"Getting Ready For The Resurrection:
Getting Ready Through Repentance"
(Luke 13:1-9)
[1] At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. [2] He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? [3] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. [4] Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? [5] No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."
[6] Then he 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 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?' [8] He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. [9] If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.' "
NRSV
INTRODUCTION:
I have very fond memories of the summer I was eight years old. That was the summer my Mom and Dad, my brother Glen and I, along with my mother's sister, Aunt Billie, and her family and my mother's brother Uncle Kenny all loaded up in two cars and took a trip to Kentucky to visit Great Uncle Joe and Great Aunt Etta. I remember all of us kids, Glen and I, and our cousins Bruce, Danny and Dale sleeping on pallets made out of blankets and quilts piled on the living room floor. I remember Aunt Etta's breakfasts and lunches. At breakfast especially, there was everything you could think of to eat. I don't think I have ever seen so much food or so many varieties of breakfast food served at the same time outside of a buffet. There was ham and bacon and sausage. There was fried chicken, fried rabbit and fried squirrel. There was toast, at least six kinds of homemade jelly, apple butter and honey. Then there were biscuits and gravy; both milk gravy and redeye from the ham. There were grits and potatoes and eggs anyway you can think of.
I remember feeding chickens and gathering eggs. I remember picking tomatoes and fresh corn and snapping fresh green beans. I remember playing with their dogs and riding their pony. I also remember meeting relatives I didn't even know we had. But mostly I remember the work.
We went there just for the fun of it, but when Uncle Joe found out how many folks were coming, he and his brother Uncle Ed decided the extra manpower would be useful. They were farmers and you just didn't sit around and shoot the breeze when there was work to be done. So they decided on a project, something that Aunt Etta had wanted for a long time. A cellar, a basement under her house. So, we dug a basement under their house.
I was only eight, remember. And I couldn't figure out why they didn't do that first. And then I worried a little about how they were going to keep the house from falling in when they pulled all the dirt out. But they had it all planned out. No problems.
I also remember being part of the boys' bucket brigade. That's what they called Bruce and Danny and I. My little brother Glen and cousin Dale were only four, so they didn't have to work. But us older boys got to help. We carried buckets of dirt out from under the house while the men dug with picks and shovels. Eventually, some of them started moving dirt in wheelbarrows.
I don't remember it being too strenuous, though I know it was, especially for eight and nine year old boys. But what made it so memorable was all the stuff we found. It didn't take too much, an old nickel or dime or penny that had slipped through the cracks in the floor. An arrow head. Or some other such treasure that had found its way under the house. We found old tools, an old baseball, a can opener that none of us could figure out how to work, and even a few old medicine bottles. I don't remember much about carrying the buckets of dirt but I do remember digging through all of the dug out dirt, looking for treasure. You never knew what you would find.
The same could be said when we let Jesus dig around in our lives. You see this parable talks about Jesus being the gardener. He's the one who intercedes on our behalf because he knows that there is treasure in our lives.
I. ROOTS OUT THE WRONG:
A. Unfortunately, some folks don't like Jesus digging around in their lives. It scares the bejeebers out of them. They like the notion of the hymn "What a friend we have in Jesus," but they want Jesus to be one of those acquaintance kind of friends. A friend who shows up when there's trouble to bring comfort but not one close enough to be like family.
But Jesus isn't like that. When we invite Jesus into our lives he begins his work as a gardener. I think it's pretty amazing and one of those little God-incidences that Jesus tells this parable about the gardener and then in the very first resurrection appearance he is mistaken as for the gardener by Mary.
Jesus is the gardener who come to root the wrong out of our lives. He comes to help pull weeds that threaten to choke out our faith. He comes to dig around in our lives and point to those things which need to be pruned and cut back so that we can become more like Christ. So that we can become the creative fruitful Christians God intends for us to be.
B. I read about a man who came in off the street one day to talk to the preacher. The guy wore an old, black felt hat that had about two dozen turkey feathers sticking out of it. He wore a pair of women's pink pointy sunglasses and over each of his ears he had a piece of uncooked bacon. He wore a red flannel shirt, a tuxedo jacket, blue jeans and those big fuzzy slippers.
The preacher, who was acquainted with the man, asked him, "Sammy, what's on your mind?"
