Waiting to Inhale: 3. Mucking the Figs. A sermon preached by James F. McIntire. Text: Luke 13:1-9. March 3, 2013 Lent 3

Transcription

1 Waiting to Inhale: 3. Mucking the Figs A sermon preached by James F. McIntire Text: Luke 13:1-9 Copyright 2013 James F. McIntire All rights reserved. March 3, 2013 Lent 3 Hope United Methodist Church Eagle & Steel Roads, Havertown, PA Phone: Web: Office: HopeUMCHavertown@verizon.net Pastor: HopeUMCPastor@verizon.net 2

2 Luke 13:1-9 [T]here were some [where Jesus was] 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. In the 2012 movie, Flight, Denzel Washington is Captain Whip Whittaker, a commercial airline pilot who guides his plane miraculously through a horrendous rain storm when it then begins to fail mechanically leading to a full-out nose dive. Whip manipulates the controls and issues the orders that lead to rolling the plane upside down but horizontal, then rolls it right side up, and glides it down into an open field. Only 6 of the 102 passengers and crew die in the crash a crash that would no doubt have killed everyone aboard if not for the heroic action of Whip. But, we discover, Whip is an active alcoholic and drug addict who was actually drunk during the flight. The crash had nothing do with his substance abuse and was not his fault the saving of 96 people was the direct result of his action. 3 The movie is an intriguing mix of human struggling and Godquestions and throughout the film there is a consistent wondering about why bad stuff happens similar questions that we can infer from Jesus in the Gospel lesson this morning. After the plane crash, Whip is in bad shape and recovering in a hospital. Once stable, he leaves his room to find a stairwell where he can sneak a cigarette. In the stairwell he meets a bedraggled looking woman, Maggie, whose tattoos and story we ve glimpsed at the beginning of the movie drug addict, jobless, losing her apartment, prostituting for money to get by. Maggie has overdosed and is in the same hospital, same stairwell, same reason to smoke. A third person enters the scene, a Gaunt Young Man the script names him a man with cancer taking away his life but he jokes his way through as he bums a cigarette from Maggie. WHIP: What kind of cancer? GAUNT YOUNG Fibro-mixzoid sarcoma, soft tissue sarcoma. MAN: Very rare, God chose me. (laughs). WHIP: God chose you? You believe in God? GAUNT YOUNG F**k yeah b**ch. You re a stupid f**ker if MAN: you don t believe in God. (The GOD topic has silenced the stairwell...) GAUNT YOUNG As soon as you realize that the random MAN: events in your life are God... you will live a much better life. You spend your life believing that you have all the control over what happens. Bulls**t. The plane you re flying goes down? Out of your control. God gives you cancer. I have no control over that. Did God give me cancer? You bet your a** God gave me cancer. 4

3 You think if I begged for cancer God would have given it to me? No... because I assure you I have begged for God to take it away and guess what? I have no control over that. I have no control over that. No control. Over cancer taking over the body of a young man or of a plane crashing because of a mechanical failure. It seems to this man that all random events in life are God. The God topic has silenced the stairwell, says the script. Isn t that usually the case? Jesus was with some people who brought up the story about Pilate s massacre of Galileans and his mingling of their blood with their sacrifices. Not God s doing, says Jesus, it was all within Pilate s control. 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. So here s what s going on. While we do not have control over the random things that happen in this world, we do have it within our control to repent of the sinful things in our life. Sin anything that causes brokenness and separation between you and God or between you and another person. That s sin. And that, says Jesus, is within your control not God s control. God offers the forgiveness so long as you are willing to reach out for it and accept that it s there for you. brokenness, Jesus exhales coming down and through the resurrection breathing into the world forgiveness. If we are willing to inhale deeply enough to make room for God s forgiveness, God exhales into that space the free grace that allows us to move forward. Later in Flight, Captain Whittaker s lawyer takes him to see the crash site for the first time. They stand atop scaffolding that overlooks the site. To the left is a small country church which lost its steeple when the wing of the plane clipped it on the way down. Around a small pond are the congregants and preacher who gather daily for prayer these same people had been there during the crash for a baptismal service and they ran to pull survivors from the plane looking like angels in their white robes amidst the mangled metal and strewn about broken bodies. But there now standing on the platform, Whip and Hugh Lang stare at the wreckage. WHIP: Why did you bring me here? HUGH: I needed you to see this. WHIP: You trying to scare me? HUGH: I need to know that you can handle all this. (WHIP continues to stare at the awesome dent in the earth.) HUGH: Listen clearly. There was a mechanical issue with the plane. But what you and I know? Is that this was an act of God. I m gonna fight to get the NTSB to place act of God on the probable causes list. WHIP: Who s God would do this? Waiting to inhale. Remember? At creation God breathes in to make room for the nothingness into which God exhales to create all that is. God inhales to make room, God exhales to bring into being. Jesus inhales when lifted on the cross taking in all the 5 That s the question, isn t it? It is for me, at least. The God I know doesn t cause disaster. The God I know doesn t will disasters and 6

