The Lenten Patience

Text: Luke 13:1-9

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

          I’ve done a little bit of an informal survey over the years by asking people, young and old, men and women, from different churches and denominations, what their favorite season of the church year is. You can tell when someone isn’t from a liturgical tradition when they look at you strangely when you mention seasons of the church year. It’s a little easier to get an answer when you ask what their favorite holiday is. And the answer is generally…Christmas. I’ll get a few that mention other holidays, but if you were to do a Family Feud style game show and ask about favorite holidays, Christmas would definitely be the number one answer. By far. But I heard someone say the other day that Easter is the most important Christian holiday. That got me thinking, and I realize that while I might gravitate toward the joyful celebration of Christmas, as we tend to celebrate it these days, they’re right. Easter is the most important Christian holiday. Without the resurrection there is no Christianity after all.

We like holidays because they give us the opportunity to celebrate something specific. A day to diverge from our everyday routine. But seasons are a little different. Seasons take patience. And even the type of patience that we have during the seasons can vary. The season of Advent, leading up to the celebration of Christmas requires a patience of anticipation. Each day is getting us closer to the goal and the anticipation builds as we get closer and closer. I think the season of Lent requires a different kind of patience. It’s a patient endurance. 40 days of depriving oneself. 40 days of reflecting on our sinful condition. It could almost be likened to the patient endurance required during the winter, for those who don’t so much enjoy the cold and snow. We endure it while we wait for spring to come.

But as we mentioned a couple weeks ago, the Lenten Journey, while sometimes long and winding, is part of what God uses to mold and shape and guide us along His path. And the Lenten Focus we spoke about last week is what keeps us moving ahead along the sometimes difficult road, knowing that the destination is so fantastic that we’re willing to endure the wait for what’s to come. The road toward Easter on this Lenten journey is one we patiently endure because we realize the all-surpassing joy of what we’re going to celebrate on the Day of the Resurrection. And like our patient endurance through the winter season while waiting for the new life that spring offers,

OUR LENTEN PATIENCE ENDURES IN ANTICIPATION OF THE NEW LIFE OF CHRIST AT THE RESURRECTION AND OUR NEW LIFE IN CHRIST.

          But patience is not easy. I realized this week while waiting for responses to some important emails that patience is not my strongest quality. Even while waiting in relatively short lines for certain things at the conference I attended this week, I found myself getting agitated at having to stop and wait. I imagine I’m probably not alone in this struggle. In some things we’re patient, and in others…not so much. And when it comes to our own growth or the growth of people around us as believers, I think we tend to have less patience. We want results right away. And those results don’t always come right away. All of us are suffering along this road in some way. Maybe not like those that Jesus describes in our Gospel. Those Galileans whose blood was mingled with the sacrifices. Or the ones on whom the tower in Siloam fell. But we’re all suffering somehow. And sometimes the patience we’d like to have in enduring this suffering is hard to come by. Wondering where God is in the midst of all of it.

We could easily begin to think that God is just some angry figure off in the distance, unaware or uncaring as we endure whatever it is we’re going through. It’s that kind of thinking that can lead to the belief that we just have a righteous judge who’s keeping score and just waiting to strike us down for the sin we’re constantly committing. Of course, God doesn’t judge us by our sin, but by the love of Jesus, but it’s all too easy to look at the suffering in our lives and in our world and think that God is punishing us for it.

But this is where we can look at the end of our Gospel reading from Luke and see that Jesus is giving us an entirely different narrative about who God is. In this parable, God the Father is the owner of the garden, we are the fig tree, and Jesus is the gardener. Like the tree, we are nurtured in the shelter of God’s garden. Yes, there are storms in our lives, just like weather has an effect on everything in a garden, but unlike wild trees, trees in a garden are nurtured and given nutrients to make it easier for them to grow. They’re protected from people who might try to cut them down. The gardener and owner pay attention to the needs of the tree of a garden.

This particular tree that Jesus speaks of, a fig, is three years old by the time we hear about it. And the owner of the garden is frustrated that, after years of work and gentle care, the tree still shows no sign of the fruit which should be evident after the care it has received. Not even a single fig! I don’t know much about gardening, or fig trees, as evidenced by the story you’ve probably heard me tell about the one fig tree I once had. Which I killed. And which never produced a single fig after flourishing under its previous owner’s care. But my research tells me that fig trees should begin bearing fruit in their second year. So, this owner has already given this tree an extra year to bear fruit when he goes to the gardener to cut it down. Even then though, the tree receives even more patience. The gardener, just like Jesus does for us, intervenes with the owner to give the slow-growing fig tree another year. Not only that, he promises to give the fig tree even more attentive care to try and bring it to fruit. And fig trees need a lot of care. As do you and I.

What this parable shows us is that we don’t have an angry God, looking down at us, disappointed that we aren’t better people. He’s not prone to punishing us for failing to live up to perfection. We have a patient God, who spends each day with us, eager to see us grow and bear fruit. And we have a God who is willing to do the work to help us get there. Because He wants our lives to reflect the loving, caring relationship He has with us. He wants our lives to show the fruit of knowing Him. He’s looking for the “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control” that reflect a life of repentance and growth in the Spirit. But this fruit doesn’t come from us being perfect to avoid God’s wrath. This fruit comes from a God who comes to us again and again to see if there is any fruit and who gives us special attention and plenty of fertilizer. In other words, this transformation from unfruitful to fruitful is a gift we receive as we know and walk with the Master of the Garden, the Savior of our souls.

But the parable is also not just about the patience that God has with His people who have yet to the bear the fruit He desires them to bear. Regardless of whether it’s us, or God, patience will only last for a time. Jesus gave His call to repentance three times in today’s Gospel.  He called us to repent after He spoke of the Galileans who died at the order of Pilate.  He called us to repentance after He talked about the Judeans killed by the falling tower.  Finally, He called us to repentance with the parable about the fig tree. He repeats this call because it’s important.

God will bear with us not producing fruit for a certain amount of time. He’s patient, and loving, and cultivating. But there will be a day when He decides that it’s time for Christ to come again. And I’m sure that it grieves Him to know that whenever that day comes, there will be trees that have still not yet produced fruit. There will still be many of His children who have not yet repented and turned to Him. And as patient as God is, there will be judgement for those who do not produce fruit.

And that’s what Jesus is telling us will happen in this parable. There will be a time when He will return. When His patience will have ended. And when all those who are not producing fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. The thing is, that we, like the fig tree, are never going to produce on our own. We need the Gardener. We need Christ and we need the Holy Spirit. Strengthening and nourishing us so that the fruit of repentance becomes evident in our lives. Thanks be to God that we have them. Because it’s only by the saving work of Christ on the cross, and the sustaining work of the Holy Spirit in our lives, that the owner of the garden can look down upon His creation and see us as trees that are producing the desired fruit. May He continue to be patient with us as we rely on the gardener, who tends and cares for us. And when His patience has ended, may His grace and mercy be ours as He gathers His harvest home.

As we journey through this blessed season of Lent with our focus on the author of our salvation, may we patiently endure whatever suffering we may face, knowing that our patience will be rewarded in the most joyous of celebrations. That of the resurrection. The resurrection of Christ to be sure. But also, the promise of our own resurrection. And may our patient endurance also be patient anticipation for the new life we have and enjoy in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The peace of God which surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.