What does that fig tree do with it s one wild and precious life? Let us be in worship. Aug. 21, 2016 Luke 13:1-9. Soul-Tending

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1 Centering: Poet Mary Oliver wrote this: Tell me, what else should I have done? Doesn't everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life? Our one wild and precious life. We get so busy getting through life one day at a time, the things that really last or that feed our souls and spirits, get put on hold. Jesus talked about a very pretty fig tree very pretty. All leaves. No figs. What does that fig tree do with it s one wild and precious life? Let us be in worship. Aug. 21, 2016 Luke 13:1-9 Soul-Tending For all of those who have ever screamed NO! when someone confronted a tragedy saying it was God s will. You will want to remember this scripture. For anyone who has wondered if they had just lived a better life, things would have turned out differently, this passage is for them. For all of us who question why bad things happen to good people this scripture is for us. For folks who recoil about the Westboro Baptist church equating tragedy with God s wrath: look at what Jesus has to say here. For you who wrestle with whether God can still love you: this passage is for you. It s somehow comforting to me to know that it s not a recent phenomena: thinking God causes bad things to happen to people for some reason; it was common thinking in Jesus day as well. 1

2 Much like today, the belief was that if you were poor or sick or in over your head, or bad luck seemed to follow you around, then it was basically your fault: you were lazy, or not as smart, or had done something wrong. In other words, God had given up on you. Spiritual blaming. Does it still happen?how bout Jerry Fallwell blaming 9/11 on the feminists, the pagans, the gays, and the ACLU; Pat Robertson blaming Hurricane Katrina on the Haitians making a pact with the Devil during the French Revolution; The Westboro Baptist church saying each military death that happens is because God hates America. But really those are the extremes. How many times have you known someone who wonders if their sick child or their own illness or misfortune was caused by something they did or didn t do, and now they were reaping the consequences? In today s passage from Luke, Jesus confronts that kind of group-think about the fact that the crueland ruthless Pilate had slaughtered a whole group of Galilean pilgrim Jews who had come to the Temple in Jerusalem to worship and that the terrible tragedy of a stone tower falling on and killing 18 people was somehow the result of wrong belief or God s displeasure. And Jesus puts words to their unspoken question: Oh.. so you think God caused that? Were they worse human beings than anyone else? And what about the 18 who were killed when the Temple tower fell on them by the pool of Siloam. Were they bad as well? Then Jesus then tells a parable of a fig tree in the middle of a vineyard. 2

3 It s a strange picture for me, as he wasn t talking about grape vines that were not producing; but rather a fig tree in the middle of a vineyard. And this fig tree was growing.. it just wasn t producing. The owner of the property came to inspect his fields, and reported to the gardener that in the last three years, he had not seen any fruit on that tree, and so he wanted to cut it down. But the gardener said, No, I think it just needs some attention, some better soil and fertilizer, and digging. Now the owner of the property is fed up with this unproductive tree and wants to cut it down now! But the gardener says Wait. Let me work with it and give it the very best conditions to grow and produce, and then you can judge. Jesus uses this opportunity to turn the tables on his questioners.. and on us! We look for reasons God acts the way that God does; but do we as quickly look inward to ask how WE can be more the creation God intended? Jesus says unless you repent.. and again our minds go to the harsh Turn or burn associated with our cultural idea of repent. But remember that repent tied in to that prophetic call to shove or return to God. And that is our human journey 3

4 always to return to our source.. be renewed at the Source rest in our Source. So what s going on here? What is the fig tree? Who is the owner of the vineyard? Who is the gardener? Are we supposed to see ourselves as the fig tree?....god is the owner.. And Jesus is the gardener? Really? Really? God is the wrathful, impatient cleaner out of vineyards? Jesus stands between us and a vengeful God? **** When were you first aware of death? That things died? That you would die? What effect did it have on you? I was about four, and my father took me to see his uncle in a casket in a funeral home. To me he looked like he was sleeping. And yet he wasn t breathing. And it hit me! That s what death was. You didn t breath. Life as you knew it stopped. It was an existential moment of angst for a four-year-old. And it has stayed with me:i am not immortal. What am I doing w/ my life? In this passage, two tragedies get people s attention: the slaughter of innocent pilgrims, and the tragedy of a collapsing tower killing 18 people. Why did this happen? Who is to blame? Do bad things happen to good people? 4

