Creekside Church Sermon of March 14, 2004 "Merciful Time" Luke 13:1-9	Rev. David Bibbee
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A man planted a fig tree in his vineyard. This wasn't unusual. Fig trees were often planted in vineyards. If the grapes had a bad year, a good fig harvest could make up for it. By the third year the trees produced fruit. They are naturally prodigious producers, often bearing figs ten months of the year. But not this tree.

One day the man showed up with a basket and wearing his "fig-pickin'" clothes, but the tree was figless It wouldn't have bothered me. I hate figs. Dates I like, especially in Amish date pudding. Not figs. If marooned on a tropical island like Tom Hanks in the movie Castaway, and my survival depended upon a washed-ashore Fed Ex crate full of Fig Newtons, I would starve.

The man said to the vinedresser, "We've watered and sprayed and pruned this tree three years for nothing. Cut it down!" I couldn't fault him, even if I liked figs. I read an essay by a guy who tried raising figs. He said, "They suck in enough water to quench the thirst of a regiment marching double-line through the desert, and you have to fertilize them every week and a half…they're too needy."

All that time and toil, with nothing to show for it but shade. I'm with the owner. "Cut the thing down."

But the vinedresser begged a stay of execution for the tree. "One more year… just give it one more year. Let me get a load of manure to spread around it," It was an odd request. Manure was never used to fertilize fig trees. It was a way of saying that drastic, unorthodox measures were needed to save it. "And who knows?" the servant said, "It might work. If it doesn't produce by this time next year, turn it into chord wood." End of the parable… IF the fig tree is only a tree, which it is not.

When Jesus told this parable, the people immediately understood what Jesus was saying. There are numerous references in scripture where Israel is called God's vineyard. Isaiah 5:7 says, "For the vineyard of the Lord is the house of Israel, and the people of Judah are his pleasant plantings." God put a lot of care into his vineyard. God fed and fertilized it with prophets and priests and messengers, but like the feisty lady in the old Wendy's commercials, God asked, "WHERE'S THE FRUIT?"

God didn't plant Israel… or the church… or us in the world to take up space, absorb the nutrients, and do nothing to justify its existence. We were planted for a purpose-- to be the salt of the earth and season the bland diet served up the world's diner. Jesus called us light and leaven.

God is determined to have figs, and if necessary, will axe the trees that don't produce. You can hear echoes of John the Baptist: "Bear fruits that befit repentance… Even now the axe is laid to the root of the tree; and every tree that doesn't bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire."

The owner comes every year to see if there is a crop. He has come from inspecting other trees. The trees are productive churches that know their calling and do it. They take risks because they believe that God's abundance will provide what's necessary. They believe that life according to Jesus is the best of all lives to live, and they show it by sharing it. They know they cannot defeat evil alone any more than they can be good without Christ in whom all things are possible. They believe that God's love mends broken lives and redirects wayward lives and brings purpose to pointless lives.

Not all trees are as productive. "Where's the fruit?" he asks. "Well, sir, we met last year's outreach allocations. We didn't spend a dime more than we budgeted. We're concerned about the situation the world is in, and our denominational leaders are writing letters to the government about it. We're ready to welcome visitors, and we hope they will start showing up soon. And even though we haven't grown last year or the year before that, we haven't had anyone leave." We have a real nice pastor. And the owner says, "Maybe you didn't understand the question…Where is the fruit?"

David Head penned a sarcastic version of the Anglican Church's "Prayer of General Confession" which, unfortunately, resembles the laid-back attitudes of many churches:

Benevolent and easy-going Father: we have occasionally been guilty of errors of judgment. We have lived under the deprivation of heredity and the disadvantages of environment. We have sometimes failed to act in accordance with common sense. We have done the best we could in the circumstance.; and have been careful not to ignore the common standards of decency; and we are glad to think that we are fairly normal.

Do thou, O Lord, deal lightly with our infrequent lapses. Be thy own sweet Self with those who admit they are not perfect; according to the unlimited tolerances which we have a right to expect from thee. And grant us as indulgent Parent that we may hereafter continue to live a harmless and happy life and keep our self-respect. Amen.

You couldn't blame God for telling the church, "How much longer until I get some fruit? Close the books. Pitch the bulletins. Forget the meetings and budgets. AXE IT!"

But the servant intercedes. "Let's not be too hasty, boss. I know you are after production from these people. Maybe with some intensive intervention it WILL produce. I'll spread some manure. Please, boss. Just another year."

