Luke 13:6-9
Jesus told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’”
“‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”
This is the scripture that links with today’s reflection for this third Sunday in Lent, taken from our daily reading booklet, Into the Deep, from the God is Still Speaking devotional. Today’s reflection was written by Quinn Caldwell, a UCC pastor who is Chaplain of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry at Cornell University. The scripture citation he chose for us is the one we opened with just now.
We’re going to read some of his thoughts on the meaning of these verses, then we’ll talk a bit about what these thoughts and verses might mean to us. “’Everything I have, I earned. Everything I’ve achieved is down to my hard work and nobody else’s. If you’ve failed, it’s because you’re a failure. You didn’t grind hard enough; spent too much on lattes.’”
“That’s some people’s line anyway. It’s nice for them because it absolves them of a lot of responsibility—the responsibility to thank or acknowledge the world for the aid, the privilege, and the boost they have received. Not to mention the responsibility to aid, privilege, and boost others.”
Jesus refers to this kind of reasoning as “nonsense”—this whole “I did it all myself” stuff, and to make his position relatable he introduces us to two characters who illustrate his point. The first is the vineyard owner–a real ‘up by his own bootstraps’ kind of guy.
Somewhere in his wisdom this man has decided that a fig tree requires a maximum of three years to root and grow and settle into the business of producing figs. This tree has not done this so he orders the vineyard worker—the second new character—to get rid of it. Dig it up, chop it down. It’s just using space in his orchard and not giving anything back for it. Toss it out and replace it with a tree that will do what he wants.
But the vineyard worker—the one who actually works at tending the trees—answered him, “Sir, give it one more year. Let me give it my personal attention for that year. It could be that the soil in this one spot is just not rich enough for this tree’s roots. I’ll dig around it to loosen the soil and fertilize it well. Let’s see what happens with new soil.” Or, as Caldwell puts it in the closing line to his reflection here: God, the arborist says, ‘Not till we see how it does in my kind of soil.’
The vineyard worker knows that not all trees have the same needs and not all soil is equal--just as we know that all people are not born with equal abilities or blessings of support and opportunity.
Each Sunday as I drive, first north, then south again between home and church, I drive past acres of vineyards, all laid out in their neat lines. It’s a strip of land rich in multiple varietals of grapes and sometimes it seems to a non-grower like me that they are constantly ripping out whole plots to plant something new. Each time—around the 2nd or 3rd year—I can see blank spots in the areas where the planting covers hillsides as well as the flatlands. Those blank spots are where the new planting just didn’t thrive due to a low spot where the water collects or a slope that doesn’t get quite as much sun as the rest of the plot. It's the same grape from the same lot, given the same care, but its life is not the same.
In the same way, people can be born in similar locations but experience very different lives with very different results. Have you ever heard the old saying “Judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree and it will live its life believing it is stupid”? How about we refrain from judging … period. We don’t truly know anyone else’s story—their circumstances. Let’s help out and lift up and boost other’s chances—all without judging, just lifting up-- all while respecting each person's humanity. It shouldn't be all that hard to do.
We’re going to read some of his thoughts on the meaning of these verses, then we’ll talk a bit about what these thoughts and verses might mean to us. “’Everything I have, I earned. Everything I’ve achieved is down to my hard work and nobody else’s. If you’ve failed, it’s because you’re a failure. You didn’t grind hard enough; spent too much on lattes.’”
“That’s some people’s line anyway. It’s nice for them because it absolves them of a lot of responsibility—the responsibility to thank or acknowledge the world for the aid, the privilege, and the boost they have received. Not to mention the responsibility to aid, privilege, and boost others.”
Jesus refers to this kind of reasoning as “nonsense”—this whole “I did it all myself” stuff, and to make his position relatable he introduces us to two characters who illustrate his point. The first is the vineyard owner–a real ‘up by his own bootstraps’ kind of guy.
Somewhere in his wisdom this man has decided that a fig tree requires a maximum of three years to root and grow and settle into the business of producing figs. This tree has not done this so he orders the vineyard worker—the second new character—to get rid of it. Dig it up, chop it down. It’s just using space in his orchard and not giving anything back for it. Toss it out and replace it with a tree that will do what he wants.
But the vineyard worker—the one who actually works at tending the trees—answered him, “Sir, give it one more year. Let me give it my personal attention for that year. It could be that the soil in this one spot is just not rich enough for this tree’s roots. I’ll dig around it to loosen the soil and fertilize it well. Let’s see what happens with new soil.” Or, as Caldwell puts it in the closing line to his reflection here: God, the arborist says, ‘Not till we see how it does in my kind of soil.’
The vineyard worker knows that not all trees have the same needs and not all soil is equal--just as we know that all people are not born with equal abilities or blessings of support and opportunity.
Each Sunday as I drive, first north, then south again between home and church, I drive past acres of vineyards, all laid out in their neat lines. It’s a strip of land rich in multiple varietals of grapes and sometimes it seems to a non-grower like me that they are constantly ripping out whole plots to plant something new. Each time—around the 2nd or 3rd year—I can see blank spots in the areas where the planting covers hillsides as well as the flatlands. Those blank spots are where the new planting just didn’t thrive due to a low spot where the water collects or a slope that doesn’t get quite as much sun as the rest of the plot. It's the same grape from the same lot, given the same care, but its life is not the same.
In the same way, people can be born in similar locations but experience very different lives with very different results. Have you ever heard the old saying “Judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree and it will live its life believing it is stupid”? How about we refrain from judging … period. We don’t truly know anyone else’s story—their circumstances. Let’s help out and lift up and boost other’s chances—all without judging, just lifting up-- all while respecting each person's humanity. It shouldn't be all that hard to do.
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