Scripture: John 21:1-19
The past few weeks I have asked what would happen if we really believed that Jesus rose from the dead, and how our lives would change if we lived as if that were the case. I know that it is an odd question because most, if not all of us believe this with our whole hearts. But do we live as if we believe that that power is available to us, even today 2000 years after the fact. Do we think of it as an ancient history that has no bearing on our current life or is the reality something that we can interact with even today?
This is a question that the apostles even 2000 years ago had to ask themselves. Their rabbi, their friend had been executed on a cross around two weeks before, they had been locking themselves in a room together waiting. Waiting. The greatest most amazing and unexplainable things have happened but they cannot leave this room out of fear. They had just spent the last 3 years of their life learning from and ministering with Jesus. Now the game had changed. Jesus is not physically at hand, he comes and goes like a mysterious wind, and they are at a loss for what to do. They are without direction and without a cause they lock themselves in a room and they sit in the cloud of uncertainty.
Then Peter gets tired of waiting and tired of sitting. He is a man of action and this waiting around is not for him. So he the leader of the apostles in many ways makes a bold statement, “I am going fishing.”
For those that like to fish this may seem like a very honorable thing to do and you would be at his heels, mainly because he has a boat. We might say that this statement of going fishing is a great way to relax and center down on God. But I want us to take a different look. Peter, James, John and Andrew were all fishermen by trade prior to becoming the apostles of Jesus. This is not a simple statement of let’s go out and enjoy the day fishing, but one of defeat.
“I am going fishing.” Peter proclaims. I am finished and I am going to go back to the life I once knew. For three years Peter and the others had seen the blind receive sight, the lame gain use of their limbs, they had even seen the lepers cleansed of their disease, they had seen great compassion on the vilest of sinners worthy of death, and had seen charity beyond their wildest imagination when a group of over 5000 was fed miraculously. Yet after all of that, when the situation changed they fall back to what they knew once before. “I am going fishing.” After seeing the empty tomb, after encountering the risen Christ not once but twice, after seeing and feeling the wounds on the hands and in the side of their teacher and friend. The friend who was rejected, tortured, and executed by the religious establishment and the government, yet had stood in the room with them not as a ghost but as flesh and bone. And he say, “I am going fishing.”
They not only have seen marvelous feats of God’s mighty hand but they had seen that hand raise the dead of a small girl, a grown man, and their beaten teacher. They shared meals with him, sat and conversed with him. They are confused and in their confusion they look back and say, “I am going fishing.” As far as they are concerned everything they hoped for in Jesus was buried, buried in an empty tomb. At that moment there was no future through this cloud and the only path left to take is the path back through the mists, back to a time and place where all that was needed and required was to toss a net and pull in the catch. “I am going fishing.”
They left the room, they shut the door on their hopes and they settled. They were standing at the gates of kingdom but instead of walking forward through the mist they settle for a life they once left because to walk forward takes a faith in something that is unsure. They fish all night; they toil in the darkness only to come up empty.
Then a voice cries out from the shore. “Children, you have no fish, have you?” They are transported back to the beginning, back to where they started; back again to the first day they met the man that would change their lives. “Throw the net off the right side.” The man says to them and there is a familiar tug, a resistance that only a fisherman knows and they realize that even in their unfaithfulness God is gracious.
Peter dives into the water swimming to the shore while the others drag in a catch. There on the shore the friend they all rejected, the friend they each turned their backs on was stoking the fire, cooking fish, and asking them to eat. They turned their backs on their Lord, they returned a past life, yet there was their Lord cooking fish for them and extending a hand of grace.
So often times we face the clouds and turn. Something comes into our lives that challenges our faith, challenges our understanding, or our traditions and we turn. Instead of moving forward along the path we have been lead to, we turn and walk the other way. We turn from the grace of God and we lean on our own strength. We look ahead into the mist and we say “lets go fish,” which is in actuality saying let us go our own way and use my own understanding. Why do we turn? Why do we throw up our hands, why do we lock our faith up in a room and bury it in an empty tomb?
