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.
August 20, 2023: Sitting Down in the Busyness - Michael Hidalgo
August 13, 2023: Guest Teacher - Jason Miller
August 6, 2023: Guest Teacher - Michelle Warren
July 30, 2023: Guest Teacher - Maggie Knight
July 23, 2023: Guest Teacher - Hannah Thom
July 16, 2023: Guest Teacher Series - Nick Elio
July 9, 2023: Guest Teacher - Jasper Peters
July 2, 2023: A New Space in the Universe - Michael Hidalgo
June 25, 2023: Announcement
June 18, 2023: There Is No ”Them” - Michael Hidalgo
June 4, 2023: You Must Be Crazy - Kent Dobson
May 28, 2023: Bringing the Fire - Michael Hidalgo
May 21, 2023: I Am (Not) The Greatest - Jonathan Merritt
May 14, 2023: Coming Down the Mountain - Michael Hidalgo
May 7, 2023: Let’s Stay Here - Michael Hidalgo
April 30, 2023: Having It All For Nothing - Michael Hidalgo
April 23, 2023: Fake News or Breaking News? - Michelle Cazas
April 16, 2023: You Can Do This - Michael Hidalgo
April 9, 2023: What Things? - Michael Hidalgo
April 2, 2023: The Visible God - Michael Hidalgo
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