Sunday 23 MArch, 2025

Reflection:    "Bearing Fruit"

Isaiah 55:1-9

Psalm 63:1-8

Luke 13:1-9

1 Corinthians 10:1-13

​It’s likely that as we go on the journey with Jesus toward Jerusalem, we’re going to be confronted by his terrible human suffering and be invited into the mystery of how the divine one suffered for us.
 
In our daily news, we’re confronted by the suffering of our brothers and sisters here and abroad.
At this time, we especially remember the citizens of Ukraine as they either flee from oppression or stand and defend their homeland.
We also feel for the residents of Gaza, as their homeland is being destroyed.
 
It seems that the season of Lent invites us to listen to the wisdom and compassion hidden in suffering as part of the process of making room for the new resurrection life that we trust is to come.
We need to allow ourselves to be emptied out - so that we’re ready to celebrate joyously on Easter Sunday.
 
Now, I don’t presume to fully understand the nature of suffering, nor do I have a foolproof theology about why it exists in our lives, but our readings this week do suggest some things that may be useful for us to reflect on.
 
Suffering is an inevitable part of our existence here on earth.
That is, we’re born into an embodied life in a physical world where hunger and thirst, illness and injury, death and destruction are all part of the way the world operates.
The amount of suffering doesn’t seem to be evenly distributed, and even though some parts of the bible seem to suggest that this is a consequence of poor or wrong decisions by parents, or by the sufferers themselves (such as in the book of Proverbs) there are other threads that are clear that it is not the fault of the individual (see Job and Ecclesiastes).
 
In this week’s reading from Luke, Jesus cautions us against assuming that we are any better than those who suffer more terribly than we do (eg. the Galileans slaughtered by Pilate, or the Jerusalemites crushed under the tower).
 
Indeed, the suffering of others should remind us of our own mortality, and we should accept the fact that we need to be led to repentance - i.e. have our minds changed and renewed.
 
The fig tree in scripture is often used as a symbol, or reminder, of Israel and the quality and fruitfulness, or otherwise, of the Jewish peoples’ relationship with God.
In Matthew’s gospel there’s a story of a fig tree being cursed for lack of fruit and there’s a strong sense of judgement and punishment, but here in Luke, the lack of fruit is responded to patiently and mercifully.
Although the fig tree is still expected to bear fruit, it’s just given a little tender care to help it to get there!
It seems that even suffering and failure needn’t prevent us from being fruitful.
We are offered, and should accept, God’s mercy and support.
 
I’ll let you into a secret about fig trees - Lynne loves figs and we have had a small tree in a pot for many years.
At our old house, it produced a few figs each year, but at our new house (in the same pot), it’s going gang-busters.
Sometime just a change of location, or some extra attention, can produce the desired results.
 
So why is it important to consider the part suffering plays in our Lenten journey, rather than just hurrying as quickly as possible to the good news of Easter Day?
Well, it does seem that our suffering can open our hearts and minds to our kinship with Jesus.
We know that he was fully human, and his suffering was very real – he was betrayed, brutalised and abandoned.
 
When we allow suffering to humble us and empty us out, then we’re more able to be companions with Jesus on his journey of suffering love - and we can learn the path of love from him.
This path leads us to love the one who first loved us, and also to remember that we are loved completely and passionately by God.
Out of this certainty we grow in our capacity to love others, and ourselves, in all the uncertainties that life delivers.
 
Suffering takes away our ability to control life and therefore reduces our illusion that we are in charge.
By being vulnerable, we are led into the way of God’s love.
 
This stripping bare can be a holy experience and make us purer, as is precious metal that has been refined in fire.
And in needing to become more dependent on God and those whom God gives to care for us, we can become more humble, grateful and desirous of the things of God. Then, when we realise how fleeting everything and everyone is,
we can be truly grateful for all the good and precious moments we are given.
And when the banquets of life come, we are, indeed, ready to celebrate!
 
Jesus did say that if we are to follow him, we need to also take up our own cross.
This doesn’t, however, mean that we need to go looking for difficult and painful experiences.
 Life usually gives us enough suffering, but if we’re in a true and humble, connected relationship with our God and our own self, then we can dare to step into the breach with those who suffer, becoming tender and attentive companions.
Suffering can strip away the illusion of not only our own sense of control but the sense of separateness.
Great beauty and joy can help us feel connected with the whole, but it’s in the place of suffering and struggle that our belonging to the whole becomes real.
 
Some people will shy away from the suffering of others - not because they don’t care - but because they don’t know HOW to care.
 
Sometimes there IS something we can do to help to ease another’s suffering – e.g. assist them to get the best medical care or legal representation, petition those is authority to have a law changed – but often we are not called to fix anything, but to simply be a companion - do some shopping, or the gardening, bake a casserole, or take them out for coffee.
 
Often, what a sufferer needs, is someone to hold hands with, in prayer and quiet company, someone to listen to an old story, or a secret never told before.
Sometimes what is desired is news from the outside world, or the simple wisdom of your experience.
And sometimes, what suffering needs is a witness.
 
When Jesus was on the cross, he didn’t expect anyone to take him down or rescue him, but he did cry out in thirst, in fear that he was forsaken, and to organise the care of his mother with his beloved disciple.
Our Lord needed companions, even in his time of suffering.
 
So, whilst it’s confronting and disturbing, spending time in the presence of the suffering of Jesus as part of our Lent experience, we can be better prepared for those times of suffering affecting our lives – our own, that of others, and the suffering in our world.
 
And those of us who’ve been hollowed out by such suffering, are all-the-more ready and longing for the feasting and rejoicing that is our promise - as Isaiah reminded us.
 
Easter is our foretaste of the banquet that life is also meant to be.
 
Paul, when writing to the fledgling Christian community at Corinth, reminded them that “God is faithful and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it”
…………AND BEAR FRUIT IN GOD’S KINGDOM.
 
God’s richest blessings on you all, this Lenten season.
 
Pastor Rick