What helps you live in loving, forgiving, compassionate ways? What resources help you notice the struggles and needs of others, welcome outsiders, and strive for justice? What helps you regain hope and motivation to follow Jesus?
Jesus tells a parable in this week’s gospel where a man finds a fig tree in his vineyard with no fruit. He complains to the gardener about the tree and the wasted soil, telling him to cut it down. The gardener says “let it alone for one more year” offering to dig around the tree and fertilize it; to give it another chance to bear fruit. The parable ends there, leaving the story unfinished and leaving us wondering about the outcome next year.
Just prior to telling this parable, Jesus talks about people killed in an attack on worshipers by the Roman authorities and in the recent collapse of a tower. Jesus asks his listeners whether they think the people suffered because they were worse than their neighbors. Answering his own question, Jesus says no.
When difficulty or tragedy strikes, we sometimes find ourselves looking for a cause and wondering why. It can be hard to accept that life is random and that terrible things often happen for no reason at all. A chaotic world where good people suffer while evil people prosper feels intolerable. It may be more appealing to think people get what we think they deserve, but an honest look at the fallout of failures and disasters around us brings us to admit that just isn’t true.
No matter what you may hear, God does not bring horrible things into our lives because we have somehow fallen short of what is expected of us, or to teach us something. God is not the source of pain or sadness or loss. Like the hopeful, faithful gardener in the parable, God is here to care for, nourish, and love us through suffering. God is here to bring resources and aid that will help us emerge intact. God empowers us to learn to live love, compassion, welcome, and justice despite our struggles.
Unlike the people killed by the Romans and the fallen tower, Jesus’ listeners (and we) can still repent – we can still change and live in ways that (to use Jesus’ image) bear the fruit of compassion, hope, inclusion, and justice. God is near, nurturing and nourishing us as we find the strength to follow. God is here, reassuring us that God is love.
Peace,
weekly prayer | Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree in Luke 13