If something bad happens to you, it is
because you deserve it if your crops fail, it is because you have displeased
God; same with illness, untimely death, any sort of disaster – it is because of
something you have done, it is God’s judgement upon you.
Ever heard anything like that?
Blaming the victim was common in the
time of Jesus, and it still persists today.
Except, it isn’t true. When illness or
disaster or suffering comes, it isn’t because we are being judged as more
sinful than anyone else. It is not a form of divine punishment.
Jesus tells the people that those whose
blood was mingled with the sacrifice, were not any more sinful than anyone
else. The reason their blood was mingled with the sacrifice is because they
were at worship, when Pilate’s soldiers came and killed them.
The same with those who were killed in
an industrial accident. They were not more sinful than anyone else. The tower
of Siloam is thought to be part of a building project that was being built with
money taken from the Temple treasury.
There is a certain level of comfort
for us in thinking that those who suffer in what appears to be random events,
must be more sinful or bad than we are. Otherwise how do we know it won’t
happen to us? We want some reassurance that we are good enough, special enough,
important enough that such things won’t happen to us, that God is judging those
people.
It is easy for us to think that some people
are more sinful than we are. I am talking about sin, that which separates us
from God. There isn’t a list of sins where some are worse than others. In the
letter to the Romans, Paul writes: since all have sinned and fall short of
the glory of God [Romans 3:23 NRSV]
Slide: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10208854356625120&set=a.1357499066439.2052303.1500378791&type=3&theater
Sin does a have role in suffering.
·
Pilate’s
brutal reign was sinful - God calls leaders to be shepherds, not murder their
own people, or line their own pockets.
·
Villages
live with polluted water when the environment is not cared for.
·
Workers
are injured or killed when profits rate higher than safety – such as in Bangladesh
a few years ago, when a building collapsed. Over 1,000 people died and another
2,500 were injured. http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-22476774
We want to think that we are immune
from seemingly random events; so it is easier to say that such events are
judgement from God. But now, as then, cyclones, tsunamis, workplace accidents
and murder are not the fault of the victim.
We all sin, we all need to come to
God, to repent, to turn our lives around. And Jesus tells another story:
..“A bloke had a fruit tree planted on
his property. One day, after finding that the tree had still not produced any
fruit, he ran out of patience with it. He called his gardener and said, ‘I’ve
given up on this tree. It’s been here for three years and has produced nothing
but leaves. Chop it down! It’s a waste of good soil.’ But the gardener replied,
‘Boss, let’s give it one more year. I’ll loosen up the soil and keep the
fertiliser up to it and we’ll see if it gives us a crop next summer. If it
does, great; but if there’s still nothing, we’ll take the axe to it then.’” [©2001 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net]
The parable of the barren fig tree
turns our attention away from judging others to looking at our own lives.
It certainly sounds like it has
branches and leaves, it doesn’t sound like it is dead, just not bearing fruit. If
it was dead there would be no reason to keep it at all.
From a song The Tree
Song: Chorus:
I’ve got roots growing down to the water,
I’ve got leaves growing up to the sunshine,
and the fruit I bear is a sign of the life in me.
“…the Spirit produces love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, humility, and self-control.” [Galatians 5: 22-23 GNB]
What fruit does your life show?
The parable is a reminder to us that
we need to not only stay alive, but to bear fruit. I wonder how often we are
even aware of our lack of fruitfulness, we appear to be going OK, nice leafy
branches providing shade, strong sturdy trunk to withstand storms, yet a fig
tree that doesn’t bear figs, no matter how healthy looking, is just not doing
what it was planted for. The tree gets another chance, and we too get another
chance, and another – not because we are particularly worthy, but because God
is gracious and merciful to us.
Lent is a time for us to think about the
things that tempt us away from God
the false idols,
the things that demand our time and attention and energy,
the things that slowly kill our spirit,
those things that mean we don’t bear fruit.
the false idols,
the things that demand our time and attention and energy,
the things that slowly kill our spirit,
those things that mean we don’t bear fruit.
The parable is left up in the air at
the end, we don’t know if the tree bears fruit next year, if it gets another
chance, or if the gardener finally pulls it out.
I wonder will we bear more fruit this
year than last.
Will we live up to our high calling as the people of God?
At times it seems that disaster and illness tests our faith, but from this passage judgement is not about disaster or illness, but whether we bear fruit that shows our repentance, our trust in God, our living as the body of Christ in this place.
Will we live up to our high calling as the people of God?
At times it seems that disaster and illness tests our faith, but from this passage judgement is not about disaster or illness, but whether we bear fruit that shows our repentance, our trust in God, our living as the body of Christ in this place.
The gardener says he will loosen the
soil, get rid of the weeds and feed the tree with manure. What would it take
for you to bear fruit?
Slide:
·
What sort of fruit would you
like your life to be producing by this time next year?
·
What help will you need to
realise this dream.
Reflection
time
A
Poem: in this life
~ Copyright © 2007 Thom M. Shuman. Posted on
Prayers4Today. http://prayersfortoday.blogspot.ca/
