Good Fruit Not Nosy Fruit
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. He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or 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? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Then 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. So 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?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
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For some reason, I think of Jesus as a preschool teacher in our reading for today. You know what I'm talking about, right? In preschool, you have kids running around, and if one of them gets in trouble, all the others are like, "Ooooo, you're in trouble," and then a teacher tells them to mind their own business. That's at least what it looks like on the surface as people gather around Jesus and ask him if the Galileans who Pilate killed deserved their suffering. After hearing their queries, Jesus essentially tells them to mind their own business, but as it is Jesus we're talking about, does so in the form of a parable. And at the end, we're left to ask ourselves, "What kind of fruit (if any) are we producing?" Instead of poking our nose into places where it does not belong and seeing if others are bearing fruit, we must check if we are missing fruit from our branches.
Historical Context
We aren’t told many details about the killing of Galileans by Pontius Pilate. However, it would be fair for us to say that it was a bloody affair. It’s also possible that Jesus knew some of the victims of this incident; though Galilee had a sizable population, it was still his home region. Governor Pilate ruled with fear to create an atmosphere of terror. While we don’t know the details surrounding the incident, we know that people were concerned. They were concerned enough that they asked Jesus about what he thought. Oddly enough, they aren’t worried about the loss of life as much as they are worried about the cause of suffering. Were the Galileans who Pilate killed deserving of such a death? Or was there some other explanation for the bloodshed? And before they are able to continue, Jesus stops their line of questioning as it isn’t helpful to anyone.
Does any of this sound familiar? It should because it’s still a part of our understanding of why things happen the way they do. When we see suffering or pain, we tend to ask the question of why, “Did the people of Ukraine deserve such traumatic experiences of war,” “Do people who get COVID-19 deserve their experiences?” Certainly not! And Jesus would certainly echo that sentiment. While we profess our faith in a sovereign God, our spirits are still free to choose harm or healing. We live in a land in-between of present and future hope, a land where we wrestle with the joys and struggles of life. It is in the lands between which we find that our words and actions are measured against the unknown factors of life, the unexpected and irrational, and the forces of evil that come from the divine cosmos but from the hearts of twisted souls. The suffering and loss of innocence are not due to retribution. Such forces appear out of our control, which leads us to take hold of light and healing.
The Turning
The choice to return and find healing in the light and love of God stems from the call to repent, to as the Greeks would say, "metanoeō." To get into the weeds of language, the Greek word for repent that we hear today is actually a translation of the Hebrew word "shuv," which means to "go back," "return," or even "go home." Instead of focusing on something that cannot be explained or assigning artificial meaning to a catastrophe by adding an inaccurate belief, Jesus invites those around him and us to focus on ourselves instead of sticking our nose in other people's business. Instead of assigning blame or causation that pins pain on things that are out of our control, Jesus asks, "Are you bearing good fruit?" And we know how good fruit works, right? Trees that bear fruit spread seeds, in this case, spread love, hope, justice, and healing. Bearing fruit is important because the outcome will impact not only ourselves but also the ground, the communities to which we are rooted and gain nourishment.
The Korean-American theologian Grace Ji-Sun Kim once wrote, "As children of God, we are born with a purpose in creation and need to carry out our purpose, which involves living life similar to that of Jesus Christ."(1) Each of us possesses a purpose to bring about healing, love, compassion, mercy, and justice to a world of people, including us, who need these things. You know where these places are in your hearts and the world. It is the places within us that keep us from bearing fruit, our ignorance, our inability to see injustice and inequity, and our denial that we have any role to play in correcting the status quo. In many ways, Christ is the gardener, giving us another chance, another opportunity, to look within ourselves and produce the fruit of a life that aligns itself with the heart of God. This Lenten season may we continue to ask how we are fulfilling our purpose as people created in the image of God, as people who are called to bear good fruit.
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(1) Grace Ji-Sun Kim, “I John 3:1-3,” Feasting on the Word, Year A, vol. 4, 4d. David L. Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009), p. 198.