Sin, suffering and bearing fruit

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.

http://azharclass2012.wikispaces.com/file/view/The+Tree+Song+Lyrics.PDF

“…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 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.

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/

Choose well

The title is from the study An Acceptable Fast from The Thoughtful Christian http://www.thethoughtfulchristian.com/

We live in a world of advertising, where we are told what it is that will satisfy us, what will make is likable, lovable, what will give our life meaning – it may be a new car, a house in a particular area or even the brand of bread that you eat.

These things don’t satisfy us, they don’t fill that God shaped void inside us.

A paraphrase of the psalm begins[1]:

“You are my God and I crave you;
........all that I am thirsts for you;
every fibre of my being aches for you,
........like a parched and weary land longing for rain.”

Does that sound like you? thirsting, aching for God?

“Let me stay here in this sacred place
........and drink in the vision of your strength and glory.”

Here the psalmist is speaking about the presence of God in the sanctuary; that is sensing God’s presence, of the holy, God’s glory and power as  we worship together in community.

“With every breath I sing your praises,
........because your rock-solid love
................is worth more to me than life itself.

I will worship you till my dying day,
........with my hands reaching out to you
................and my voice calling your name.

You are like a rich banquet to my soul;
........like a meal I can’t praise enough!”

Our response to God is praise and worship, because we know that God is needed in our lives, God provides food for our soul.

“Even in the dead of night
........I lie awake thinking of you,
................and savouring each treasured thought.

I snuggle under your wings and sing for joy,
........for you have been my help and support.

With all that I am I cling to you,
........and your strong loving arms hold me safe.”

And it isn’t only when we are in church singing our favourite hymns, but when we lie awake at night, that we can trust in God.

some thoughts from the psalm:

When we gather for worship, is this a safe place for people who are yearning for God, who are broken and thirsty to come and be filled by God? There are people in our community who yearn for God, but are not sure they would be welcome in our midst? How would you feel if aboriginal people were in this congregation, or single parents and their children?

Which brings us to Isaiah, and his invitation to Come:

Come and eat and drink without money

“Hey you! Are you thirsty?
........Come, then; drink from these fresh waters!
Are you hungry and penniless?
........Never mind! Come; help yourselves; eat your fill!
Come and stock up with food, wine and milk.
........What will it cost you? Not a red cent!”[2]

 God’s generous invitation to life.

This section of Isaiah was written when the people of Israel were in exile, this hymn is an invitation to leave the place of exile and go to the land of their ancestors, a land that their generation do not know.  Make a choice, stay in the land of exile, or return to the land of your ancestors, a place you have never seen. In the Bible we see people making choices about leaving the familiar behind and going to a new place.   Going from what was familiar, following God’s call to travel to a new place, leaving Egypt, Abraham and Sarah, exiles returning home.

This is both physical and spiritual; this passage beckons us to choose from all that is available to us.  In Isaiah we are asked :

“Why sink all your money into things that leave you hungry?
........Why bust a gut working for things that can never satisfy?”

 We make choices every day, some are big choices, what to name a child, what will you study at school or university, who will you spend your time with, where will you live;  but there are other choices we make every day: what will we eat, who will we talk with, what will we wear. Those choices effect other people.

The writer of Isaiah asks: why spend money on that which does not satisfy?

This is one of the issues in western communities – we crave experiences, clothes, shoes, food – not because we need it to stay alive, but because we are searching for something to fill our lives, to bring a sense of purpose into our lives.  

We hunger for God, and God calls us to come, to eat, to drink – to choose.  How often are we aware of our hunger for God; in what ways do we bury that feeling, or cover it up.

 For our community are hungry, hungry for food, hungry for a future. Because in our society, you must have money to buy food. In some places it is cheaper to buy fried food then fresh fruit and vegetables, and when money is tight, people buy the cheapest filling food they can find.

 During Lent, when we slow down a little and we can look again at our relationship with God and God’s creation.  Maybe during Lent we can become more aware of our hunger for God, our yearning for God. Maybe during Lent we can become aware of the choices we make each day. In the same way that we talk about spending money we talk about spending time, and my guess is that time is in much shorter supply for many of you here today than money. For some of us at least, the reading from Isaiah would be why do you spend time on that which does not satisfy; why spend time doing things which do not promote life, which kill off your spirit?

“Maybe the point of Lent is for us to adjust our sights so that we at least understand what it is we should hunger for, or in fact what we do hunger and thirst for, in our deepest being: justice, mercy, peace, healing, acceptance, love. And not just for ourselves, but for all of God's children”[3]

The hymn following is from here: http://www.newhymn.com/160ChooseLife.htm

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[1] ©2001 Nathan Nettleton www.laughingbird.net.” Year C Third Sunday in Lent 3 March 2013

[2] Ibid.

[3] Reflection: by Kathryn Matthews Huey UCC SAMUEL