At that very time there
were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had
mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, ‘Do you think that because
these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other
Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as
they did. 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? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish
just as they did.’ 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. 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.” ’
Taking a break from the Baptismal Covenant,
here’s my sermon for the third Sunday of Lent.
What to take from the above? I was hoping, in a way, that it would be
another politically motivated Jesus so I could tie in issues of our political
nature and Trump and whatnot - especially the whatnot - but here we get words
like repent and perish and I try to look at in the context of the people and
the situation. Not knowing what lead
into this reading and what followed, what I take from this are two things:
Thing 1:
Repent.
Thing 2:
Give yourself a chance.
I am reminded that the people in biblical times
are not as “learned” as us in the 21st Century. How many people during this time of Jesus
were illiterate? How many people during
this time of Jesus had any sort of formal learning? Or could understand concepts beyond
good/evil, black/white, hate/love? Sure,
you had the learned scholars, the rabbis, the people in power who used fear and
intimidation to control the masses but the masses were controllable by fear and
intimidation. Me thinks there wasn’t a
lot of talk of hope and change and promise.
And if there WERE talks of hope and change and promise, it was wrapped
in power, war, revenge, retribution. I
have to remind myself that the people who were under the thumb of the Roman
Authorities expected their Messiah to come in on a white horse, guns
blazing. Not a carpenter talking about
things like love. They wanted an
eye-for-an-eye and Jesus was talking about turning the other cheek.
Understanding the audience then, what to take
from Jesus’s words? Again, this was a
time that if you got sick it was because of something your father or mother
did. Karma seemed to be the overwhelming
concept: You stubbed your toe? You must have told a lie the week
before. Someone has an epileptic seizure
today we know what’s going on. 2000+
years ago, they’re inhabited by the devil because they or their parents did
something wrong.
In Jesus’ words he’s saying “repent.” Talk about what you did wrong, own up to your
failings, come back to God. Maybe
implying to them that if they repent, bad stuff won’t happen to them (or their
children) but also saying: “Look at
those who died when the tower fell on them.
Do you think they deserved that because of their sins?”
I imagine the listeners looking at Jesus and
then one another and saying: “you know,
he has a point.”
And then Jesus ends with a parable about the
fig tree where I think what he’s saying to these people is this: “Give yourself a chance. Dig your soil, feed your soul, work on your
love for God and see if it bears fruit. I
know it’s a struggle and that you haven’t bore any fruit...yet. But work on it.”
At least that’s what I took from this scripture.
No comments:
Post a Comment