SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2025 | LENT - Third Sunday in Lent (C)

Isaiah: surprisingly uplifting, come to the Lord!

1Corint:

Gospel:

Things don’t happen to us, because we were bad - there are consequences to our actions, but that is not the way of the Lord

But we are called to bear fruit - we are given mercy to do so, much longer than just one year - the Greek word etos:

Dictionary of Biblical Languages with Semantic Domains: Greek (New Testament) 2291 ἔτος

2291 ἔτος (etos), ους (ous), τό (to): n.neu.; ≡ DBLHebr 9102; DBLAram 10732; Str 2094—1. LN 67.167 year, a unit of time, involving a complete cycle of seasons (Lk 2:42); 2. LN 67.94 ἔτη τεσσεράκοντα (etē tesserakonta), very long time, formally, forty years (Ac 4:22; 7:30, 36, 42; 13:21; Heb 3:10, 17+), for another interp, see prior; 3. LN 67.60 διʼ ἐτῶν (di etōn), after years, some years later (Ac 24:17+)

It can be a looong time

Good morning,

It comes as no surprise that horrific events were as present then as today - powerful tyrants will always find ways to let everyone know who is in charge and that they can do whatever they want without consequences. And those that were caught in the middle of the mess are often proclaimed to be depraved criminals, sinners, rebels, or insurrectionists. And accidents and natural disasters were sadly also misused as signs from gods, karma, or fate. Humans are very good at using tragedies to fit their narrative.

As an antidote to that, Jesus reminds the crowds that it is not as easy as bad things happening to bad people and good things happening to good people. A wide Proliferation of theory does not make it true.

Instead, he tells them that unless they repent, they will all perish just like all those that died in one event or another.

I am sure that got people’s attention, whether positively, or, more likely, negatively. What? Why would I repent? JJesus goes on and llustrates it with a parable about a man with a barren fig tree that is losing his patience with it and his gardener that commits to care for the fig tree and asks his master to give the fig tree one more year with extra care.

The master can be understood as a popular depiction of God as an impatient landlord that has a plan and expects results…OR ELSE! So then perhaps the gardener comes as a surprise - a merciful and patient figure, more akin to how we portray Jesus.

Of course, we are the fig tree called upon to bear spiritual fruit, which we may or may not produce. And by the mercy of God we are given more time to do so and not just a year as the word for year (etos) from the text can be translated also as a unit of time, forty years, or a very long time. I like to think that we are given a very long time to become fruit bearing and that we are not alone in it, but that Jesus is tending to us and helping us get there. It’s the gardener that matters, not the impatient master that may be more likely representing the expectations of the world.

It really shines through on the backdrop of the suffering in the world then, as much as now. Nurture and care for those that need it, not those that somehow seemingly deserve it. Love and patience, rather than impatience and a threat of violence.

It softens the blow of needing to repent, at least for those that care to consider it - repentance is something we should bear and produce, but we are given help and time to do so, just like the fig tree. And it may not be just a year, but forty years or a very long time. Our God is merciful like that!

But…and there is often a but or two - repentance becomes a thorn in the side for those that do not want to consider it for one reason or another. There are some people for which saying sorry or admit fault and/or assume responsibility is very, very hard. They squirm when pressed to do so and say things like I am sorry that YOU felt that way and it becomes clear their heart is not in it and they seem rather inconvenienced by the whole ordeal. The tragedy is that a lot of them may hold positions of power as lacking self-reflection and repentance makes ascending to power easier in the world.

For them, the journey to bearing fruit of repentance may be much harder and I think that is where the followers of Christ come in and where one of the many images of the church lies - for us that are prayerfully trying to bear the fruit of repentance, we should consider the ways we may invite others to join us on this journey and offer them help and encouragement rather than judgement. To show them that they do not have to listen to the impatient master, but rather work with the gardener to give it another year or a decade. The season of Lent is a good time for it - we reflect, we repent, and we are actively a part of this world in a desparate need of God’s love and mercy. To invite others to take the leap of faith and entrust their lives to God, the creator and tenderer and sudtainer of our lives. To Let go of notions of power, control, and dominance and lean into being a part of God’s garden destined to grow and bloom under God’s care, where we are given another year…and then another to grow and bloom ourselves. Amen.