people were too material. Somewhere in the background of this Gospel passage I hear a reminder to be on this earth - this rich and fertile earth that is God’s creation. That is what humility is all about - being earth.

The Gospel is not rarified. It is not denatured. Its not sanitized. When it becomes too ethereal than we are free to be too material.
But that is just a passing implication of this morning’s reading. There are really two big things we need to look at.

First, Pilate has killed a group of Galileans in a particularly disturbing way. And this raises the age-old question: Why did this happen? Or more explicitly: Why did God allow this to happen?

We hear echos and variations of this question whenever something terrible happens. Why did God allow (or even cause) an earthquake in Haiti? Why did God allow airplanes to fly into the World Trade Center in New York.

Jesus asks the crowd if they think the Galileans suffered this terrible fate because they were worse sinners than everyone else. Just as we might ask ourselves if the people of the US or Haiti, are worse sinners. Are these Godly punishment for particular wickedness?

Some people dare to answer this question yes, concluding that God causes, or at least permits terrible disasters. These people are usually then able supply all the details about why God does this.

The next time you are tempted to take one of these people seriously, keep in mind how Jesus answers his own question. The answer is no. Disasters are not punishment from God meted out to the guilty. We have it from the mouth of Jesus... from the mouth of God.

Jesus goes a bit further... a second disaster... People have been killed by a building collapse at Siloam. We go from manmade atrocity (Pilate slaughtering people at worship) to more or less natural disaster (a tower collapses). Are those who died worse offenders than everyone else? Again, there are those voices that want to answer yes, but Jesus is clear. The answer is no.

It would be really nice if Jesus went one step further. It would be nice to know why these tragedies do happen. But Jesus leaves that question alone. We can really only conclude that there is no reason. Sometimes things just happen. This is an unsatisfying answer so the question keeps coming up.

God’s world is a world of rich and exciting creativity. It has unending cycles of birth and rebirth. But those cycles of birth and rebirth also include death. Disaster strikes. Destruction follows. From the ashes new life takes shape. God’s creation is both constructive and destructive. God doesn’t tell us why.

The Gospel story doesn’t end there. I said there were two things to look at... And here is the second thing: Jesus shares a very brief parable. A man has a non-productive fig tree so he tells his gardener to replace it. No, says the gardener, let me nurture it a bit longer... we’ll give it another chance.

These days we make lots of room for plants that don’t do much... We simply enjoy their beauty. But this fig tree had a purpose - to produce food. It was not an ornamental shrub. Its failure to yield food means that somebody has less to eat. The fig tree’s failure has consequences. The decision to give it one more year and to give it manure also has consequences. The fertilizer could be used on more productive fig trees. The fig tree takes up space and it wastes resources.

So they give the fig tree one more year, but I doubt they’ll give it two...

Why, in the face of Pilot’s atrocity with the Galileans and in the face of this collapsing tower of Siloam, is this story of the fig-less fig tree on Jesus’ mind?

Jesus seems to be telling us that the things we want to see as God’s judgment are not examples of God’s judgment. Atrocities and disaster are not signs of God’s judgment. But, at the same time, we need to know that God’s judgment is coming.

When disaster, natural or man-made, happens we want to look at what they, the victims, did wrong. We want to suppose that they are worse sinners... which would make us better sinners... In some ways we’re looking for assurance that it won’t happen to us. We just need to get right and stay right with God.

No says Jesus. We’re all the same sort of sinners - or in the rich language of our prayer book tradition, “miserable offenders.” We’ll all perish as they did... unless we repent.

Jesus asks something of us. God will nurture us and tend us, but we’re going to have to produce some figs. We’re going to have to repent. What might this look like?

As we approach Easter, we’ll hear Jesus telling us that we will be known as followers by our love. Just as a fig tree must bear figs, so followers of the God of love must show forth love.

The church is too ethereal and we are too material... Those words of George MacLeod echo in my mind.

Its very nice in our Anglican tradition to get together on Sunday and pray good prayers and enjoy beautiful liturgy. If that’s all we do, its too ethereal.

Just as the fig tree gets its roots covered in manure, we’re going to have to be prepared to get our feet dirty. As a church we’re going to have to be more earthy and as individuals we’re going to have to be less material. We’ll have to share our stuff.

We’re going to have to comfort the sorrowful, not just by praying for them, but by praying with them. We’re going to have to feed the hungry not just by sending off money and food, but by breaking bread with God’s children who are hungry.

Breaking bread with the poor doesn’t earn us salvation. It teaches us about God. Defending those who are defenseless won’t get us into heaven. It will help us to know God.

Scripture tells us the kingdom of heaven is very near us - in fact its all around us. When we sit with someone who is dying, we can glimpse the Kingdom. When we spend time with a prisoner, they can tell us about the Kingdom. In the eyes of children we can see God’s Kingdom reflected.

Jesus’ parting words to us by way of Peter are “Feed my sheep.”

If we think this feeding can be accomplished at a safe distance - that’s too ethereal. If we think this feeding is a good way for those of us who are whole to help those who are suffering, that’s too material.

Bearing figs will fundamentally change the fig tree. Feeding God’s sheep will fundamentally change us.

In Jesus name, Amen.