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 2, 2022: Good, Rotten, Foolish and Wise - Michael Hidalgo
September 25, 2022: Splinters In The Lumber Yard - Michael Hidalgo
September 18, 2022: The One About Obedience - Michael Hidalgo
September 11, 2022: Behold What Love Can Do - Cari Jenkins
September 4, 2022: The Messy Middle - Dave Neuhausel
August 28, 2022: Finding Delight - Amanda Lum
August 21, 2022: Jesus is the Question - Bekah Stewart
August 14, 2022: A Deeper Breath of Tenderness - Ryan Taylor
August 7, 2022: The Problem with Peacekeeping - Paula Williams
July 31, 2022: On The Move - Landon Lynch
July 24, 2022: On The Move - Kristin Wright
July 17, 2022: On the Move - Cari Jenkins
July 3, 2022: On The Move - Michelle Cazas
June 26, 2022: Is There A Doctor In The House? - Scott Oppliger
June 19, 2022: I’m Not Done Hoping For You - Amanda Lum
June 12, 2022: You Can If You Want To - Bekah Stewart
June 5, 2022: Did You Catch Anything? - Maggie Knight
May 29, 2022: Deepest Gladness, Greatest Need - Mike Goldsworthy
May 22, 2022: You Can’t Say That Here - Dave Meserve
May 15, 2022: An Initiation - Nick Elio
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