The Gardener

Reverend Philip Stringer

Luke 13:1-9

LET US PRAY: Bless us, O God-- you who have given us every good thing -- bless us with ears that hear you speaking to us, and eyes that see you revealed, and hearts that are dedicated to your will for the sake of our Lord, Jesus Christ, and the coming of his kingdom. AMEN

In ancient Greece, a method was developed to handle a dangerous or unpopular citizen considered to be a menace to the state. The citizens would assemble to vote by casting an “ostrakon,” a piece of pottery. Those who were in favor of condemning the person to leave the country voted by writing the person’s name on the ostrakon. From that practice has come our word ostracize, meaning to shut out from society, favor, or privileges.

We know what it means to be in that position ourselves. We have all had times when we have felt cut off -- shut out. We have all had times when we have known that we deserved it. In big ways or little ways, and in the secret parts of our hearts, we wonder who would ostracize us if they could see our heart. The most severe punishment in many cultures has been to be cut off from society. Perhaps even more frightening than thinking that we might deserve this from society, is KNOWING that we deserve this from God.

The law of God is good — a gift because it shows us what is good, and how to live in relationship with God and one another. But because of sin we cannot keep the law, and it has become our enemy. The law of God stands as an indisputable accuser against us -- and throughout time, people have perceived God as vengeful, angry, and absolute in God’s condemnation of the unworthy. It is a popular notion that salvation is for the deserving -- it is for the upright and holy. And for those who are none of these things . . . well, they shall reap what they sow. It is only fair -- and the Lord will make sure that they receive their just rewards.

The First Great Awakening was well underway when Johnathan Edwards delivered a sermon that encapsulated a view that still survives to this day. The title pretty much says it all: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. He preached that God’s grace was the only remedy for sin — which is certainly true. The problem in Edwards’ sermon, however, is knowing if one is included. How can one know that he or she is saved? By portraying God as angry and vengeful, he sought to call people to action out of fear. His approach of trying to scare people out of hell — has come to be known as “fire and brimstone” preaching.

In seminary — heard story of a VBS where the devil showed up to scare the children.

That is the fearful image of God the people around Jesus had, too — and they found around them plenty of examples to confirm their beliefs. Our gospel reading tells us an account of a time when some of those with Jesus told about some Galileans -- people from Galilee, just like Jesus and his disciples -- who had come to the temple to give sacrifices. In the midst of their offering, soldiers had come and slaughtered them. The obvious conclusion: They were unrighteous people whose offerings God had rejected in the most graphic fashion.

But Jesus disagreed. “Do you actually think that this is the way God behaves?” he suggests. No, God does not. Those who die terrible deaths are no different from anyone else who lives or dies. If we are going to measure people, then to be truthful we must conclude that ALL are sinners -- all deserve the same unpleasant end, in that case. So why are we all still here? Because, Jesus teaches, you have figured God all wrong.

It should not have come as a surprise that Jesus would say this. For God himself had said it already through the prophets. Isaiah wrote, “my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.”

To help them understand the Father better, Jesus told them a parable. But even a parable may not be of help if those who hear it listen with ears that fear the wrath of God. The assumption is that the man who owns the tree and wants to cut it down represents God -- and we are the tree. Perhaps we will allow God enough compassion to identify Jesus as the gardener who wants to save us . . . but he only gets a short while to try, and the outcome is uncertain.

I don’t much care for that interpretation, and it certainly doesn’t fit with our understanding of the boundless loving and compassionate God revealed to us in Jesus Christ.

A fig tree is, in fact, a common image of Israel used throughout the Old Testament -- Judah OR Israel -- God’s chosen people. So, Jesus DID put his listeners into the parable.

But when we remember that the people of the Old Covenant are his audience, it seems to me that the man who owns the tree is the Law. For the Law stands over the people demanding fruit and righteousness. And because of sin, it is the Law that condemns them -- and us. All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, wrote Paul.

The number “three” is a number that symbolizes fullness and completion. So, when the Law has come looking for fruit for three years and has found none, Jesus is saying that it has been a fullness of time -- It is conclusive, a sure thing: the tree is barren -- fruitless. The people cannot produce, and they never will.

But grace is like a gardener -- and the gardener says, “wait. Let me do my thing first. Let me do the impossible.” And beyond the bounds of what is necessary -- or even reasonable — grace goes to work, feeding the tree with a new covenant – nutrients – fertilizer -- that has never been heard of before — food that comes into the roots and out the branches. The tree does not reach out and grab it — the gardener steeps the tree’s roots in it.

An interesting detail to note is that Jesus doesn’t tell us the end of the parable -- but maybe he doesn’t need to in order to convey the message he intended.

The parable doesn’t teach us how to produce fruit. It teaches us about the ways of God. Jesus wanted to challenge the people to think about God in a different way -- as a God who is willing to move beyond what is right -- beyond what is fair -- beyond what is necessary or even reasonable. He challenged the people to think about God as loving and gracious, rather than angry and vengeful.

And with a new understanding of God, Jesus called his audience to a new way of life. “But unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Jesus isn’t trying to scare people into obedience with these words. Where the English translation uses the word, “repent” the original text used the Greek word, “metanoia”, which means, “turn about.” To repent means to turn around -- change course. Jesus says, turn your thinking about God and salvation around. For 2000 years we have been trying to do that in the church -- trying to look beyond the law to God’s grace -- and it continues to be a struggle.

In the Academy of Fine Arts in Venice there hangs a painting by Paolo Veronese. The painting was completed in 1573 — during the height of the Reformation — and it got him in trouble with the Inquisition. The painting depicts Jesus at a banquet with his disciples. Around the edges of the painting are Roman soldiers playing in one corner, a man with a bloody nose on the other side, stray dogs roaming around, a few drunks, and also dwarves, thieves, and 16th century German soldiers. Called before the Inquisition to explain these irreverences, Veronese defended his painting by showing from the Gospels that these were the very kinds of people Jesus mingled with. The Inquisitors were unimpressed, and insisted that he change the title, and “correct” the painting to get rid of all of these “absurdities.” They wanted to keep their idea of Jesus sanitized from any connection to real life. The official record of the hearing concludes, “And so they decided everything for the best!”

A mind that does not comprehend the grace of God cannot conceive of God as being anything more than a judge, cannot look at God in love -- and therefore cannot conceive a life lived in love.

In our gospel reading today, Jesus challenged his listeners, “don’t think that way.”

The good news is that Jesus -- God in flesh -- came to be with people like you and me, that we might live, not in fear of God -- not trying to convince God that God should love us but knowing that God loves us already.

And Jesus’ message to his listeners to “repent” or “die as they did,” is to say, “Do not die without hope as these others did. Don’t die like them — Don’t die without recognizing the love of God. Turn about, and see that God loves you, and calls you to a life of faith rooted in love.

Jesus called his listeners to a life of hope -- turning to see the hands of the gardener working upon them and around them. The gardener in God’s vineyard is “grace”, and our gardener gives to us the food that we need -- the bread from heaven, who is Jesus himself.

Jesus Christ is the food that will satisfy. Jesus Christ is the one worthy to be loved; worthy to be hoped in; worthy to have faith in.

He is the one who loved us and brings us together. He is the one who has come to us, and bears fruit in us.

And in a few minutes, he will come to you in the forms of bread and wine -- to touch you again in love, and to wash over your sins with grace, saying, “your sins are forgiven. Turn to me, rejoice and live.”

Come, taste and see, the Lord is good.

AMEN