Have you experienced a loss or misfortune and someone suggested it happened to you because of God’s punishment? Have you looked at your foes and wished tragedy on them—as a punishment from God? Or have you looked at accidents and tragedies in their lives and simply assumed they were to blame. Most of us can say yes to these questions. Even as I type this, the names of specific foes in my own life come to mind. People who harmed me and stole my peace. I may think of them only occasionally now, but at the time of the hurt, I perseverated on them with righteous anger. I wanted them to pay.
The lectionary passage this week addresses the sorts of questions above. The teaching has two parts. The first part mentions a couple of terrible events. In one case, Galileans were killed by Pilate as they made sacrifices; in the other, a tower collapsed on people, killing them. In both cases, Jesus challenges those wanting to blame the victims, saying, in essence: Do you think these people suffered because of their sins? No! They were no worse sinners than anyone else. In both cases, you could say misfortune came to them because they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Then, as with many of Jesus’ teachings, comes a parable—this time a parable about a fig tree that isn’t producing fruit. I pause here for this reminder: parables are brief stories with one central idea, like a snapshot. Often in these snapshots, God is portrayed symbolically. And in this parable in Luke 13, God is symbolically portrayed as a caring, patient gardener. The parable also features a vineyard owner. He wants to give up on the fig tree that isn’t doing its job; to pluck it out and throw it away. But the gardener—who doesn’t want to give up on the tree—symbolically portrays God. Unlike the vineyard owner, he wants to nurture the fig tree, to give it another chance. According to the parable, this is God’s way: to tend and nourish things, pruning away the dead parts, spreading compost around the roots, watering, refusing to cast anyone away prematurely. Similarly, Jesus was not the kind of leader to figuratively “throw away the fruitless fig tree.” He was not the kind of leader who executed sinners; instead, he was the kind of leader who was executed. And he stands right with us in suffering rejection and judgment from others.
When we thread together the first and second parts of this passage, we see that Jesus is directing us to be like the gracious gardener. This means being merciful toward those experiencing hardship but also not wishing hardship or loss on those who have hurt us.
This is particularly hard business. For one thing, we want people to learn—including our loved ones. Especially when people are doing damage and hurting others. And don’t we learn not to touch the hot stove by touching it and getting burned? Most of us, when we look back on our lives, recognize this is how we absorbed important life lessons. As Sigmund Freud put it: “From error to error, one discovers the entire truth.”
The trouble comes when we look at what others suffer and assume it is God’s punishment. We assume God is trying to teach them a lesson. But, on the other hand, we look at our own suffering and see it as simple bad luck, or something unavoidable. In this way, we have a skewed, imbalanced perspective.
What do we do about this? I believe what we do is to let God be God, to let God be the figurative gardener—the force of love that sets things right. What we do is check our misguided judgments regarding why people suffer and what needs to happen to them. To let God be God is to allow God to keep working on people, promoting their nourishment and healing. Even those whom—if we are honest—we want to suffer. It also means realizing how blinded we can be in our own judgments. In all of this, Luke 13:1-9 is a worthy meditation for Lent.
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Wren, winner of a 2022 Independent Publishers Award Bronze Medal
Winner of the 2022 Independent Publisher Awards Bronze Medal for Regional Fiction; Finalist for the 2022 National Indie Excellence Awards. (2021) Paperback publication of Wren , a novel. “Insightful novel tackles questions of parenthood, marriage, and friendship with finesse and empathy … with striking descriptions of Oregon topography.” —Kirkus Reviews (2018) Audiobook publication of Wren.
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