Sammy answered, "Well, Pastor, I'm here to talk about my brother Bob. You see," he said, pointing to his head, "my brother Bob ain't quite right."
Jesus knows that because of sin, even though we don't always admit it to ourselves, none of us are really "quite right." We all need to be made right with God. We all need for Jesus to dig around in our lives and find the treasure and have the dirt hauled out of our lives through the power of repentance and the forgiveness that is offered through Christ.
When we allow Jesus, the gardener to dig around in our lives, and admit that there is stuff in our lives that needs to be changed, or gotten rid of, then we discover new life. And we want it. We begin the process of allowing Jesus to get rid of all that stuff. That's called repentance. But once we repent, things will never be the same. They will only be better.
I don't remember where I read it but Eugenie de Guerin said: "When the soul has laid down its faults at the feet of God, it feels as though it had wings."
That's so true. The burdens are lifted and our hearts and souls are so much lighter.
II. FERTILIZES OUR FAITH:
A. Once we repent, once we've let Jesus root out the wrong, it's then that Jesus can begin the process of fertilizing our faith.
A Sunday school teacher was teaching her students about God's part in the miracle of life. So she pointed to a large plant in the room and asked, "And who made these beautiful flowers grow?"
An answer came back quickly from one of the boys in the class. "God did!"
The teacher was pleased but before she had a chance to respond, another boy shouted, "But fertilizer sure helps!"(1)
B. That young man touched upon a profound truth, like plants, our souls have to be fed and fertilized as well. Just as the gardener put manure on the fig tree to help it grow and produce, Jesus feeds and fertilizes our faith.
He does that through our personal relationship. Jesus meets us in worship, in Scripture, in personal study and prayer, in Christian fellowship and in the sacraments. Through all of these and other aspects of the faith, Jesus meets us and feeds us. And helps us to grow into fruitful and productive Christians.
III. HELPS US BEAR FRUIT:
A. He roots out the wrong; fertilizes our faith and then helps us bear fruit. His presence and his Spirit help us to bear fruit for God's kingdom. That's not why Jesus loves us. We're not the means to an end. We're not loved to be put to work.
But out of the love, out of the new life and forgiveness that we experience, we want to give back. We rejoice so much in our salvation that we want to show our love and appreciation. We don't want to just be the best looking fig tree in the orchard, we want to give the best fruit, we want to bear the best figs possible to show and share our love.
B. An ancient legend tells of a king who walked in his garden one day to find almost everything withered and dying. He spoke to the oak tree near the gate, and learned that it was sick of life because it wasn't tall and beautiful like the pine. The pine tree was upset because it couldn't bear delicious fruit like the pear tree. The pear tree complained that it didn't have the lovely odor of the spruce. And so it went throughout the entire garden.
Coming to a pansy, however, the king saw its bright face full of cheerfulness. "Well, little flower," said the king, "I'm glad to find at least one that is happy in this discouraging scene."
The pansy explained. "Your majesty, I know I'm of small account, but I decided you wanted a pansy when you planted me. If you had wanted an oak or a pear tree, you would have planted one in my place. Therefore I've determined to be the best little flower I can be!" (2)
That's God's hope for each of us, that we will be the best that we can be. That's why God has planted us where we are in life. To be the best that we can be through Christ, who not only roots out the wrong; fertilizes our faith and but helps us bear fruit and become the best that we can be and all that God would have us be.
CONCLUSION:
The Thrifty Nickel ran an ad some time back that read: "We cater to Clutter. Dependable house, apartment or business cleaning." And then there were a couple of phone numbers.
There's nothing real earth shaking or funny about that ad but what's striking is that ad could be OUR ad, that could be the Church's motto. We cater to clutter. We don't cater to the perfect. We don't cater to those who have already made it. We don't cater to those who don't need help. We cater to those who need to be perfected. That's our whole purpose in being. God takes the outcast, the imperfect, the unfaithful, the tax collectors and sinners as the New Testament calls them and through God's divine love and grace, through Jesus digging around in their lives, God perfects them. God transforms them and gives new meaning to their lives. God caters to the clutter in our lives and helps us clean up our lives.
Let Jesus root out the wrong; fertilize your faith and help you bear fruit. Let Jesus dig around and find the treasure in your life.
This is the Word of the Lord for this day.
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