Fruitful Lives or ????

For Sunday, March 7th, 2010

Lectionary Reading - Luke 13:1-9 (NRSV)

At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them--do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."

Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.

If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

Fruitful Lives or ?????

Homiletics Online commentary for the above scripture shares some rather intriguing thoughts. First off, the scripture probably references some well-known tragedies that are not represented well in historical texts. The first tragedy reflects the cruel and bloody nature of the Roman governor, Pontius Pilate. He had a pet project of an aqueduct bringing water to Jerusalem from a spring about thirty miles away and decided to raid the Temple treasury to pay for it. Understandably, this upset people and when Pilate visits Jerusalem his arrival is met with enormous protest from huge numbers of his angry Jewish subjects. Pilate decides to put down the protest. He does this by disguising his personal guards and sending them into the crowds. There they kill people who seem to be inciting others.

The persons reporting this incident seem to be saying to Jesus that the killings happened because the protestors behaved sinfully in how they protested Pilate. But then another story is also told about the aqueduct project. It involves the tower of Siloam which collapsed in some freakish accident killing eighteen people. The discussion seems to have taken a morbid turn as some suggest that those killed by the tower and those killed by Pilate were sinful and therefore their sin brought about their deaths.

Jesus challenges these ignorant comparisons and says that such was not the case, i.e. the people killed for rebellious protest and people dying in an accident do not have “sin” as the root or shared cause of their demise. And then quite pointedly to those participating in this obtuse discussion, Jesus tells them to beware and says the same end could befall any of them at any time in terms of accidents or random acts of violence. What he tells them to focus on instead is the standing of one’s relationship with God when one leaves this life. For whether one’s death happens suddenly or tragically and unexpectedly or whether it comes after a long and full life and one dies peacefully in their sleep, a judgment awaits every person for how they have lived and what they have done in life. Yet even then, a measure of mercy will be extended as evident by Jesus’ story of the landowner, gardener, and non-producing fig tree. However, Jesus makes clear that even mercy will have its limits as evident by giving the fig tree one last opportunity to be nurtured into producing fruit. Failing that, its fate becomes sealed and it is ripped from the ground and cast off for ever.

Years ago as an intake counselor/evaluator at a community mental health center, the loss of two lives through “suicide by cop” left me with much anger, sadness, and helplessness. Over the course of three or four months, two individuals had been released from prison to return to our community where they had resided prior to their convictions. One had been convicted of felony assault and the other for sexual assault. Both individuals had histories of mental illness for which they have been treated while incarcerated.

Having completed their sentences, the state released them back into the community and referred them to our services. In my evaluation with each individual, the experience was nearly the same. Each one reported long histories of psychological damage in their childhood upbringing. Each one reported substantial history of sociopathic behavior and repeated confrontations with law enforcement. And each one reported overwhelming fear of the community and the likelihood they would not be able to make it outside of prison. Lastly, each one said the exact same thing to me, “They should have never let me out.” At the close of each of these sessions, I felt a terrible foreboding that little of what we had to offer these men would help and that something awful would happen to them.

And something awful did happen. The first man became despondent and one evening paced menacingly back and forth on the sidewalk in front of his residence, but he did so with an axe. Eventually police showed up and despite valiant efforts from officers to diffuse the situation, the man charged them with the axe and was fatally shot.

The second man, being a sex offender, found the community most unwelcoming. He could find no place to live and was reduced to homelessness. Essentially he met face to face with a common community attitude toward sex offenders, i.e. “You’re not living in my neighborhood!” Before long, the man ended up in a makeshift tent alongside a river outside our community. The rainy weather and demoralizing conditions rendered him despondent. One day he managed somehow to lay hands on a rifle and went to a popular tourist spot near the river. He began pointing the rifle at people. The last person he pointed at was an armed off-duty FBI agent who pulled his weapon. When the man would not put down the rifle, the agent shot him dead.

I realize that there are plenty of folks today who would look at these men, their situations, and their ultimate demise and probably say, “They got what they deserved.” For me, such thinking represents the kind of ignorance and insensitivity that Jesus confronted in the above scripture. Who of any of us can look at these men’s histories and not say, “But for the grace of God there go I.” In case you don’t know the origin of that saying, it was first spoken by the English evangelical preacher and martyr, John Bradford (1510–1555). What he actually spoke was a variant of the phrase, "There but for the grace of God, goes John Bradford". Apparently he said it as criminals were led to a scaffold for execution. Ironically, that grace wasn’t to last as he was burned at the stake in 1555. Reports are that he remained calm about his fate and said to a fellow victim, "We shall have a merry supper with the Lord this night". (For more information visit http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/there-but-for-the-grace-of-god.html)

For me, when I think of the men’s situations described above, I think of the sin we bear together as human beings and as communities. We are like the gardener in Jesus’ parable. We have responsibilities to the community to keep it safe from harm and productive but we also have responsibilities to the non-producing non-productive fig tree, i.e. our fellow human beings who by history and lack of adequate nurturing or through some form of disease or health disorder (mental health in the men’s cases above) can’t quite make it without special care and support – even extraordinary care and support.

Yes, there will be those individuals who ultimately choose to be uprooted and cast off forever, yet there will also be those who have been so frustratingly unhealthy and criminal and unproductive in the past that can be reclaimed into the life of our communities. Reclaimed that is if we will but extend the effort to help as new and more effective means of helping come into our understanding. In turn we can help lives to bear fruit where there was none before or where the fruit had been completely spoiled and rotten. We can achieve these miracles through new and innovative means like Wraparound and through similar ventures like Open Table which seeks to lift families and individuals out of dysfunction and poverty one at a time through connection and relationship with a local faith community.

Remember friends, the landowner cometh – both for you and for me.