sermon - Barren Fig Tree

Luke 13:6-9

“Feeding Your Soul”

            Today, we have the barren fig tree, a tree that is known for its abundant harvest.  For some reason or another, this particular tree is not producing figs.  When I read this passage, I can’t help but think of the azaleas we had in our front yard.  Year after year, the neighborhood would burst forth in color as everyone’s azaleas showed their colorful glory, but not ours.  What was wrong with our plants?  I went to the local nursery and asked for advice.  I took home the specific fertilizer they recommended, and followed their directions completely.  A year passed.  I anxiously waited as spring unfolded.  Once again, the neighborhood burst forth in these amazing, vibrant colors from the variety of azaleas, but not ours.  Nothing.  Well, let’s just say this, we no longer have azaleas in our yard.  We gave them a chance, we went to a specialist, we invested in their future, but to no avail. 

            I also think about those movies about schools that have high drop out rates, where the students don’t seem to have any hope, or any desire to succeed and a teacher or principal comes in and shakes things up and suddenly the students are interested and learning and graduating.  Barren places given a second chance and miraculous results occur. 

            Or non-profit groups that take gang members off the street and teach them how to make pizza and give them purpose and skills and a sense of identity that is different than that of the streets. 

            The barren fig tree.  For three years, the owner of a vineyard comes to receive fruit from his fig tree and finds it barren.  Three years it has not produced fruit.  He is ready to cut it down, for it is wasting space and soil.  But the gardener comes to the tree’s defense and asks that he be allowed to spend time tilling the soil and giving special care to the tree.  Just give it one more year, if it produces no fruit after this additional care, then go ahead and cut it down. 

            Barren fig trees and the season of Lent.  This passage calls us to look within our own lives and the life of the greater congregation and ask ourselves, are we bearing fruit for God?  I used the passage from the Gospel of John as our call to worship, since it too is about bearing fruit.  If we find ourselves barren, how then do we till our soil, how then do we find the nutrients that will allow us to produce fruit?  Jesus proclaims:  I am the vine, abide in me.  If you abide in me, and I in you, you will produce fruit  Lent is just that time, it is time for us to deepen our faith, deepen our connection to God, to find ways to feed our soul. 

            The Psalm today gives the image of being in the wilderness, being in a place where there is little water, of being parched and dried out.  O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you.  The seeds of faith are here, the psalmist knows he is dry and yet he wants more, he knows God is present in his life, but he has not found the spiritual spring, not yet.  And perhaps that is why the gardener insists that the fig tree be given one more year.  One more year to deepen its roots until it finds the waters of God’s love just waiting to be infused within the tree. 

            The barren fig tree is a metaphor for grace, an illustration of God not giving up on us, but allowing the gardener to do some work around us so that we will live into our true purpose. 

            So, who is the gardener, is it Jesus?  Is it the church?   Is it the scriptures?  Is it us?  Yes.  It can be all of the above.  As we think about the world around us, as we mature in our own faith, as we name how we are bearing fruit for God, perhaps we can see places either in our own lives or in the greater community that seem barren.  Where are the hurts?  Where might the soil of God’s love need to be tilled? 

            Within our presbytery, we can name a barrenness without our congregations.  No matter how much fruit we are producing for God, we still feel this loss within ourselves.  We say it to ourselves, where are the families and the younger generation?  How do we connect with them?  Why don’t they want to come to church?  We can either give up, or we can till the soil, find ways to connect, seek to change the nutrients of what we have been doing.  Give ourselves a year of newness, experiment with music, explore creative worship opportunities, lift up topics that the younger generation is concerned about, and explore how the scriptures, God and the church are relevant to today’s needs. 

            So, today we have a barren fig tree before us.  This particular tree is root bound, so first we will explore tilling the soil that the roots can expend.  And then as we continue to journey through Lent, we will name the ways we are bearing fruit for God and add fruit to our tree.  The barren fig tree is a story of God’s grace and love.  The tree is given another year, we are given another year, but there is work to be done.  Tilling the hard soil takes time, remembering to fertilize and provide the appropriate nutrients is time consuming.  We can’t just wish ourselves into a tree overflowing with figs, we must pray, study, build relationships, pray some more, and be willing to take some risks.  Amen.