About The Service

The Third Sunday in Lent, March 7, 2010.  
The Readings for this Sunday are:  Exodus 3:1-15; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Psalm 63:1-8; and Luke 13:1-9. 

This Sunday’s scriptures range from Moses and the Burning Bush, to Jesus’ parable of a fig tree that did not bear fruit - lots of good material for a preacher!  The sermon will look at the famous “Burning Bush” image, to see how it can help us understand the stresses our own lives and our need not to be consumed by them.  This column reflects on the fig tree. 

When I grew up, figs were a symbol of family warmth and comfort food.  Our southern relatives would keep us supplied with Ball jars of fig preserves - the most delicious thing you could ever heap on a hot biscuit.  Living in the north, we did not have our own fig tree, but down south they were plentiful. 

The fig tree is a deeply symbolic thing in scripture.  The Hebrew scriptures often refer to a fig tree as a sign of peace, security, and prosperity.  To dwell in the shade of one’s own fig tree was to live a full, peaceful, joyful life, as we see in this passage from the prophet Micah, chapter 4:

“They shall beat their swords into plowshares, And their spears into pruning hooks; Nation shall not lift up sword against nation, Neither shall they learn war anymore. But everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree, And no one shall make them afraid; For the mouth of the LORD of hosts has spoken."

In Jesus’ parable, a man had a fig tree in his vineyard that had not borne fruit for three years.  He told his gardener to cut it down, but the gardener asked for one more year, to dig around it and fertilize it, to see if it would bear fruit.  The owner relented.

Parables are interesting, because we do not know exactly what Jesus had in mind, or what comparisons he was making.  We may assume that the owner in this parable represented God.  But Jesus doesn’t say that.  I really see God in the character of the gardener, the one who wants to give the fig tree the best chance to reach its potential, to come - literally - to fruition.  (The owner seems to me more like the powers of this world, which often rush in to destroy what seems to be fallow or unproductive.)

I see God in the gardener, because I know that God has given me many second chances in life (and third and fourth chances), to try to get things right: to restore relationships that have gone sour; to try again when I have rushed headlong down the wrong path, only to hit a dead end; to bring my hopes, aspirations, and talents to fruition.  When I realize that God has done this for me, I find it easier to be patient with other people, to try to give second chances, to help others develop their potential. 

The fig tree is a good image for the secure, full, and happy life that God intends for us.  George Washington often quoted this image of each person dwelling under his own vine and fig tree, dwelling in peace and unafraid.  For Washington, it was the promise of a just and democratic society.  It was also his dream to finally return, after the Revolutionary War, to Mount Vernon as a private citizen at the end of his life, cultivating his land in peace. 

The image of the gardener is also a good one, not just for God, but for our own ministry with each other.  When we can help tend and cultivate the lives of our neighbors, they will enjoy the fruits of their labors, and our society will be all the richer for it.  JBM