Jeremy L. Berg

Jesus was dead serious about human waywardness, and the mess we had gotten ourselves into as a species, when he came to offer a way out. He was literally dying to get our attention, to shake us out of our complacency, to invite us into a new way of being human. He told intense stories that should make us shudder, and wake us up from our complacency still today. Especially today. Here’s the Gospel lesson for this week of Lent:

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.'”

This week’s Gospel lesson from Luke 13 addresses people living in a world, just like ours today, where innocent blood is shed by evil tyrants, and where people die by freak accidents due to poor engineering. His message, however, is not so much ‘Why do bad things happen?’ but the urgent plea to recognize that we’re all going to die eventually, and the main question is: Is our eternal fate secure in the embrace of God and is our life characterized by faithful devotion to God?

That is, what kind of soil is our faith growing in? And are we producing fruit that demonstrates we belong to God? Jesus’ parable of the fig tree above is a wake up call to all who claim to follow the Prince of Peace. Are we producing the fruit of the spirit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, self-control, etc.? Or do we reflect the fruit of the flesh listed in Galatians 5?

“The acts of the flesh are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God” (Gal. 5:19-21).

Jesus’ parable is frightening. He no doubt believes God is the owner of the vineyard and God’s chosen people (Israel now expanding to include all believers in the Messiah) is the fig tree God has planted. The owner keeps finding a fruitless community wasting good soil and in danger of being cut down. He’s had it; “cut it down” says to the gardener. (The gardener would refer to the spiritual leaders of Israel in Jesus’ day, and to church leaders today.)

The gardener pleads for mercy and another chance to get the tree to bear fruit. “Let me dig some irrigation channels to get ample water to it, and let me get some better fertilizer for it. One more year!”

Friends, the season of Lent is a season of serious and sober reflection, not just on the condition of our individual hearts, but also the condition of the larger church of Jesus Christ on earth. I have not been shy in sharing that I think the Evangelical Church in America is deeply sick right now, diseased by a form of ‘Christian nationalism’ that is aligning Jesus’ kingdom with other political values and agendas that are leaving our witness, well, weakened if not ruined altogether.

Let every leader of every Christian congregation take Jesus’ parable to heart: the inspection is coming; we (leaders) are the gardeners; are we bearing Kingdom fruit? The main question is NOT: Are we winning the culture war? Are we making America great again? Are we defending our rights and freedoms to bear arms or worship without masks? You may have strong opinions about such matters, and may want to dabble in politics as a side hobby.

The MAIN question and concern for all followers of Jesus the Messiah has always been and forever shall be: Are we producing fruit in keeping with our repentance? Are we reflecting Christlikeness, are we exuding love, joy, peace, patience, etc? Are we taking our Kingdom Constitution seriously found in the Sermon on the Mount (Matt 5-7) that calls us to love our enemies, pray for those who are threatening us, using our power and privilege in the service of the least of these, speaking truth to power and trusting in the power and wisdom of the Cross even while our coworkers think Jesus’ Way to Peace is naive, weak and foolish?

In John 15 Jesus speaks similarly of God lovingly pruning his precious vine (the church), lopping off those branches that are diseased and, in my opinion, ruining our public witness, turning people away from Christianity because of our unholy alliances, etc.

The owner of the vineyard is coming soon, and there will be a reckoning. Will we show him our Sunday attendance numbers and amazing buildings with theater seating and cup holders? Or will we show him a community of radical disciples transformed by the Spirit from patriotic Republicans and progressive Democrats into Jesus-looking, Jesus-smelling, Jesus-shaped Kingdom people?

Will he say, “Well done, good and faithful servants”, or will he accuse some churches and leaders what he accused the leaders and Bible-bangers of his day: ““Woe to you… you hypocrites! You travel over land and sea to win a single convert, and when you have succeeded, you make them twice as much a child of hell as you are” (Matt 23:15)? That is, are we reproducing Jesus-like offspring, or disciples of worldly wisdom and conventional values?

Give us another year, Lord, to repent and dig proper channels around our gatherings to let your “living water” flood our souls and heal our disease of political idolatry. But what of the “manure” in the parable? How about instead of clamoring after the world’s praise, let us be smeared with the manure of the world’s scorn for a season, holding fast to the scandal of the cross-shaped life that the world will surely mock if we take up our cross.

Lent is a season to examine the health of our church’s collective witness. Will we be found faithful and fruitful? I can only echo the Gardner in the parable: Lord, give us another year to try to fix this mess and heal this diseased tree.