It goes down to that base question, what would happen if we really believed? What would happen in our life if we actually believed and lived an expression of that belief in everything that we do?
Jesus sat down and ate with his friends. He ate without judgment; he ate the meal pouring out grace to a group of people that did not deserve any love. These men ran from his side when the cultural leaders came to threaten. These men locked themselves in a room and then turned back to their old lifestyles, yet Jesus cooked for them and loved them. These men believed with their heads but that belief did nothing for them in the world because that belief was just an empty tomb.
Jesus then pulls Peter aside. “Simon son of John, do you love me more than these?” Do you love me Peter? Do you love me more than these others, more than these fish? “Yes Lord; you know that I love you.” Peter answers. Then Jesus said, “Feed my lambs.”
“Simon son of John, do you love me?” Jesus asks again. Peter, do you love me more than these, more than a stable career and a steady income? Do you love me, Peter? “Yes, Lord; you know that I love you.” Peter again answers and Jesus tells him to tend his sheep.
“Simon son of John, DO YOU LOVE ME?” Jesus asks for the third time. Simon, do you love me more than honor, more than power, more than status or prestige in the community? Simon do you love me more than clothes, more than education, more than politics or religion? Simon Do you love me? And Peter is hurt now, “You know everything; you know that I love you. “Feed my sheep.”
Do you love me? I can hardly speak these words because this is the question that Jesus asks every one of us. It is the question that I myself was asked about 14 years ago while I sat in a park eating lunch waiting for my next class to start. Do you love me more than… Do you love me more than wheat, cattle, or corn? Do you love me more than computers, music, or games? Do you love me more than your father and mother, your sister or you brother…do you love me more than your son? This is what Jesus is asking every single person in this room that says they believe. Do you love Him?
He gives a very specific answer to those of us that want to answer his question. Feed my lambs, tend my sheep, and feed my sheep. If you love him there is something that you must do. It is not a suggestion. If we love him it will show in a very specific way.
We show our love by feeding the lambs. By making sure that the children in our community, the children around us at any moment of time are brought up in a way that fosters healthy growth. This takes on many forms because there are many ways a child grows. They need the basic nutrition to survive. They need an education. They need encouragement, inspiration, and discipline. They need to play and imagine, they need to read and listen. They need to be challenged and they need to have fun. Without these things the child will not grow into a healthy adult. A child needs a balanced and stable life. And if we love Jesus we will feed his lambs. That does not mean we vote a certain way, but we personally feed his lambs, we take an active role in their lives.
We show our love for Jesus by tending his sheep. This is more than just gathering them in and making a large assembly. To tend sheep on must push back the wool and bring healing salves to wounds, sometimes you must nudge them to turn around and go a different way. It is taking a stand to protect the weak, as well as encouraging them to expand the herd. Tending the sheep is giving counsel, sitting in the hospital room, it is giving a mother a break so she can rest, it is providing a shoulder to cry on, and ensuring that they have a place to lay their head. We feed the lambs or the children, we tend the sheep or the adults but it does not stop there.
We show our love by feeding the sheep also. We also have to feed the adults. If wounds are going to heal then we need nourishment. If a sheep needs to turn then we better have something in that other direction for them to go to. If we love God we will feed those around us, both physically and spiritually. Adults as well as children need to be challenged, encouraged, filled, and supported. If we love Jesus we will actively take part in the feeding those around us.
These things are the fruit of a people that believe in the risen Christ, these are the fruit of people that live a life empowered by a risen Christ. Those that live this way have seen God do amazing things, because if we do these things we are asking God to work through us. Jesus asked Peter if he loved him. If he loved him more than that past life that after a time of uncertainty he decided to go back to. He answered him by saying if you love me then you will continue the ministry that I started.
There are two types of belief. One is locked in a room, buried in an empty tomb, and turning back to former ways. The other is one walking in the way of Jesus, feeding lambs, and tending to the flocks. One belief is left bound in a room and sitting in a mist of uncertainty. The other is boldly walking through the mist and expecting God to do amazing things all around. One is an empty net while the other is abundantly filled.
