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.
December 17, 2023: The Lack of Denial - Michael Hidalgo
December 10, 2023: And Then I See a Darkness - Hannah Thom
December 3, 2023: The Name of the Moment - Michael Hidalgo
November 19, 2023: Ravens and a Suggestion of Wild Flower - Maggie Knight
November 12, 2023: Saving, Storing and Dying - Michael Hidalgo
November 5, 2023: The Inside on the Outside - Hannah Thom
October 29, 2023: A Not So Lovely Dinner Conversation - Michael Hidalgo
October 22, 2023: Baptism - Michael Hidalgo
October 15, 2023: This is a Movement - Michael Hidalgo
October 8, 2023: Parts of a Whole - Jonathan Merritt
October 1, 2023: Hand It Over - Michael Hidalgo
September 24, 2023: Eyes Wide Open - Keri Ladoucer
September 17, 2023: The Only Sign - Michael Hidalgo
September 10, 2023: Who is the Enemy? - Michael Hidalgo
September 3, 2023: That Sounds Like a Guarantee - Michael Hidalgo
August 27, 2023: How Do We Pray? - Keri Ladoucer
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
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