4 bring death and destruction. The God that Jesus preaches about is a God of love and compassion, a God who brings us through, not into, death and destruction and disaster. As the movie moves along, Whip is trying to build a case proving that despite his failed toxicology tests he is the hero in this case. But he continues to slip back into his substance abuse cycle, even showing up drunk and on a cocaine high the morning of his NTSB hearing. Whip visits the hospital to try to persuade his co-pilot, Ken Evans, to not speak to anyone about his condition the morning of the flight. The co-pilot is a young man who we know from the beginning of the film is a radically evangelical, conservative Christian. The co-pilot s read on the God-question is, I m afraid, like too many people today who believe God is in control of all that happens, like a manipulative puppet-master. EVANS: That plane was doomed the second you sat in the chair. You reeked like gin or somethin. I called Vicki from the plane before we took off. That s when the rain kicked up. (VICKI nods, holding her cross with the chain across her lips.) WHIP: I don t know how much you remember, but the plane started to fall apart. EVANS: I remember everything until we crashed. I know what went on. WHIP: What are we talking about? EVANS: I don t know Captain Whitaker, what are we talking about? WHIP: I just wanted to get a sense from you what you thought caused the crash. EVANS: Was it the fact that you got on the plane drunk from the night before? (WHIP goes white and drops his head.) EVANS: The NTSB is coming back tomorrow to finish taking a deposition from me about the events on the flight. WHIP: You think you d be alive without me on that plane? EVANS: No, we d all be dead. But are you gonna argue that your physical state was tip top? WHIP: I m not gonna argue anything with you. (WHIP gets up.) EVANS: Sit, please sit. (Whip sits) I never shared my opinion about your physical state the morning of the flight. I ve never said word. (WHIP sits and studies EVANS.) The flight was pre-ordained. I ve prayed on it Captain. Vicki and I have prayed on it. There s only one judge VICKI EVANS: Praise Jesus. EVANS: And he has a higher plan for you sir. This event although tragic in its loss of life is also a celebration of life. (EVANS begins to mist up with sincere inspiration.) EVANS: Nothing happens in the Kingdom of the Lord by mistake. VICKI EVANS:Praise Jesus. EVANS: Captain, will you pray with me? (WHIP stares into EVANS eyes and sees a believer s conviction. EVANS reaches out his hand to WHIP. WHIP slowly moves out of his chair and kneels at the side of EVANS bed. WHIP takes EVANS hand and bows his head as he reaches for VICKI s at the same time. It s quiet before...) EVANS: Jesus our Lord and Savior we thank you for blessing Captain Whitaker with courage and wisdom. For guiding his hand on that fateful morning. In his divine light we were saved. Praise Jesus. VICKI EVANS: Praise Jesus. (It is quiet for an extended beat. Finally...) WHIP: Praise Jesus. 7 8

