The Patient Gardner

March 20, 2022

Hope Lutheran Church

Rev. Mary Erickson

Luke 13:1-9; Joel 2:13

The Patient Gardner

Friends, may grace and peace be yours in abundance in the knowledge of God and Christ Jesus our Lord.

The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. So says the prophet Joel. Joel’s understanding of God is far from an angry judge. God doesn’t wish to condemn and destroy. Just the opposite. Therefore, we need not hesitate or fear in turning from our mistakes and waywardness.

“Return to the Lord your God!” Joel says, “Return! For the Lord is gracious and merciful! God is slow to anger and ABOUNDS in steadfast love!”

Jesus’ parable today suggests the same. He tells of a patient gardener. A certain landowner planted this fig tree in his vineyard. It takes about two years for a fig seedling to reach the point where it bears fruit. Thereafter, it yields two crops per year, once in late June and again in early September.

This was now year three, and still no figs. The land owner was done with it. “Cut it down!” he orders. But the gardener advocates for the young tree. “Please, let’s give it a little more time. I’ll show it some TLC. I’ll put some fertilizer around it and help it to thrive. Let’s see what it can do with a little extra care.”

It’s not immediately apparent what caused Jesus to share this brief tale. He’d been approached by some wide-eyed people who wanted his take on a recent tragedy. The news of the event must have spread rapidly through Galilee. Some Galileans had traveled to the temple in Jerusalem to offer up a sacrifice. While there, they were killed by Pilate’s soldiers.

There was a prevailing sense in that day – if something really catastrophic happened to a person, it was an indication of a divine judgment. They’d done something offensive to God and so God sent this punishment upon them.

Jesus asks them point blank if this is what they have in mind. “Do you really think they were any worse sinners than other folks from Galilee?”

Jesus doubles down to make his point. He refers to another well-known calamity. “Well, then, how about those poor 18 souls who were crushed to death when the Tower of Siloam fell on them?” Siloam was a neighborhood in Jerusalem. “Were they any worse sinners than the other people in Jerusalem?”

Jesus answers his own question emphatically. “No, I say! But remember…you’re all going to die someday, too!”

Jesus is trying to shift their focus. It’s simpler to look at others and consider their shortcomings; it’s much more challenging to do the same towards ourselves. And yet, the one person we can most readily change isn’t someone else; it’s ourselves.

Michael Jackson stated this sentiment in his song, “The Man in the Mirror.” The refrain encourages us that change first needs to begin within:

I’m starting with the man in the mirror

I’m asking him to change his ways

And no message could’ve been any clearer

If they wanna make the world a better place

Take a look at yourself and then make a change

Lent is a liturgical season of preparation for the celebration of Christ’s resurrection on Easter. During this period, we take a deeper dive into our faith experience. We’re called to engage in extra prayer and the contemplation of the scriptures. As we receive ashes on Ash Wednesday, we remember our limited nature, that we are all terminal. All of our grand plans will one day come to an end.

Lent calls us to honest introspection. How do we need to change? What are the areas where our souls have shriveled up and bear no fruit? How have we impeded the fresh urgings of the Spirit to bear its nourishing fruits of love, joy, peace, patience, and kindness? How have we turned our energies away from producing the Spirit’s fruits of generosity, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control? How are we like that barren fig tree?

That’s the question we’re presented with today. Lent calls us to repentance. It directs our vision to take a look at the reflection in the mirror. But in our barren selfishness, we remember the patient gardener. We will not be cut down. The Lord will nourish our thirsty souls with the goodness of the Word. The hardpan of our hardened hearts will be broken open through humble repentance. And our parched roots will be refreshed through the compassion of the Spirit.

In this time of Lenten introspection, we need not fear to look within. For God is good and loving. God is our patient gardener who wishes the best for us. God yearns for us to bear the Spirit’s fruits.

Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.