Do you believe? If you believe will it change your life? If it changes your life will you walk in the ways of Christ or turn back to the boat?
Scripture: John 12:1-8
St. Patrick’s day is one of the only saint days I ever like to celebrate. I do this because I find the life of Patrick fascinating even though most of what we know about him is seeped with legend. I like this day because it celebrates what one life devoted to God can really do. There is something remarkable about one man going into a nation that was opposed to his faith, starting a ministry, devoting his entire life to that ministry, and to see nearly an entire nation convert. What a dramatic story. It is a story that has attracted me to the Celtic Christian traditions in many ways. I have read about their spirituality and how they approached evangelism, and have found that it is actually very remarkable. They converted most people through encouragement. They started where they were at that moment and encouraged them to take a step closer to God.
In most legends of Patrick we hear about how he would teach the concept of the Triune God through the illustration of the shamrock. It is a great illustration in many ways. The first is that the Celtic people did not worship in buildings like we do but instead they would worship out in nature. The resurgence of the ancient Celtic religions is in a large part to this worship in and of nature. Patrick did not condemn nature because nature is part of creation, he would instead use what they knew already to teach them a deeper truth.
So often times we try to convince people of the truth, argue and debate over what is right, but we put so much effort in knowing all the answers to the potential questions that we fail to listen to the question. The early Celtic Church would go into areas and build monasteries. These monasteries would then become centers of villages that would educate people and eventually would become centers for trade. They would then plant another monastery and the cycle would continue until there were monasteries all around Ireland. This was early in the church and Ireland was nearly independent of the influences of the rest of the Catholic Church. The way that they did things was different; the leader of the church was not a bishop but the monastery’s abbot. This is important because the leader of the church was not appointed but was groomed to lead that community. Sometimes it was a tribal leader or a family, at other times the abbot was a person that rose to their position out of great spiritual devotion. They would lead the community in faith and action.
The Celtic form of Evangelism was Pray, Worship, and Ministry. They set up the house of prayer, they built the center for worship, and they lived among the people teaching and encouraging a faithful life. It is truly a beautiful history. For nearly a thousand years this community based approach flourished and even spread into other areas of Europe. They had a unique manner of expressing their faith in God, and it saved not only Ireland but also the Catholic Church. The Irish were an artistic people; they expressed this in poetry, song, and ink.
Today we celebrate that rich heritage of Ireland, but that rich heritage goes well beyond the emerald Isle. In many ways it goes right back to this meal at Bethany in the house of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. This house is mentioned often in the gospels as if it became a central hub of the ministry of Jesus. There are really two centers, Capernaum to the North and Bethany in the south. Jesus spent so much time in this place; he was so fond of this family that one of the greatest miracles blessed them. This house of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary was one of the first churches of the Way; it was a place of worship and renewal. It was the sanctuary of Sabbath retreat for the traveling ministers of Christ. They meet there, they share a meal, and they praise God.
Why is this house so important? It is widely believed that this family was the major supporters of the ministry of Jesus and the apostles. Jesus was literally without a home. After his baptism in the Jordon his first disciple chased him down and wanted to follow him. Jesus told them that foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head. So it was the houses of people like this family that became the home base for the ministry. But it goes deeper than this, it is often said that Mary was the woman caught in adultery that Jesus saved from execution, and that she was also delivered from bondage of seven demons. Lazarus was so dear to Jesus that he was raised from the dead after being buried in the family tomb. This family, if legends are true, was blessed by God through Jesus so it is no wonder that they would become some of the greatest supporters of the ministry.