5 The flight was pre-ordained Nothing happens in the Kingdom of the Lord by mistake. Nothing could be farther from the truth, says Jesus. The tower of Siloam falling and killing those 18 people was not pre-ordained by God to cleanse the world from the unrighteous. The tower fell and those particular people died not because of their sin but simply because of an accident. That plane crashed because of faulty mechanical design and failed metal. But interestingly, the co-pilot s erroneous theological read on the events creates a moment of grace for Whip Whittaker. Towers fall, buildings fall down, earthquakes shatter, storms hit, disease strikes pop theology more often than not assumes that these are programmed by God, acts of God insurance policies call them; and, in fact, Attorney Evans succeeds in having that defense added to the NTSB case. Act of God. It s ironic because it is exactly the opposite of that accidents and randomness are not brought about by the God that Jesus preaches. How often do we hear comments like: God is punishing me because I am sick or They are always having problems; if only they would turn to the Lord.? It s not always so blatant, more often it just comes across in our prejudices: The unemployed just need to pull themselves together. Poor people are there because there is something wrong with them. Many people live with the mantra It was meant to be as if that is designed to give peace and explanation. When in reality what it says is I don t want to have to accept that God is not in control that s too scary and I don t want to have to accept that bad things happen to everyone and that God is all that will get me through when things go bad. If that s the plan is the answer for everything and things go well for the good; things go poorly for the bad is our mantra then all I have to do is be good and all will be well. It is a vehicle for control. It is also a lie. God is a God of hope and future, not of death and destruction. God is God whether things go right or things go wrong, whether 9 I m good or I m bad. God is still God. God is a God who offers grace and redemption to a substance-abusing Whip Whitaker. It is God who, through the presence of this broken-down airline pilot brings back from the edge of life s tempting cliff Maggie who seems to be on death s doorstep emotionally, spiritually, physically. What life is about, says Jesus, is not about blaming acts of horror like that of Pilate on God s plan. What life is about, says Jesus, is not about wondering if those who died when the tower fell was due to their sin. What life is all about, says Jesus, is spreading manure around the fig trees over and over and over again. It s about what farmers sometimes call mucking -- spreading the manure round the garden or field. Mucking the figs until they produce God s fruit. 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 around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down. Is it not our job to tend the trees and spread the fertilizer until good fruit grows? The ending to the parable is ambiguous. Jesus, like any effective teacher using a parable leaves us hanging at the end. What happens the next year? Is there good fruit? Does the fig tree get cut down? Does the gardener lose his job? Does the vineyard owner sell the vineyard? We just don t know. But maybe if we have been following along in understanding the Jesus message we can fill in the blanks. If we have faithfully continued to fertilize the garden, if we have continued to spread manure around the tree, if we have been mucking the figs, then surely they will produce good fruit and the owner will be happy. But even if our efforts fail this year, God is not finished with us. I suspect that if the vineyard owner comes 10

6 back the next year and the fruit has not been good, the request for yet another attempt at producing good fruit will be honored. God is a God of second and third and fourth and fifth chances. Dr. Matthew Miller is associate director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, who was quoted in the New York Times on February 14 while commenting on the nearly 20,000 gun deaths in the United States in 2010 that were suicides. "If you use a gun, you usually don't get a second chance," he said. But the Jesus message in this parable is that if you use God, you do get a second chance. And indeed not just this parable but the totality of the Jesus message is exactly that. God is a God of second chances as long as we are willing to faithfully tend the garden that is our lives. We are broken just like these pots on our Lenten table and that piece you are carrying with you during Lent. (Pieces of terracotta pots were distributed on Lent 1; remaining large and small pieces are on a table visible at the front of the Sanctuary.) We are broken but not shattered beyond repair. At this moment our fig tree might not be producing good fruit but with the right care and compassion the next moment might yield a different result. Mucking the fig trees in our lives requires time and attention and patience yet if we continue to be attentive to God's reminder about the nourishment we need around our own roots we might be surprised at what the harvest will yield. At the table this morning we are all broken. At the table this morning God inhales to make room for our brokenness. At the table this morning God exhales forgiveness and patches the brokenness that we bring. At the table this morning none of us need be broken any longer. Amen. 11