In Luke 13.1-9, Pontius Pilate had just done the unthinkable. Apparently, his soldiers attacked worshippers in the temple while they performed their sacred rituals. One might expect heartfelt compassion from Jesus, but he doesn’t respond that way at all; rather he gives a warning of sorts. One that might lead the listener to think that maybe God was punishing people for their sins- you know, the sort of thing modern preachers do when a natural disaster causes the death of “sinful people.” Before the listeners can get their head around what Jesus is saying, he launches into a parable.
The parable is about a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. And at the end, it sounds like the tired caricature of an angry axe-wielding God who wants to cut the whole thing down. But what if Jesus’ parable was intended to wake the listener up? And what about the gardener in the story who defends the tree? The one who wants to give it a whole year to tend to it, to see that it will bear fruit? Maybe this parable shows that bad things don’t happen because God is angry. For whatever reason they do happen, and they have a chance to wake us up. And when we do awake, maybe there is a gardener who wants to tend to us – so that we can bear the fruit we were made to bear.
October 13, 2019: One Life – Michael Hidalgo
October 6, 2019: Hold it Like This – Michael Hidalgo
September 29, 2019: As It Should Be – Michael Hidalgo
September 22, 2019: It's A Matter of the Heart – Amanda Lum
September 15, 2019: More Than Words – Michael Hidalgo
September 8, 2019: Fruit, Meat, and Murder – Michael Hidalgo
September 1, 2019: The One About Nature and Grace and the Divine - Michael Hidalgo
August 25, 2019: Only One Thing is Essential? – Scott Oppliger
August 18, 2019: Get Ready - Amanda Lum
August 11, 2019: Baptism Sunday – Michael Hidalgo
August 4, 2019: What Jesus Said About Relinquishing Power – Paula Williams
July 28, 2019: Thou Shalt Not Cancel – Adam Phillips
July 21, 2019: Love Your Enemies - Jasper Peters
July 14, 2019: Life Remixed – Cari Jenkins
July 7th, 2019 - Christ in You - Brit Baron - Guest Speaker
June 30, 2019: A Spiritual Teacher – Michael Hidalgo
June 23, 2019: Held, Kept, Embraced – Amanda Lum
June 16, 2019: Truth and Lies and Oil – Paula Williams
June 9, 2019: Love Says – Michael Hidalgo, Hannah Thom
June 2, 2019: What's Not to Love? – Jon Gettings
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