4th Sunday of Lent (March 30). REPENT WHILE YOU CAN

Prepare to Listen.  I will counsel you with my eye upon you.  (Ps 32.8)
 
Prayerfully Read Luke 13:1-9
At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.  2He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?  3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.  4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?  5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’  6Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.  7So he said to the gardener, “See here!  For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down!  Why should it be wasting the soil?”  8He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it.  9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”’
 
Prayerfully Wonder and Reflect
Who are you most like—the impatient vineyard owner or the compassionate gardener?
 
Twice Jesus warned, “but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”  It was a response to the stories from the crowd about those who tragically perished, through no fault of their own.  Jesus warned us all to repent, not in order to avoid eternal damnation, but in order to live now, while we can, more in line with God’s way.  Repent means making major changes of mind and heart, and when followed by confession of sin it results in major changes in what we believe, how we think and how we live.  It’s not a once-off act, but an ongoing, regular practice, since we so often fall off the wagon and get it wrong.
 
“Then he told this parable” about the fig tree in the vineyard to reinforce the importance of repentance.  The fig tree is a common symbol for God’s people.  Luke, however, leaves us wondering about who the vineyard owner and gardener are.  Is God the owner and Jesus the gardener, or is Jesus the owner and his disciples the gardener?  Either way, the main thrust of the parable is that the fig tree, God’s people, has one last chance to repent.  The gardener urges the owner to be patient and give the tree one more chance.  Years later, Peter wrote of God’s patience and willingness to keep giving ‘one more chance.’  He wrote, “The Lord is not slow about his promise, as some think of slowness, but is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance.”[1]  This parable, writes Craddock, “speaks in a similar vein: there is yet time.  God’s mercy is still in serious conversation with God’s judgment.”[2]  Repent while you can.
 
What do you think the Spirit is calling you to be and/or do through this parable?
 
Prayerfully Respond
Lord, thank you for your patience with me.  Without it, I’d be lost.  Amen.
 
Live obediently.  Repent while you can, now and often.
[1] 2 Peter 3:9.
[2] Craddock, Fred B.  Luke.  Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press.  1990, p. 169.