Luke 13:1-9
“Full to the Brim: You Are Worthy”
Preached Sunday, March 20, 2022
Pastor, are trans people four times more likely to be victims of violent crime because they’ve brought this on themselves?
Pastor, why did that city experience another devastating flood? Did they deserve it?
But pastor, what about the people fleeing crime and war at our borders?
What about those Ukrainian children crossing borders on their own?
Why is the suicide rate so high among LGBTQ youth?
How about women who stay in abusive relationships? Or go back to their abuser?
Our homeless population is growing - it’s cause they don’t want to work, right?
What about, what about, why, how…
We often look for reasons behind the tragedies in our world, those we read in the newspaper and those we see happening in our own communities and lives.
We look for reasons that would help explain why these things happened to those people - and often we look for a reasoning that would comfort us. If we can find some blame as to why it happened to them - it can help us feel better protected.
An old preacher’s adage is to preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other. There are definite pros and cons to this approach - but that’s kind of what the disciples were trying to get Jesus to do in today’s Gospel lesson. They wanted his take on a current event. It’s hard for us to know what the actual event was as there doesn’t seem to be any historical evidence of it outside of this vignette from Luke. But from what we can gather some Galileans were killed, murdered, put to death by Pilate in such a way that it violated a religious ritual. As a Galilean himself, it would make sense for Jesus to have an opinion on this. Pilate was known as a ruthless ruler who would not hesitate to kill those who posed threats to his or the Roman Empire’s power - and wouldn’t be afraid to violate a religious ritual to do so. As well as a reference of a current event in Jesus’s time, it also acts as a foreshadowing:
Jesus would also be killed under Pontius Pilate’s orders - during Passover - his murdered blood mingling with the Passover sacrifices.
And so this topic of these murdered Galileans is brought up to Jesus. And he kinda comments - kind of doesn’t - he emphatically tells them that they were killed by no fault of their own - no, they were not killed because they were worse sinners than all the other Galileans - they were murdered by Pilate for the Roman Empire. He also brings up a second current event - the 18 that died in a horrible accident when the tower of Siloam fell on them - that’s another newspaper in one hand reference if the newspaper was dated around 30 AD.
But whether they died at the hands of Pilate and the Roman Empire in a profane way or a horrible accident, they were not killed because of their sin.
No, these things happened - not because they were worse sinners than all other Galilieans or the worse offenders in all of Jerusalem - they just happened. They happened because of power and control and the violence that is used by those in power to keep their control. They happened in devastating and tragic circumstances. Perhaps like the accident they happened because of mismanagement, greed, expedience over all else…
Jesus says - NO. Stop looking to blame the victims. Perhaps we today with our newspapers in one hand need to hear Jesus’s words now too. And what he says is: no. Stop casting judgment.
But Jesus doesn’t stop here - having commented on the newspaper in his one hand, Jesus pivots, to teach his listeners something. If you’re looking for a reason to blame those who have been killed or hurt to protect yourself or insulate yourselves against the violence and hardship of this world - you are already on the path to perishing.
It’s time, instead, to look at the fig tree.
The fruitless fig tree which the landowner wants the gardener to cut down - why is this tree wasting space? For three years, it hasn’t produced fruit. It’s time for it to go.
But the gardener asks for time - he asks to dig around it, to put fertilizer around it, to be patient.
Why, we might ask, would the fig tree be worth the time and resources when it’s not producing? I’m sure the gardener has a lot to take care of - in fact the fig tree is planted in a vineyard. Why would there be a fig tree in a vineyard? It projects an image of a land owner who didn’t want to waste a single space of land, to produce as much as he could, on every inch - not producing? Time to cut it down.
Does the mindset of the landowner sound familiar to you? That the worth of the fig tree - or really, the worth of anything, or anyone - comes from how much it, or they, produces. It should sound familiar if you live in this, the year of our Lord 2022. Cause that’s the whole ethos of our world - really. Especially in America with our deeply ingrained Capitalist and Protestant work-ethics mindset. It is so so deeply imbedded in us that we don’t even always realize it:
It is in the way we talk about minimum wage jobs and those who work them
It is in the way we talk about food assistance and healthcare
It is in the way we talk about those experiencing homelessness
It is in the way we talk about the work week and hours worked
It is in the way we talk about what is ours, what we’ve earned, what we deserve
It is in the way we talk to ourselves about our own well-being, our own worth -
It is in the way we talk to and about others about their own well-being and their worth
It literally undergirds everything because our modern world is built on a meritocracy - and production is deemed the thing of highest value.
And we become like those who are asking Jesus about those who died - those who work hard, who produce, they are worth our time and effort - worth the soil in the vineyard, of taking up time and space. So it means that those who have fallen on hard times, who are victims of crime and hate, of addiction, of poverty, of disaster - that, if we deserve what WE have - then perhaps they deserve what they have….Perhaps there is a reason, perhaps there is blame to be had, judgment to be cast…
Hear Jesus’s words: No. Repent.
Repent of the mindset of the landowner. Repent of the predominant mindset of our culture. Repent from the idea that only those who produce according to the standards of our world are worthy of taking up space in the vineyard.
You are worthy of taking up space, regardless of the fruit you produce.
And if you are worthy of taking up space, regardless of your productivity, so are all of God’s beloved children - all of us.
If our calamities - and the calamities of others - are not things that we can lay judgment on based on some sin, blame, reasoning.
Then the inverse is also true - our WORTH is not based on anything we do, say, produce.
Every single human being on this planet is worthy of taking up space, of tending to their roots, of caring for themselves and of being cared for - of life and not just life but abundant life - life full of love and joy and companionship and caring.
And when our lives are full of love and joy and companionship and caring - there is a good chance that fruit will be produced. Not the fruit of productivity but the fruit of more love, overflowing love, spilling out to those who may be in non-fruit bearing seasons, who need a loving gardener to come and dig around the roots with care, to fertilize with love, to tend to with patience and gentleness. To stop the finger pointing of the landowner that says to chop it down - that finger points - that furthers judgment - but the loving care of the gardener who says, “Wait! This too is also worthy. Let me show it the love it deserves simply for being.”
So if we take a look at Jesus’s teaching in the Bible and apply it to our lives and the world around us - it would mean seeing ourselves and every person as worthy of tender care, of digging around the roots, of pouring time and energy and resources and love into - of abundant life, as children of God - worthy for simply being. With Scripture in one hand and the newspaper in the other, may we be gardeners in this world, helping all see their worth and flourishing until all the words knows that you, yes, you - you and all - are worthy,
May it be so. Amen.
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