Word to the Wise
Sunday, March 24, 2019 - 3rd Sunday of Lent - C
[Exod 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9,212]"'For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?' [The gardener} said to him in reply, 'Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'" [Luke]
I once saw a bumper sticker that said, "Be patient! God is not done with me yet!" The story of the barren fig tree can leave us wondering who is the merciful one in the parable - the owner or the gardener? As someone who likes to garden, I can understand the feeling of the gardener. Cutting down a tree that can bear fruit is against my nature. On the other hand, if fruit is the desired purpose of the tree, maybe replacing it with another one might be the wisest thing in the long term. My hope is that God is the gardener
In pastoral life, one learns that some folks take longer than others to understand their need for repentance and to bear fruit. It takes patience and deliberate care. How much care does each of us need? Where do we need to be "pruned" or "fertilized" to bear fruit? Lent offers us the contrasting persons of the owner and the gardener. Maybe they are the same person deliberating about the fig tree. In any case, we can pray that the gardener side wins out AND that we can respond to the extra care! AMEN