"The Good Life" - Sermon for the Second Sunday in Lent

The Good Life
Lent 2 (Narrative Lectionary 3)
February 24, 2013
Luke 13.1-9, 31-35

It was a horrific event, several innocent people attacked and slaughtered in a senseless fashion. The community was shocked by the brutality of it all and the utter disregard for human life. Reeling from the dreadfulness of the experience, they gathered as communities of faith asking why and how this could happen. The forgoing describes the scene in our reading today, but unfortunately it can also describe many others. Where did your imagination go? Newtown? The World Trade Center? Oklahoma City? Columbine? Human history does not lack for irrational acts of brutality or for our attempts to make sense of them.

We don’t know the particular events that are referred to in our reading from Luke 13 today. In a sense, we don’t have to because the point is that people of all ages struggle with pointless acts. The only difference is in the nature of our questions. You and I want an explanation for how a loving God can allow these things to happen or what we can do to prevent them from happening. The people of Jesus’ time want to know who sinned to deserve God’s punishment and, reading between the lines, they hope and pray that they aren’t nearly as bad and therefore will avoid God’s wrath.

So, imagine their shock (and ours) when Jesus tells them to repent or “perish just as they did.” Then he stretches their imagination with a story about a fruitless fruit tree given one last chance to produce, or else. To make sense of what Jesus is saying, it is helpful to remind ourselves that Jesus has set his face to Jerusalem. He is on his way to the cross in the fulfillment of God’s mission to reconcile all of creation to him. Jesus is preparing his disciples and the people who have gathered around him in the ways of faith. It is also helpful to remember that the word repent means to turn around and go the other way. Furthermore, though the way faith is not irrational, it is not as much about explanations as it is about a way of life.

As a pastor I have had the responsibility of walking with many people on their journeys of faith. An overwhelming number of those travels have been joyous: births, baptisms, weddings, anniversaries, and Confirmations to name a few. Yet, a significant number have been painful: a mother being crippled by a drunk driver; a son murdered by his wife and her lover; a daughter drowning in a pool; a cancer diagnosis; an infant dying suddenly; Alzheimer’s disease. In the midst of these events I have learned what Jesus is trying to teach his disciples, that explanations aren’t as important how we respond, and that a good response is to remember how quickly life can change. Many times after walking with people through these times, I go home and kiss my wife a little longer and hug my daughters a little harder.

I don’t think Jesus wants us to ignore the hurt and brokenness in the world because we are to be workers with him against the injustices in our society and standing with the marginalized. But there is also a place for us to step back and realize that life can change any moment, to reflect on where in our lives that the branches are barren of the fruit God wishes to produce in us. Or, to switch up the metaphor at the end of our reading, to examine our lives for those ways we have resisted God’s call to love God and neighbor and return to be gathered into God’s loving embrace.

This reflection on our lives in Christ and our acceptance of God’s invitation is life-long, but it is particularly important during Lent. How might we respond? In Galatians 5, the Apostle Paul says that the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, generosity, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. Perhaps this Lent you can choose one of these fruits that need some manure added to it. I could use some help on any number of them, but I think I’m going to ask God to ask me to work on my self-control. I can react rather than respond sometimes and I’d like to have God work through me rather than be reactive. How about you? Where is God inviting you into the life he wishes for you? Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. There is no explanation for that, only gratitude. Amen.