I liked working with my Grandpa Bibbee, with one exception. One early spring day we got in his beat-up pickup truck and drove to a cow farm. "What are we doing here?" I asked. "We're getting fertilizer for the garden," he said. He backed up to a ripe, odiferous heap that waged a full-frontal assault on my olfactory system. Grandpa grinned and handed me a pitchfork. "Fertilizer," he said. "Dig in!" Slinging cow crap was an extreme measure but there was no arguing the results come summer.

This is a parable of God's justified judgment. But it also is a parable of God's mercy. God grants us, "merciful time" - time to grow, time to make amends, time to change, time to become faithful, fruitful disciples.

This is a parable of grace… the merciful grace we see in Jesus' other parables. The shepherd didn't say, "I'll search one day for my lost sheep, and call it quits." The prodigal son's heart-sick Father didn't say, "I'm tired of waiting. If the kid doesn't show up tomorrow, I won't let his raggedy hide through the gate."

The next time you change a light bulb, think about the creation of the first one. Thomas Edison and a crew of associates worked twenty-four straight hours to make it. Edison handed the bulb to a boy who helped in the lab, and told him to "carefully" take it upstairs. On the way up, his nerves bested him. The bulb fell to the floor and shattered. They immediately went to work on a second bulb, and after another twenty-four-plus marathon, it was done. No one could bear the thought of losing this one. Surely Edison would take it upstairs himself… but he gave it to the boy again.

The first failure wasn't the final word. The boy got a second chance. Christianity has been called, the religion of the second chance. This is one reason the Pharisee's were so upset with Jesus. The law stipulated what happened to those who broke it. Jesus taught that a relationship with God was more than a code of conduct.

"So, Jesus… how many time should I forgive someone who wrongs me… seven? I know you're generous, and seven times is a lot." "Higher," Jesus said. "Okay-- seventy times." "Keep going," Jesus said. "Start with seventy times seven. If you get to 490, keep forgiving."

Until I saw the movie "Seabiscuit," I knew very little about the legendary race horse. I knew even less about the people who were part of the Seabiscuit story. Its not just a story about a race horse. It is about grace. It is about being given other chances. It is about the redemptive power of time.

The story took place during the Depression. Red Pollard was a boozed-up, washed-up jockey. Charles Howard was a wealthy man who was struggling to put the shattered pieces of his life together after the death of his young son and a divorce. The horse, Seabiscuit, didn't look like a race horse. He was stumpy. He had a leg that wouldn't straighten. He was short, with a straggly tail and an awkward gate. He struggled in minor league racing for three years.

Three unconnected lives that gone through hard times during the Depression's hard times, came together when a veteran race horse trainer named Tom Smith saw Seabiscuit. Though the horse had been mistreated and mishandled, Tom Smith saw fiesty spirit and great potential in Seabiscuit.

The world gives up on losers. Two men and a horse were written off, just as the Depression had written off hundred's of thousands of lives. But Red, Charles, and Seabiscuit were given the mercy of time and another chance at life. The horse won race after race and beat the imposing Kentucky horse, in the greatest horse race of all time, winning by four lengths.

A can-do racehorse in a can't-do body gave the country something to cheer about. He helped people trust that little people can become winners. He helped people believe in another chance at life, and the power of redemption.

A theologian said there is a tension within the mind of God between judgment and mercy-between, "Timber!" and, "Give it time." We see the tension throughout the Bible. In Hosea, God thunders, "I will pour out my wrath like water" (5:10) but six chapters later, "How can I give you up, Ephraim?…. My compassion grows warm and tender" (11:8). Jesus told a parable about workers who worked a whole day and some who barely worked a whole hour, but were all paid the same by the master. The workers cried foul, the master asked, "Do you begrudge my generosity?" Jesus also told about ten foolish maidens who meant to get oil for their lamps, but didn't get around to it. By the time they got some, the wedding party had started, the ballroom doors were closed, and they were shut out.

God's judgment and God's mercy. "Time's up!" and "You've got more time." Both are aspects of God's being. We deserve judgment, but Jesus came to us and said, "I have not come to judge the world, but to save the world (John 12:47). We make messes of our lives. We squander God's gifts by living trivial, superficial lives. We dismiss the gift of time every time we engage in "killing it."

What became of the fig tree? Did the dung do it? Did the extra year and extra care produce fruit? Was it cut down, or is it still producing? Jesus didn't bother to say. He intended not to say. The outcome is ours to answer.

God in his mercy has given us time to choose. This is the time to be honest to God and ourselves. Its time to do an inventory of our lives. It is time to confess our wrong and turn round right. Its time to repent, to go in the way God has designed for us, and to show we truly mean it by bearing the fruit of love in our lives.

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