We see in this story a great exchange. Mary anoints Jesus and washes his feet with her hair. It is a beautiful and intimate ritual. She is kneeling before her Lord the one that saved her life, and she gives him all that she has. She lathers the feet of Jesus with one pound of costly perfume. Let us consider this for just a moment. Nard is not easily found in Israel. It comes from the roots of a plant that is native in Nepal, China, and India. This is something that has been transported from the far eastern regions of the Persian Empire. This is a perfume that is costly; it was used in the Song of Songs by the woman to anoint her lover and king. This perfume is not something a common person would obtain, and it is not something that would be used in vain. In this scene Mary is expressing her total commitment and service to Jesus, she is anointing him as her king. She is expressing devotion and love for this man who saved her and gives her a purpose in life. She uses a pound of nard. This is a pound of thick oil being worked into the skin of Jesus’ feet and into her hair; the air is filled with the fragrant aroma. Which leads us to yet another use of nard. This same oil was used in the making of incense for the temple. It is still used by churches throughout the world to represent the sweet smell of pray and praise being lifted up into heaven as it is burned and the smoke fills the air. Mary and all present are in a state of worship.
Jesus sits and lets Mary do this to him. Mary’s brother is sitting there at the table with him. This is something that should be done in the marriage chamber but it is something more. There is a love and devotion that runs deeper than marriage; this is intimacy of God and man. But there is one that objects to this worship, Judas. The first thing out of his mouth is “Why was this perfume not sold for 300 denarii and the money given to the poor?” In the very act of worship the idolatry rears it’s head. Jesus says, “Leave her alone.”
Leave her alone. There is a place for beauty, and a place for ministry. There is a time for rest and a time to work. There is a time and place for everything under heaven. I say that this story links to the story of Ireland because the story of Ireland is not one of beauty and peace but is often plagued with war. Ireland was devoted to God and as a result they created some of the most priceless treasures of faithful art. In their monasteries they created or illuminated gospels to distribute throughout Christendom. They carried these treasures to each new monastery they established throughout all of Europe. The demand for the books copied by their monks were great and Ireland in their love for God was flooding the Holy Roman Empire with the Nard of the Word, and those in power became jealous. They became jealous of the power that the Irish monks had with the people because they lived with and encourage the people. They became jealous that these monks and priest of the Irish rite were not conforming to their will and a crusade was waged against them.
The great story of a nation coming to Christ through Patrick became a story of tragedy by jealous pride and betrayal. The greatest supporters of the church in Europe were betrayed by the very people they honored and represented. All because of money and power. Judas betrayed Christ for money, Judas was not capable to join the others in the worship of Christ as Mary anointed the feet of Jesus because he was not worshiping God but he was consumed by the idolatry of the denarii. A year’s wages was dumped on Jesus’ feet, and Judas could not fathom the waste because he had plans for that money. But money is just a tool. It is ultimately worthless. Yet this one tool often times become the purpose of many. Judas had plans for the money; he even had plans for this pound of perfume. He had good plans actually, plans for ministry. Give it to the poor, but why?
Why are we doing what we do? Why do we give what we give? Mary bought the perfume to honor Jesus so that she could keep it for the day of his burial. Yet Jesus was not dead, she instead used it to honor him while he still lived. And then Jesus says something that is very strange, “you always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.”
You always have the poor. This is a crazy cryptic phrase. It can be interpreted many different ways. Some people interpret it as meaning that there will always be people oppressing them. Some interpret it, as meaning there will always be people in need. If we combine the two it means that there will always be a need for ministry…[B]ut you do not always have me. We can look out at the people around us struggling to make ends meet, struggling to keep their businesses going, struggling to just feed their kids and keep a roof over their heads. We can become so consumed by the needs, that we can become focused on what we do not have instead of what we have. This is bondage, bondage to the cult of money. There is never enough when you are focused on what you do not have. There is always someone with more or someone with something better. Judas was caught in that bondage just as many of us are, bound by what we don’t have instead of what we do. We have enough to honor God.
Patrick started with what people had, a shamrock. And from that shamrock an entire nation turned to God. From that shamrock, Ireland turned to the light and carried that light into the world. He entered Ireland with nothing and left Ireland rich in faith. Mary worshiped Christ with what she had, she freely gave it all she gave in worship without knowing what would happen in the future, and she was honored.