5 Or do bad things happen to people who somehow weren t paying attention enough? I think Jesus is telling us that time is short. We don t have all the time in the world to some day get around to the work of soul-tending. So what are we waiting for? Tell me.. what is it you plan to do with Your one wild and precious life? But rather than the message: hurry up before it s too late and you go to hell I think it s more of a loving warning that: this life you have is important; don t waste it when you could be producing wonderful fruit that feeds and delights God s creation. Jesus talks about repentance. Luke mentions repentance more often than any other book in the Bible. In fact, almost more often than all of the rest of the New Testament combined. What does that mean? To repent. To reassess. Turn around. Start again. Follow a different direction. A changed mind. Be intentional. Make things better. Get in alignment. A new consciousness. Turn back to our Source. Reconnect. And we have a graceful, loving, dedicated gardener who wants us to not just take up space in this life, but to be who we are meant to be: the highest and the best of what we are capable of; living and working in a Kingdom of God reality in the here and now. But we need to soul-tend. 5

6 We need to find that opening in our busy lives where we can question who and what and how God works in the world around us, and then dig deeper with the gardener and question ourselves: who are WE and why are WE here, and WHAT are we doing that is productive and pleasing to God? To soul tend does not mean we do the work. Our souls are the work of the gardener. But I believe we have to connect to the Holy to do that. We have to let the gardener dig around our roots.. throw out the stones and twigs and clogs of clay; to fertilize with sacred time, and thoughts, and community. Who is the owner of the vineyard who wants to cut the unfruitful tree down? It is not God. It may be our super ego. It may be Religion s judgement. It may be other people s opinions. It may be how the universe is ordered. Like the three fates in Greek Mythology: Clo-tho, Lach-e-sis, and Atro-pos. Clotho, the spinner, was the youngest of the three Fates; she spun the thread of destiny with a spindle, determining the time of birth of an individual; Lachesis measured the thread length to determine the length of life; finally, cruel Atroposcut the thread of life, determining the time of death. Death may be random but our soul-tending is intentional. Perhaps in this passage, the emphasis should not be on the owner 6

7 But on the grace-full gardener.. who tends the garden of our soul Who is always waiting to work with us in that digging, fertilizing, throwing-out discipline of soul-tending. Tragedies get our attention. They make us question what we are doing with our own lives. Do they matter? Are we all that we can be in this moment in time? Are we just getting along to get along? Do you ever wonder if you were on one of those 9/11 planes what your thoughts would have been? Who would you have loved more? Played with more? What words were left unsaid? Do you feel there is unused potential to re-direct your life to accomplish different things that will leave behind meaning and goodness for others? I consider one of my highest privileges in the ministry is to have presided over memorial services where the incredible life of one person is lifted up. It is a holy time to hear and speak aspects of a life... to hear stories from different people of what they knew of this one life. Invariably several will comment I never knew that about him I wish I had taken the time to get to know that part of her. Tell me.. what is it you plan to do with Your one wild and precious life? Can we use those wake up occasions in life 7

8 to change our own way of living? To realize there but for circumstances go I? What have I left undone? What more can I do? What difference can I make? What in me needs to change? What life lessons do I want to pass on? Perhaps this week you can visualize yourself in the vineyard: a place of work and productivity. And you: you are the lovely fig tree: meant for shade and delight and fruit. How s the fruit working out for you? I m thinking the tree Jesus was talking about, was not a scrawny tree. It probably looked pretty good on the exterior: plenty of leaves, growing at a healthy rate. From a distance, one would think everything was fine. But something on the inside was preventing the tree from producing. And Jesus says: I will tend to this soul. I will give it everything to heal and mend and be able to function fully in the garden. How will we respond? Tell me.. what is it you plan to do with Your one wild and precious life? Preached by the Rev. Pamela Nelson-Munson at Eugene s First United Methodist Church. 8