Third Lent

              March 11, 2007

              

A woman had never married, but late in life, met and fell is love with a nice fellow in her church. She made an appointment with the parish priest and informed him of her desire to marry the man.
 

“That’s wonderful news,” Father Murphy said. “I know both of you will be very happy. Now, what can I help you with as you start to plan the wedding?"
 

“I just have one thing that I need to ask you, Father, and I hope you might be able to answer me,” she said.
 

A little nervously, wondering exactly what the question might be, Father Murphy said, “And what might that be?”
 

“Well, Father, I’m not sure what color dress I should wear for the wedding,” she said.
 

Somewhat relieved, Father Murphy said, “Oh, that’s not too difficult. If, as you think back over your life, you have been good, you should go with white. If there are some things there that cause you to blush, you might think about blue.”
 

“Oh, Father, thank you for that explanation. I will wear white.”
 

“I’m delighted to hear that,” Father Murphy said.
 

The woman then added, “With a light blue ruffle.”

I suspect we might all have to add a light blue ruffle to whatever we chose to wear. Some of us, including the one who stands before you, would have to opt for navy.
 

Have you ever noticed how many time Jesus the Christ used examples from nature to teach about the things of God? He constantly made reference to the natural world to get across a particular lesson to his hearers. The Parable of the Fig Tree is but one example.
 

We are invited to look at the fig tree here on the Third Sunday in Lent. The point of the parable is to answer the question, “Is it being what it was created to be?” “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.” So, the owner instructed the chief gardener to cut it down. It was just taking up space and wasting the nutrients from the soil. The chief horticulturalist implored the owner to give it one more chance. He would tend it, water it, and fertilize it. He was optimistic that harvest time next year would see a big change.
 

So what are we to learn from the Parable of the Fig Tree? I would suggest that the first lesson is that uselessness invites disaster. That applies to our physical and emotional life, surely. It applies with equal certainty to our spiritual life, as well.
 

If we have developed no discipline of prayer and meditation, if we are not seeking to find God’s will for our lives, and if we are not asking for power to carry out that will, we become spiritually atrophied and cannot bear good fruit. The measurable evidence that indicates what we are is by the fruit we bear. We have been created in the image of God to bear fruit of repentance, faith, love, compassion, mercy, and forgiveness. When those fruits are not manifested in us it is difficult for the world to know who we are and whose we are. We are not being or doing what we were created to be and to do.
 

The second lesson from the fig tree is that taking out only jeopardizes survival. The fig tree was drawing out strength and sustenance from the soil and, in return, was producing nothing.
 

Many people draw strength and sustenance from the church, from being in the community of faith, and from joining in praise and worship. But, sometimes, these same folks never witness to another soul what that means for their daily lives. We sometimes forget the law of reverse effect. That law simply states that are allowed to keep and use only what we are willing to and able to give away. It is my personal belief that the future of the Episcopal Church lies in the area of personal evangelism. It will not be determined by the Primates, the Archbishop of Canterbury, actions or inactions by a General Convention, or pontifications by a Lambeth Conference. One-on-one sharing of the centrality of Jesus the Christ will be needed. Each member talking with one other friend, neighbor, or coworker about what God in Christ means to them is the best way for the church to be and do what it was created to be and to do.
 

There are certain truths about life. We came into this world at the peril of someone else’s life and we never would have survived without the care and love of those who provided for us. We have inherited a civilization and a commitment to freedom we did not create. We are duty-bound to handle those things with great care and to give back more than we have received. It we forget that, politically, socially, or spiritually speaking, we are guilty of taking and not producing. Living totally selfishly, in any area of life, places living organisms in great peril.
 

The third lesson in the Parable of the Fig Tree is that we are given a second chance. We give each other second chances. In family relationships, in marriages, in church work we offer others a second chance; just as we have been given second chances. We learn that way of doing things from God in Christ. It has to do with forgiveness. It is always the way of God to give us not just a second chance, but chance after chance. God is infinitely kind and patient to us who so often fall short. God reaches down time after time to pick us up, dust us off, gives us an encouraging pat on the back, and sets us on the right path again.
 

But, the Parable of the Fig Tree also seems to make clear that there is a final chance. If we refuse chance after chance, if God’s appeal and challenge falls on deaf ears time after time of those whose hearing is perfect, the day finally come when no more chances are possible. It is not that God shuts us out, but that, by deliberate choice, we have shut ourselves out. God save us from that outcome!
Learn the lesson of the fig tree. Remember that uselessness invites disaster, nothing that takes out only can survive very long, and that we are believers in the second chance. Never forget! We are also believers in a God who expects us to be and do what we were created to be and to do. This is the year for us to bear fruit. Amen.