I close today with a challenge as we move ever closer to the week of the year we remember the sacrifice of Jesus for each of us. I often encourage us to imagine ourselves in the scripture to identify with a character in the story. Today I ask whom do you identify with? Are you Mary? Pouring out your love and devotion to the king who lifted you out of a life of bondage and sin? Or are you trapped in bondage? Are you trapped by your past, by your circumstances, or by some sort of idolatry? As we enter into this time of open worship and holy expectancy, as we examine our lives or break open the jars of perfume in our hearts let us remember that Jesus came not to condemn the world but to love the world and to bring each of us to him through his life, his death, and his resurrection.
Saint Patrick’s “Breastplate” Prayer
I bind unto myself today The strong Name of the Trinity, By invocation of the same, The Three in One and One in Three.
I bind this day to me forever. By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation; His baptism in the Jordan River; His death on Cross for my salvation; His bursting from the spicèd tomb; His riding up the heavenly way; His coming at the day of doom; I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself the power Of the great love of the cherubim; The sweet ‘well done’ in judgment hour, The service of the seraphim, Confessors’ faith, Apostles’ word, The Patriarchs’ prayers, the Prophets’ scrolls, All good deeds done unto the Lord, And purity of virgin souls.
I bind unto myself today The virtues of the starlit heaven, The glorious sun’s life-giving ray, The whiteness of the moon at even, The flashing of the lightning free, The whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks, The stable earth, the deep salt sea, Around the old eternal rocks.
I bind unto myself today The power of God to hold and lead, His eye to watch, His might to stay, His ear to hearken to my need. The wisdom of my God to teach, His hand to guide, His shield to ward, The word of God to give me speech, His heavenly host to be my guard.
Against the demon snares of sin, The vice that gives temptation force, The natural lusts that war within, The hostile men that mar my course; Or few or many, far or nigh, In every place and in all hours, Against their fierce hostility, I bind to me these holy powers.
Against all Satan’s spells and wiles, Against false words of heresy, Against the knowledge that defiles, Against the heart’s idolatry, Against the wizard’s evil craft, Against the death wound and the burning, The choking wave and the poisoned shaft, Protect me, Christ, till Thy returning.
Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me. Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.
I bind unto myself the Name, The strong Name of the Trinity; By invocation of the same. The Three in One, and One in Three, Of Whom all nature hath creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word: Praise to the Lord of my salvation, Salvation is of Christ the Lord.
Scripture: Luke 13:1-9
Everyone has a theory about how things should be. If we were to spend this afternoon we would have probably fifty different ideas of how best to proceed into the future as a community, church, or nation. Wait did I say fifty…that might be a little low, even though we have less than fifty here. Each of us have so many ideas about how best to do things we are not even in unity in our own minds. It is actually quite humorous if you think about it.
The good thing about most ideologies is that it makes discerning what ideas you agree with easier. You do not have to think about it, and to be honest most of us don’t think about it. We go through life latched onto some ideology that we think suits us best and we hold onto it. It doesn’t really matter to us that at times that ideology and our actions do not actually reflect each other. We like the labels because it is easy. We like the label of Christian, spiritualist, Democrat, Republican, capitalist, or socialist because these labels seem to allow us to sit back and let our lives be defined for us. If I say I’m something then I do not have to prove it.
This is a problem because of the six ideologies I mentioned I strongly doubt there is one person in this room that is one hundred percent any of them. I say this because we each have this independent streak in us that does not want to be fully conformed into a group, yet we want to be accepted by it. Yes I even include Christian in that list.
Today’s passage is a passage about what it means to be a follower of God. Just as a warning you may not like what I have to say. I give this warning because each of us, even in our journey in faith, tends to get in our own way.
“At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” What a way to begin. This section of scripture is unique to the book written by Luke. It is unique not only in scriptures but in historical documentation as well. No one really knows what specific moment in history Luke is referring to. The do not even know if it is an actual even or just some hypothetical scenario used to test Jesus. I want us to consider it as an actual historical event because it very well could have been. I say this because the northern area of Palestine in the Roman era is similar to the American South. They have a nationalistic fervor that is almost annoying to people outside their culture, and a skewed view of what the nation is supposed to be. Galilee is filled with a bunch of good old boys that think they know what is best for everyone else and they tend to want to push the rest of the nation into their line of thinking. There were several groups among the Galileans that built up enough support amongst themselves that they tried to lead revolts several times. They had a reputation as being rebels, nonconformists, and trouble to the outsider.
