“Let Me Put Some Manure on it”

(Luke 13:1-9)  

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.  Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?  No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.  So he said to the gardener, ‘ See here!  For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none.  Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?’  He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.  If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

            Well, first of all, that opening paragraph of today’s reading is pretty harsh.  It’s all about the sufferings and the sinners and the victims of a big disaster (when the tower of Siloam fell and killed 18 people).  …But, it’s the call to repentance that I want to pull out of that first section, not the threats.  So, stay with me here. 

Now, one of the most interesting themes that is often explored in literature or the movies is the question, “What would you do if you had only a short time left to live?”  Well, some of you may even have come up-close and personal with such a question through a loved one’s experience or maybe even through your own.  It is the sort of inner conversation that raises the profound questions of life. 

Who have I hurt?  What opportunities to help others have I missed?  Have I focused on things that were life-giving and life-nourishing or not?  How can the things that once-upon-a-time I may have thought were ridiculous and a waste of time now seem very important?

            I hope that the combination of today’s lesson and my sermon will take all of this on in a way that, hopefully, will deepen each of our Lenten spiritual walks. 

            The first part of the text is a powerful reminder of the importance of repentance.  “Repent,” Jesus would say, “because the time is short.”  …Yes, any one of our lives could end at any time, it’s true, but, more importantly, human life is limited to 8 or 9 decades, if we’re lucky.  We need to make the most of every minute of this life, this incredible God-given gift.

            Repentance is the first and primary act of the season of Lent.  We highlight this each year on Ash Wednesday when we receive ashes on our heads and are told “from dust you have come and to dust you shall return.  Repent and believe in the Gospel.”  Now, repentance is different from remorse.  Remorse is simply being sorry for one’s actions.  Repentance, on the other hand, is acknowledging one’s errors and seeking a new orientation.  Literally, it means a change of mind or direction; it means being turned around. 

            So, we all know how important this is, not because we think we need to beat ourselves up because we’re so bad, or that God is going to whack us, but because we are preparing ourselves for the New Life that Christ offers.  The Good Friday-Easter event is the model for what we need.  We need to die to our old selves and rise to the new.  Repentance is the preparation for the miracle that God, through Christ, works within us.  It is acknowledging that the old way isn’t working so well.  It is believing that God’s way is what we need.  It is readying ourselves.

            We’re told to repent because our time is limited.  The question so often gets asked, “Why do we need to be good or to do the right thing or to be compassionate or to care about and care for others?”  The answer is simple: because our time is short, because we haven’t a lot of time in which to live a meaningful life.

            …I love the parable that is embedded in Jesus’ call for repentance in today’s reading.  It’s amazing.  So, the owner of the vineyard came looking for fruit from the fig tree.  He approached the gardener saying, “I’ve been looking for fruit for three years from this tree, and still there’s none.  I want you to cut it down.  It’s wasting good space in my garden.”  But the gardener, surprisingly, interceded saying, “Let me work with it, let me do what I know how to do, to dig around it and put some manure on it.  That way it will have another chance.  If it doesn’t bear by next year, then you can cut it down.”

            We have a friend who comes around throughout the spring, summer and fall of each year looking for work in our yard.  Though he’s 80 we have paid him ahead for the next few years to trim our shrubs and to manage other things.  We like to help Rev. Cloid because he’s always hosting revivals and feeding the people.  He likes things neat and orderly in our yard.  We, on the other hand, don’t care that much.  He’s always wanting to cut down small trees or shrubs that he has deemed too messy or hopeless.  We, on the other hand, are always hopeful that they will come back.  I can’t wait to tell him that, this time, the Bible is backing up Rick and me!  It’s the story of the fig tree, Rev. Cloid!  Now, you have to give those shrubs another chance!

            …So, if the fig tree is symbolic of those who have not yet joined into the Jesus House, then we’re hearing about hope and God’s ability to transform us. 

Sometimes I’ll hear Christians saying that they don’t like hearing about deathbed conversions, about the fig tree bearing figs at the last moment.  Here’s this person who has been a reprobate all his life, and he waits until the end, and THEN accepts Jesus as his Savior and, supposedly everything’s fine.  They think that’s just not right. 

            OK, I get that.  But I think that’s exactly what Jesus is talking about here.  He’s saying to all of us, “Your time is short (no matter how long we have).  Don’t you want your life to mean something, even now, if you really are facing the end?  You know it’s never too late.”

            So this story has the gardener giving another chance to that sad looking fig tree.  The landowner is fed-up and finished, but the gardener says, “Let me work with it (or him or her) a little bit longer.  I’ll work with those roots.  I’ll add some manure (as if we don’t have enough manure in our lives!), I’ll give a little more or a little less water, and give her or him the extra nurturing that is so needed….  Let’s give this one another go. 

…I talked to Barb Gedeon for a few minutes yesterday.  We discussed a variety of things, but I did pick her brain about manure.  She said she has built a high tunnel in which to start some of her flowers early.  And she acquires sheep manure to add to the planting material because all plants need a boost just like the fig tree in our story.  Just like us when Jesus gives us that second or third or more chance!

            We ALL need that extra try now and then.  We all need more chances.  Thank God, thank Jesus, for the intervention, for the extra manure and the ceaseless digging.   

            Life is fragile, friends, and every one of us has an expiration date in this world.  Don’t listen to those who might suggest that this life means nothing, that it’s the next one that means it all.  This life is a gift from God and ought to be treated as such.  The next one actually surrounds this one.  It’s not this and then this; it’s this encompassed by eternal life.  Therefore, what are you doing, what are you choosing, how are you living in a way that honors THIS gift from God? 

            During this season of Lent I want you to picture Jesus out digging around our roots (Lord knows they need it).  We’ve been reading about going deep in our Lenten devotional.  We may have let our soil get hard and crusty, and our roots may be stuck and dry and tired of searching for water and nutrition.  Jesus is hauling the manure in order to give us what we need.  That’s a picture, isn’t it?  You who have spent any time on a farm know that the manure must always be dealt with and utilized.  It is a precious commodity, and somebody’s got to haul it.             Are you going to be receptive to that life-giving gift, natural, God-given fertilizer (otherwise known as manure)?  Will you be open to it?  Will you open your heart to a life that has meaning and connection to God and to others?  God always gives us another chance.  Be receptive to God’s love and care through Christ.  This is our time, not because God’s gonna whack us, but because it is our chance to receive meaning in our lives, to live life the way we have imagined, close to God, close to each other, as authentic human beings, as compassionate and loving family members, friends, neighbors and global family.  Amen.