Ex. 3:1-8, 13-15; I Cor. 10:1-6, 10-12; S. Luke 13:1-9
I wonder what your opinion is on gardening?
It seems to me that gardening can be one of those marmite-type subjects - some seem to love it, whilst others seem to hate it. And having a garden (if we’re lucky enough to have one) can perhaps be seen as being either a blessing or a burden - I have friends who adore everything about gardening - from planning their garden, choosing plants, carefully tending them, to seeing things grow, and enjoying the fruits of their work.
I have other friends who say straight away that they haven’t got green fingers; several times I’ve gone to a friend’s house and I’ve been told to try and ignore the back garden - because it needs a lot of work - it’s overgrown, it’s out of control, it’s a burden, it’s a chore. And I think my own small back yard would fall into this category.
In our Gospel this morning Our Lord gives us the parable of the fig tree in the vineyard - a parable about a tree being tended and looked after. As we know Jesus often used parables relating to the agricultural society in which He lived.
There are three characters in the story - first of all there’s the man who ownsthe vineyard, and then there’s another man - the man who looks after the vineyard. And then there’s the fig tree - which is sort of the third character in the story. The fig tree is planted in the vineyard by the first man, by the owner, and its taken care of by the second man, the gardener.
Our Lord tells us that this particular fig tree doesn’t seem to bear any fruit, and so the owner says to the gardener that since there’s no fruit, the tree should be cut down. But, on hearing this, the gardener immediately steps in - without hesitating he tells the owner that he will dig around the tree, put fertiliser on it, and it may bear fruit next year; - When he’s confronted with the prospect of this tree being cut down, he wants it to grow and to bear fruit.
The man who owns the vineyard and has the fig tree planted is of course God our Creator. The man who looks after the vineyard is of course God the Son, Jesus Christ - and finally we and all Christians are the fig trees which have been planted.
We’ve all been created by God, planted in the vineyard which is the world, and our Creator, the vineyard owner, wants us to grow and to bear fruit: He wants us to do and to be what He created us to be, He wants us to do what He created us to do - He wants us to not only live, but He wants and desires us to bear good fruit. But, as we see in the parable, sometimes a tree needs help. A fig tree can’t dig around itself, it can’t fertilise or manure itself - it needs someone else to dig round it and to fertilise it and tend it so that it can grow well and bear fruit. And this is what our Lord does for us, the fig trees.
When we consider all of the potentially billions of fig trees, the man who looks after them looks after each single one, He wants the best for each one, He’s prepared to tell the vineyard owner that He will tend each and every fig tree, look after each fig tree, so that it bears fruit.
I find it incredibly encouraging and hopeful that the man has a concern for each and every fig tree - and that He desires to step in when a tree isn’t bearing fruit - whilst someone may think of themselves as being a good gardener, it would take an exceptionally devoted and committed gardener to have concern for every individual plant in a garden, to know every single plant in the garden and its individual needs, to be prepared to give time and energy and work and effort to each plant, to fertilise it individually, and to give it the best possible chance that he can for it to bear fruit.
It would be a near-impossible task for a regular gardener - but it’s not impossible for Our Lord - Our Lord has a concern for each and every fig tree, for each and every person. He doesn’t see tending each tree as a chore, but as a joy; He doesn’t justwant each and every fig tree to stay alive - but Our Lord wants every fig tree to flourish; in the past if I’ve had a plant my main concern is that it simply stays alive, let alone flourishes. And our Lord wants each one to bear fruit - to bring forth things which are actively good - and He makes it His whole life and His whole mission to feed and to nurture each tree so that this can happen, so that it may live and be saved.
He wants the tree to bear fruit, but He also wants it, fundamentally, to be saved - He doesn’t want it to be cut down and thrown away. That idea of being saved is important in the Gospel today (and of course important to our lives as Christians) - at the start of the gospel, we hear that the people bring to Jesus an incident which had happened - an incident of people being killed by Pilate in the middle of their worship. But when the people tell Jesus about this incident He isn’t concerned about giving His opinion on the incident - perhaps they expected him to react politically - but Jesus uses the incident as an opportunity to say that the time to turn to Him, to turn to Jesus, is now, in the present. As Saint Paul says, if we think we’re safe, we need to be careful that we don’t fall.
Our Lord very clearly calls the people He is with to repentance - He calls them to either repent, or perish and be cut down - indeed a very stark and challenging call for each of us. And now is the time for us - every single day is the time for us to turn, each morning anew to Our Lord - even if it seems hard at times and a challenge; every single day is the time to acknowledge to ourselves and to God and to repent of those thoughts and words and deeds which take us away from God, away from His pure love, and away from all that is good and true. It’s a tough task at times, but we have our Lord to help us.
And Lent is of course a special time when Our Lord calls us to seek to turn away from what separates us from God, and to grow closer to Him; to become more attentive to our relationship with Christ, walking alongside Him in the wilderness. But, in the midst of this call to repentance, to turn to God, to follow Christ - challenging callings at times - in the midst of this we have our Lord, the One Who tends the tree, the One Who tends us like fig trees. And now is the time to allow ourselves to be tended by Him, so that we may bear fruit - Saint Paul speaks of Christians bringing forth the Fruits of the Spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, selfcontrol - and our Lord wants us to bear these fruits in our lives as Christians. It’s a task which every Christian is called to, but it’s a task which we cannot do alone - we can’t do all that God calls us to do and to be simply through our own strength and our own gifts and talents and temperaments - we need to allow the One who looks after the vineyard to feed us, to tend us as the gardener tends the fig trees, so as we can grow and flourish, as He and the Creator desire for us above anything else.
There may be times when we feel that we aren’t bearing good fruit, that we aren’t turning to God, that we keep turning away from Him - but, God is rich in mercy - Our Lord wishes above all else to step in - like the man who eagerly wants to keep the fig tree and to fertilise it - He eagerly wants to look after us, to tend us so that we can bear good fruit.
I just happened to see a quote somewhere in the last week about gardening - I can’t for the life of me remember where it was (probably on social media somewhere), but it said something along the lines of ‘a garden is never fully complete’, or ‘a garden is always a work in progress’ - which is of course true - there’s always more things to do in any garden;
And so it can be for us, so it can be for our Lord in His dealings with us - there is always more He can do for us, and wants to do for us, to help us to grow and flourish, even if we don’t always feel His presence. We can never be fully finished, perfect beings, we’re always a work in progress. And turning to God is a lifetime challenge, a discipline, a conscious way of life; we’re called to learn more about Him, to come closer to Him, turning our hearts and minds to Him, time and time again.
And we have the assurance that He desires to help us in doing this; Our Lord is a gardener who doesn’t see us as a burden or a chore, but as a joy to look after and to f.eed. As the grower wants the fig tree to bear fruit, so our Lord wants us to bear good fruit, fruit that will last.