What's the End of the Story?

It was about 6 years ago that the musical sensation Hamilton hit the stage on Broadway. Our family loves musicals, almost as much as we love Disney, and so when this came out Bekkah got the soundtrack some time after, and listened to it and immediately told me that I had to listen to it as well. Although we haven’t had the opportunity to go and see the show on stage, we did watch it on Disney+ shortly after it became available on that platform. We absolutely loved it as much as we though we would because of the music and the story that it tells.

For us, what makes this a great show is the way the music conveys emotion and causes you to really sympathize or empathize with the characters even though they are all flawed in one way or another. The songs show their struggles and triumphs so vividly and with the music accompanying it we really felt pulled into the story and couldn’t help but get caught up in it. Most of the songs are fantastic, but one of the the ones that I really appreciate and is the song I thought of when reading today’s scripture is the very last song of the show: “Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story”.

The song is all about what happens next in the lives of some of the characters from the show but focuses on Hamilton’s wife, Eliza. The song continues to play on a theme throughout the whole show which is about how Hamilton always seemed to be running out of time and never have enough, even though until he agreed to the duel he had no idea when he was going to die. He didn’t know what the end of his story would be but he wanted to do his best to ensure the future of this fledgling country called the United States of America.

It is that idea of story, of creating and living out a story which we call our lives, that stuck out to me when reading the parable of the fig tree. What’s the deal with this fig tree? A fig tree like many trees takes several years to grow into maturity before it will produce its fruit. After doing a quick search online I read that a fig tree can take anywhere from 2-6 years before it will produce fruit and that all depends on weather, proper fertilization and pruning, etc. So if we take the average of years we get 4 years before the fig tree would produce fruit, but then it says that the man who had the fig tree had been looking for 3 years for fruit and there wasn’t any. That likely means that it took 4 years to reach a fruit bearing age and then it the man has been looking for fruit for another 3 years so for 7 years this fig tree has been cared for but hasn’t done anything productive in the eyes of the man. The gardener pleads on its behalf taking on responsibility for the tree for one more season. The gardener wants to help take on responsibility for shaping the story of the tree so that it has a different path.

There, in and of itself, is a great deal of story. An unproductive fig tree, an upset owner, a pleading gardener. And yet the part that really intrigues me about this story is that is where the story ends, or should I say doesn’t end. In most, if not all, sorry I didn’t check, there is some kind of ending or conclusion to the parables that Jesus tells. Now parables are never easy to pin down their meaning but how are you supposed to pin down a parable when the story just ends by not ending? It would be like ending the story of Hamilton at the duel and never knowing who got shot or if either person died. Obviously it’s based on a real story, but you get my meaning.

Perhaps that is the meaning of the parable. There is no end. The rest of the story hasn’t been written yet and there is time to figure out how the rest of the story is written. With the gardener’s help we can shape our story and the story of others to be a story where the fig tree produces fruit and feeds others. In other words, we can let Jesus, the gardener work through us and nurture and fertilize us, so that we can then go out into the world with the fruit of the Spirit, the love of God and spread the gospel by bearing fruit for others. With Jesus’ help we can help tell the story of God’s love for us and for all of creation.

And in this story and the story of Jesus’ lament over Jerusalem, we see a Jesus who is full of love and concern over people Poeple who’s lives are caught up in so many worries and distractions that they can’t always focus on what is most important. We see Jesus as a caring and loving gardener wanting more time to spend with his tree, his people, and then we see Jesus as a mother hen gathering her brood, her chicks under her wing to protect and shelter them.

So what is our story? What is the story we want to tell the world? On the one hand our story is yet to be fully written as we have time to be the fruit and hands and voice of Jesus as we continue his work of loving and caring for others as much as Jesus loved and cared for others. So they may also be brought into the caring wings of a mother hen, into Jesus’ loving arms. On the other hand our story has been fully written. Our lives have been claimed by God who sent Jesus to tell a story of love, grace, and forgiveness. It is that story that has been written on our hearts and in the very fabric of the world itself. Just look around at this creation and you can see how God’s love is everywhere. Live into and accept that love and know that love is available for all people for all time. Amen.