“Results”
By Rev. Michael Stonhouse
Meditation – Tuesday, November 5, 2024
Luke 13: 1-9 (Forward, p. 7) CEV p. 1079
Life is not meant to be spent sitting around twiddling your thumbs, and neither is it to be expended on equally useless, non-productive tasks. In fact, the one essential ‘task’ concerns our relationship with God through Jesus Christ. Turning back to God, which is what repentance is all about, and deciding to go God’s way and do God’ will, is the one essential in life. Without it, we are lost, lost eternally. And without this decision, nothing else matters. And, as Jesus suggests so pointedly, it matters not whether a person is a notable sinner or not. Popular opinion would have labelled the unfortunate Galileans of Pilate’s massacre as being sinners, and likewise the people killed during the collapse of the Tower of Siloam, but Jesus says, “No matter, everyone will meet the same fate, eternally at least, if they do not repent.” So, God/ Jesus expects to see results.
And, in this there is a certain urgency, as Jesus’ parable of the fig tree then points out. A fig tree has been planted in the midst of a vineyard, which, to all intents and purposes, should have been ideal in terms of soils and growing conditions. And yet after three years—which certainly should have been sufficient time—it had produced not a single fig. Not a single result, and so the owner of the vineyard decides, “Enough is enough. Why should it take up space if it isn’t doing anything?”
But here the gardener intercedes, “Please give it a bit more time, one more year. I can break up the soil around it, cultivate, and add some manure, and maybe that will make a difference. After that, if nothing happens, feel free to have it cut down.” This sounds very much like what we know of the patience and forbearance of Jesus, but even here, the time can run out. (Here I can’t help but snicker a bit: breaking up the encrusted, hardened soils of our hearts—it’s like the Parable of the Sower—and adding some manure, it is hardly the kind of thing that any of us relishes or looks forward to. And who might Jesus have been thinking of? The Jewish authorities, the Pharisees, teachers of the Law and Sadducees perhaps? Or how about the fickle, unresponsive crowds? Or how about His disciples, so slow to catch on, so slow to produce results? Or how about us? Do we readily accept such reproof or correction that might make us more productive, more fruitful, more amenable to ‘results’? It is something well worth thinking about—and, acting upon. Thanks be to God.
Forward notes: “He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it’” (verse 8).
“Before I went to seminary, I spent a year working on my mom’s organic farm on the Big Island of Hawaii. I learned how to milk cows and goats, plant and harvest vegetables, worm sheep, and butcher chickens.
“From that experience, I know exactly what the gardener means in this passage. Manure is some of the best fertilizer, offering nutrient-rich biodynamic soil amendments that trees use to flourish.
“This passage is a wonderful reminder: if there’s an area of your life that feels like it’s full of manure, hold steady. Perhaps God is preparing it to bear fruit in the next season.”
Moving Forward: “Jesus often uses examples of farm life in his parables. What are some of your favourites? Share them with us at #ForwardDaybyDay.”