This sermon was preached at Glenwood and Canoe Ridge Lutheran Churches, Decorah, Iowa on March 24, 2019. It’s based on Isaiah 55:1-9; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; and Luke 13:1-9. If you’d prefer to listen to it (my recommendation this time!), find it at https://soundcloud.com/stacey-nalean-carlson.
Isaiah 55:1-9
1Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price. 2Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me, and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food. 3Incline your ear, and come to me; listen, so that you may live. I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David. 4See, I made him a witness to the peoples, a leader and commander for the peoples. 5See, you shall call nations that you do not know, and nations that do not know you shall run to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has glorified you. 6Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near; 7let the wicked forsake their way, and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the Lord, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. 8For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the Lord. 9For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, 2and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3and all ate the same spiritual food, 4and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. 5Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.
6Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. 7Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.” 8We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9We must not put Christ to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. 10And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. 11These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. 12So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. 13No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.
Luke 13:1-9
1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.2[Jesus] asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or 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? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.”
6Then 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. 7So 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?’ 8He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”
Lent is not a series of behaviors: It is a series of questions.1 The apostle Paul might disagree with this quote from Joan Chittister, but I think the prophet Isaiah would agree. Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy? God asks through Isaiah. Why indeed?
Why do we do any of the senseless things we do? Why do we act as though grace is a commodity we can somehow purchase or earn? Why do we support systems of injustice and inequity with our mindless consumption? Why do we live as though we don’t have a trustworthy God? Why do we forget to pray when we’re drowning in our tears? Why do we think vulnerability is weakness? Why do we think we have to do this all on our own? Why do we think the worst instead of putting the best possible construction on our neighbor’s actions? Why do we see anyone as anything less than God’s beloved? Why do we hurt the ones we love the most? Why do we imagine we can’t be forgiven? Why do we take so much for granted?
Lent invites us to ask the hard questions, but not without the promise of God’s abundant pardon. Emily Ruth Hazel, in her poem Word of Mouth, imagines God’s promise in this way: I am committed to you, my faithfulness founded on bedrock—a love that is built to endure disaster, not a flimsy model of affection constructed with Popsicle sticks, but a love that is high and wide, fortified, strong enough to shelter you.2
I suppose Paul does get to this same kind of message eventually. In his letter to the Corinthians, he assures them that God is faithful and will not let them be tested beyond their strength. But just before that he uses some strong scare tactics, referencing the people’s ancestors who displeased God in the wilderness and were struck down. These things occurred as examples for us, Paul writes, so that we might not desire evil as they did. No idolatry, no sexual immorality, no putting Christ to the test, no complaining…or you’re going to end up like they did. This is Lent as a series of behaviors that we would do well to avoid lest we too fall.
I don’t always like Paul very much. I think Isaiah and I would have gotten along a lot better than Paul and I would have gotten along. But I did have an experience this week that helped frame Paul’s message for me at least a little bit. I had some unexpected free time, and I was already close to the Yellow River State Forest, so I drove there, parked my car, and got ready to hike.
The first warning, that I ignored, was my missing shoes. I thought I had thrown my hiking shoes in my car, just in case. But I hadn’t. That could have stopped me right there, but it didn’t. I set out in shoes not at all made for hiking.
The second warning, that I ignored, was the fair amount of snow still on the trail. In fact, I couldn’t really see the trail for all the snow that was still there. The farther I went, the more often my feet, clad in those crummy shoes, sank down through at least six inches of snow. My feet were soon sopping wet. But the sun was shining, and I was warm otherwise, so I kept going.
The third warning was a half-eaten deer carcass smack dab in front of me on the trail. Now, as much as I love walking in the woods, there are moments when I wonder about bears and other animals I’d just as soon not meet. And when I saw that half-eaten deer, it was like I could suddenly hear the interview on the evening news in my head: she should not have been out there in the first place. She didn’t have on appropriate shoes. The trail was covered with snow. Why in the world did she see that carcass and just keep on going? It should have been a sign for her. She should have turned around. Why didn’t she turn around?
So, I turned around.
I’m sure I wasn’t in any danger. Even so, I turned around.
The people of Corinth were in danger. The small church that Paul had begun just a few years earlier had already split up into a number of factions. One scholar uses some colorful language to describe this faith community as rocked by the arrogance and choices of spiritual smart alecks!3 Paul needs them to turn around, to take a hint, to look at what happened to their ancestors and be sure the same thing doesn’t happen to them.
I think we can relate to this. We see people in our own families that have struggled, that have done things to hurt us, to hurt those we love. We want the cycle to be broken. We don’t want to keep on passing down, from one generation to another, the behaviors that cause suffering and sorrow. And if there’s someone in our family who just doesn’t seem to get it, we might approach them much like Paul approached the Corinthians. Open your eyes. Turn around. Do better. YOUR ACTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES!
[Someone joked with me this week that I never pound the pulpit. So I thought I could do that this morning…channeling Paul. But it was really frightening!]
Jesus offers another perspective altogether. Like Isaiah, he asks a question. Some tragic things have happened. Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 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? Do you? Do you think people get what they deserve? Do you think God orchestrates tragedies in order to punish sinners? Do you think you’re safe because you’re not as bad as them?
Jesus doesn’t just ask the question. He answers it. No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did. Ok, Jesus. We’ll just call you Paul.
But then he goes on to tell a parable. A man had a fig tree that hadn’t produced any fruit for three years. So he said to the gardener, Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil? The gardener 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.
A life turned away from God is no life at all. A life chained to systems of injustice and oppression, a life clinging to bitterness, a life spent on that which does not satisfy down the long haul, is no life at all. And God wants for us life. Abundant life.
So God is patient–advocating for us, tending to us–a gracious gardener who refuses to see us as simply wasting soil, but instead does everything in God’s power to nourish and nurture us into bearing fruit.
This is the life for which we were created. A life that asks the hard questions, a life that sees the warning signs, a life that ultimately trusts the gardener to do what is needed for us to thrive—even if the digging disrupts our old patterns and the manure offends our sensibilities.
We have a gardener God who will do whatever it takes for us to experience life. Thanks be to God. Amen.
1 http://www.joanchittister.org/node/4346
2 https://sparkandecho.org/illumination/word-of-mouth_emily-ruth-hazel/
3 http://www.workingpreacher.org/