Pilate is the Roman appointed Governor over Jerusalem. He is not directly involved with ruling the rowdy Galileans but he does have to deal with them on occasion since everyone must make pilgrimages to Jerusalem to worship in the temple and offer sacrifices. Pilate’s number one concern is to stop any uprising that would attract the attention of Rome, and history has proven that he did this with a firm hand. It was not uncommon for Pilate to send in the troops to settle things quickly, and he was not opposed to killing anyone that stood in the way of restoring order.
So we have a scene of civil war. Rome is stopping an uprising. A tyrant is being opposed. Terrorists are being vanquished. Depending on one’s perspective. There is much that could be said about this event. We could focus on the mingling of blood, which would not only have left their sacrifices ceremonially unfit, but also rendering the temple unclean. We could focus on the rebellion of the Galileans. Jesus takes a different route. It was a common understanding at that time that bad things happen to bad people. If something happened to you it is your fault because you lacked the faith. I say that as if it is a school of thought that passed away in antiquity but it is still present to this very day. It is probably one of the most widely accepted ideas in pretty much every religious culture. If you have a problem its your fault. Jesus asks those he’s talking to “did this happen because these guys were worse sinners?”
It is an odd question. It almost leads us to believe that maybe Jesus was talking to people that supported Roman rule. It could also be that these Galilean men acted independently without unifying the group so they sinned because they acted rashly. What we do know is that Jesus knew the hearts of those in this conversation. They were judging these Galileans. Some may have judged them as heroes to the cause or righteous martyrs. Some may have seen the men as the problem of the world they lived in, and others may have been more concerned with the sacrifices in what ever case Jesus is saying each judgment is wrong.
“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” Harsh! This is where it gets personal. We judge. We use judgment to try to make sense of the world around us. We judge people to determine their worth to a company, or if they should be a member of committees. It is difficult to keep from judging. The issue with judging is that we often do it from a skewed perspective. We judge based on how something or someone will affect us personally or how they will affect our ideology. This manner of judgment has its place in some areas but not in the kingdom of God.
Jesus is telling them that they need to change their perspective. Repent, or stop and turn the other direction. Everyone talking that day was throwing out their ideas of why this tragedy happened. Jesus tossed in the idea, “what should you be doing.” If we fail to stop and turn the other direction, if we fail to stop and turn to God we run a risk. None of them were focused on what really mattered, not one person in that conversation was focused on what the true Kingdom of God was. Is the kingdom a nation devoted to religious structures, worthy to fight to the death over?
Jesus then shares another tragic event, the falling of a tower in Jerusalem. What causes towers to fall? Structures fall because those put in charge of them neglect them in some way. They fail to maintain the structure, to defend the structure against various attacks, or maybe they failed to build it properly to begin with. We do not know how or why this structure fell, but it did, and in the process it killed eighteen people. Tragic. Who is to blame? The people who died? A tower, in ancient times, was a defensive structure so when it falls it means that there was a break down in the government that failed to maintain something. It very well could have been that those eighteen people were supposed to keep the tower structurally sound but instead used funding for other purposes. They could have also been a victim of inadequate funding or rebellion. The same answer comes from Jesus, they were not worse sinners but if you do not repent then you will perish just as they did. Again the crowd looked to blame someone and again Jesus turns the blame not on one person but on all of them.
Repent! Stop and turn around go the other direction. The problem in our world is that everyone is going around thinking that they know the best way and they want to force everyone else to comply. Repent. That is not the Kingdom of God, no matter how benevolent or righteous it is, but the kingdoms of man. In the kingdoms of man, we want to see results and if the results are lacking we slash and burn and take down anyone and everyone that was associated with it. Repent. The Kingdom of God is not like that. The Kingdom of God does not look to place the blame on whom caused the tower to fall and why people were killed. We already know why that happened. Towers fall because people fail. People are killed because people kill. Repent. Stop focusing on answer those questions and start going a different direction. The Kingdom of God is focused elsewhere.
