Third Sunday in Lent - Sunday, March 24, 2019

Holy Cross Monastery, West Park, NY

Br. Bernard Delcourt, OHC
Third Sunday in Lent - Sunday, March 24, 2019

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

Click here for an audio version of the sermon.

We will all die one day. We were reminded of that at the beginning of this Lent, on Ash Wednesday: “Remember that you are dust, and to dust, you shall return.” Today’s gospel reminds us that we do not get to choose either the time or the manner of our death. Death comes to us on its own terms.

But whether we die as obdurate sinners who squander their divine inheritance, or as lovers of All who have persistently turned back to God is up to us to decide. We have free will and can go down either path.

In the end, as the Apostle Paul says “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). We are all dependent on the mercy of God which, thankfully, is infinite and ever-flowing.

In the meantime, we are living and exercising our free will as best we can. As we go about the business of living, suffering is not optional. Suffering is structural to being alive.  All of us, at some point or another, in some shape or form, have, or will suffer. But we do not suffer because we are worse than others.

In today’s gospel, Jesus imparts that great suffering and catastrophic death are no indication of God’s judgment of our lives. Terrible things do happen to good people too.

We are to refrain from wondering if people’s suffering is deserved. In the gospel according to Luke, Jesus confronts those “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous and regarded others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). Judgment is not up to us. It is God’s prerogative.

And the God we heard of yesterday in the parable of the Prodigal Son is immensely merciful and loving. Yes, God is a keen judge of character and spirit.  As the letter to the Hebrews says: “Indeed, the word of God is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing until it divides soul from spirit, joints from marrow; it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart” (Hebrews 4:12).

But luckily, we are saved, not by our meritorious works, but by God’s grace enfleshed in Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. As the Apostle Paul says: “They are now justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Romans 3:24).

*****

Now let’s look at how the parable of the barren fig tree fits with Jesus’ teaching in the first half of today’s lection.

I see the parable of the fig tree as illustrating the dance between God’s ability to judge and God’s ability to show mercy.

One way to look at this parable makes the owner God the Judge of All and makes the vinedresser God the Advocate.

The owner has a fig tree planted in his vineyard. In the next three years, he comes each year and checks on the tree seeking fruit, precociously as it turns out.

A fig tree would be somewhat out of place in a vineyard. It uses a lot of root space and casts a large shadow where the vines would be unable to bear fruit themselves.

Maybe the owner wanted a shady place for the vineyard workers to rest from time to time. That would be a lavish investment in workers comfort. But still, he would want the tree to pay for its place by bearing fruit as well as providing shade.

Also in Jewish tradition, a fig tree would not have been expected to bear edible fruit for about three years after its planting. Our vineyard owner is somewhat overeager for results.

The gardener (the vinedresser) can be seen as Jesus. The fig tree was a common symbol for Israel and may also have that meaning here. You can also choose to see the fig tree as a Gentile planted amidst the vines of Israel.
But I will choose to see the tree in the parable as a person (Jew or Gentile) who has heard and believed the gospel of Christ.

In any case, the parable reflects Jesus offering a chance for repentance and forgiveness of sin, showing his grace toward his believers. The gardener knows the fig tree, understands the fig tree and wants to give the fig tree its best chance to produce edible fruit.

Some see the three years of growth of the fig tree as referring to the period of Jesus' ministry. I see it as the period it took for a fig tree to bear fruit or, metaphorically, as the period of maturation for a new believer’s faith to bear fruit.

The fig tree was given the opportunity to be in the vineyard where it otherwise should not have been and was also given the needed time to bear fruit. The owner, somewhat impatiently, or is it eagerly, wants to see results.

The vinedresser, who is Jesus, does not see the current absence of fruit as a fatal flaw. Rather than giving in to the impatience of the owner, the gardener advocates for the fig tree. He offers to cultivate the fig tree further in the hope that it will produce fruit.

*****

As with the barren fig tree, so with us. We are given a space in God’s garden even though we take up a lot of space and cast a long shadow.

God is eager to see us bear fruit. God yearns for us to turn to God and bear fruit.

And God is also understanding of our needs for time and nurture to be in right relationship with God and All.

Jesus, in his humanity, empathizes with our frailty and advocates for judgment to be withheld, or to be given with great mercy. And the divine scale between judgment and mercy tilts towards mercy. Thanks be to God!

Still, out of awe and love for such a merciful God, we should all bear the burdens of life, help our fellow humans to bear theirs, and turn to God again, and again, and again. We don’t want to die separated from God by an ill-advised exercise of our God-given free will.

Suffering happens in this life. But God is with us through all of it. God nurtures us with love and mercy no matter what happens in our lives. Let us return that love as lavishly as God provides it.

Amen.