Third Sunday in Lent Yr C March 20 2022

Third Sunday in Lent Yr C March 20 2022

Exodus 3:1-15, 1 Corinthians 10:1-13, Luke 13:1-9, Psalm 63:1-8

 

Here we are at the third week of Lent. We’ve journeyed this far with Jesus through the wilderness and heard the devil try to seduce Jesus to take power for himself, rather than to trust in God. We’ve heard the words of God’s love for all of us, love like that of a mother hen for her chicks. And today we hear in Luke a very clear call to repentance. This is a moment of discernment, a place of repentance. The story of the fig tree shows us that our time is short, we have one last chance to put things right. This story tells us to use the time we have to follow Jesus and live lives characterized by fruitfulness. 

 

Lent is a time to consider repentance. In this passage, we are confronted with the truth of repentance. Repentance is to live a life of transformed perspective; it is embracing God’s perspective and that changes how we live in the world, it changes the choices we make, it changes the way we look at people. And God’s call to us is to live full of fruitfulness. 

 

You and I both know that life is fragile, the time we have is precious. What do we do when time is precious? All of this is contained in the readings we have before us today. This fig tree hasn’t produced fruit for three years, and it’s really time to cut it down. It is wasting water and soil and the grove keeper’s time. But instead of cutting it down, it’s been given a reprieve, another chance. 

 

We are given another chance. We are given a chance in which we discover the grace that prompts the possibility of repentance. You see, repentance is an act of mercy. We repent, we turn, not out of fear of God’s judgement, but because of God’s grace. We repent and return not because of fear, but because of grace. 

 

The sports world is in the middle of March Madness, the church world is in the middle of Lent and our own Lent Madness. These two priorities point out a similar reality. The Season of Lent is a time that helps us to understand the importance of falling down and rising up. Not unlike March Madness, or at least one of those very important lessons we learn when we are athletes or performers. Basketball or football or swimming or walking or yoga or whatever we do, when we are knocked down, we get back up, we practice or we rehearse, and we rise to the challenge. 

 

Lent teaches us the reality that we will fall down. We will get hurt, we will be in pain, we will suffer. And that is an opportunity to decide who we will be and what we will believe and how we will respond. As people of faith, we get up when we fall because we are a people of hope, we accept the descent as the invitation to rise again. This is repentance. 

 

You see, there is no assurance that a life of faith is without difficulties. What is promised is that we can rise up, we will rise up. God is not an impersonal executive giving orders from on high; God is present help every step of the way we travel. Lent is this journey that shows us that life is not a level path, or an easy route where growth is predictable and progress is comfortable. It is messy, meandering, awkward, with stops and starts. We all know well that life is fragile. When we fall down, we rise up. When we fall onto our knees in desperate prayer, we rise up in thanksgiving that we can. None of the things that happen to us, none of the troubles we encounter, have any power to get between us and God. God is relentless in God’s pursuit of us, God’s beloveds. 

 

The Season of Lent calls us to a time of discernment, a time to transform our perspective and embrace God’s perspective. Embracing God’s perspective changes how we live in the world. That change is characterized by love, mercy, justice, hope. Our time on earth is short, and we have this chance to put things right. We have this chance to love and to forgive. We have this chance to rise up. 

 

That is what this story of the fig tree presents to us today. A chance. No matter what words we use to illustrate what is happening in this story, judgement, repentance, charity, grace, it’s another chance. That’s what God gives us, another chance. According to the grove keeper, this fig tree has had plenty of chances, it should be cut down to make way for a better, more productive tree. 

 

Isn’t that the way the world treats us much of the time? You must be a productive member of society to be valued. You must be successful to be important. You must behave. There’s not a lot of room in our world for failure, three strikes and you’re out. But there is no failure in God’s kingdom. That is the scandal of the cross. The world, or at least the empire, looked at Jesus on that cross as failure, wagging their fingers at him and saying, see, we told you so. You can’t eat with sinners and outcasts Jesus. You can’t scatter the proud in their conceit and bring down the powerful from their thrones. You can’t fill the hungry with good things and send the rich away empty. You can’t welcome all at your table, you can’t welcome people who are not like us. You can’t do these things and expect to live. 

 

But Jesus’s witness tells a very different story. Jesus’s witness on that very cross is to lift up those who have been beaten down by well-meaning folks. Jesus’ witness on that very cross is to include those who have been tossed out by well meaning folks. Jesus’ witness on that very cross is to rise up. 

 

And with Jesus we get another chance. Every time we fall into the muck and mess Jesus reaches out and helps us to rise up. And Jesus says, “I will raise you up on eagles' wings, bear you on the breath of dawn, make you to shine like the sun, and hold you in the palm of my hand.” Every time. 

 

Rise up, take this chance, bear fruit. Repent and return. Be forgiven. The fruit you are to bear is the fruit of love, the fruit of mercy. Your time is precious, your life is fragile. You have this chance. What will you do with it?