Jesus finishes this discussion with a cryptic story. “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.’” (Luke 13:6-9, NRSV)
What does it mean to be a citizen of the Kingdom of God? What does it mean to be a Friend of God, or a disciple of Christ? The answer is right in this story. The full gospel is presented in this short cryptic parable. It actually is not very cryptic. The world is the vineyard. Each of us is a tree or a creature of this earth, the adversary or the accuser has been given charge over the vineyard and it looks at us with judgment. The ruler of the air the kingdoms of man judge the tree as being fruitless and a waste of soil. In comes the gardener, with a very different perspective. Let us nurture and encourage the tree. Dig around it putting fertilizer in the soil to encourage growth. Then look at it.
The people in the conversation with Jesus were not looking to encourage or nurture growth, they offering judgment from a skewed perspective. Jesus says repent. Stop looking to accuse, stop becoming a hindrance, and start encouraging growth. This takes work. Repentance is not just the saying of a few words and magically you become a citizen of Heaven. It is work. It is the turning and the changing of one’s life to focus on the things important to God. The gardener worked with the tree. He dug down around the roots. If you have ever used a shovel you know that digging is work, but like most things if you keep working you will develop skills.
The digging around the roots is like the discipline of prayer. Prayer is not something that comes easy to many people. I would venture to say that a life style of prayer is probably one of the hardest things to develop because it takes time. It is more than speaking our requests to heaven; it is studying scripture, meditating on the scripture, examining our lives against the testimony of scripture, it is crying over our failures, and celebrating our liberation from bondage. Prayer is where we being our relationship with God and where we begin to Love God. Prayer is work but if we develop skills a lifestyle of prayer it opens up our lives for something more.
After the gardener digs, he adds manure or fertilizer. This is a catalyst for growth and change. As we pray we will often find areas of our lives that we cannot overcome. We may resent others, an addiction, a grudge, or something that is holding us from fully turning our lives to God. We may also find a calling to a ministry, or a correction in an attitude we need to make. We need something to encourage growth, because many of these things seem bigger than we can handle. Embracing the Holy Spirit is that catalyst for change; the Spirit is the fertilizer that encourages growth. If you know plants you would know that they grow to nutrients and water. Roots will always grow toward the things they need. Prayer opens our lives so that God can add the Spirit to our lives. As we embrace the Spirit more fully our roots spread, we begin to release more of our live into that realm of God reaching for more and more Spirit. This growth beneath the surface has a mirrored affect above the surface. As the roots grow the branches grow. As the branches grow more leaves emerge. As more leaves emerge more flowers bloom, and as flowers bloom fruit is produced.
This is all provided through the one that stood against the adversary or the accuser. We are not the Gardener. The Gardener is Jesus who provides the way for us to enter into a relationship with God by taking on all of our failures, and all of the judgment from the kingdom of man, and hanging them on a cross of shame. It is through Jesus that the Spirit flows into our lives from the Father. It is Jesus that stands between judgment and us and says give it some time, let me work with them, let me stand between life and death for them, and I take on the responsibility.
Repent or you will perish. Repent stop doing what you are doing and examine your life according to the Kingdom of God. God does not want us to rebel against a tyrant He wants us to love our enemy. God does not want us to let our structures to fall but He wants us to be stewards of the blessings He has given us. God does not want us to judge others according to strict codes, but He wants us to provide an environment where His creation can flourish and be fruitful. Without repentance we are just root bound dying trees. Dying trees are only fit to cut down and tossed in a fire. With repentance with we can turn our lives toward the Light of God and we can grow and His Kingdom can come to Earth just as it is in Heaven. You see it is not about what we can do ourselves but it is about what we can do with the help of our gardener.
We all have ideals and ideologies. We have them for reasons, but as we enter this time of open worship and holy expectancy let us all toss those away, because many of those ideologies are based on the kingdoms of man and not the Kingdom of God. Let us become a people of repentance, a people of turning. Let us become a people of Prayer, Worship, and Ministry. Let our lives be about loving God, embracing the Holy Spirit, and living the love of Christ with others.