Second Chances
March 20, 2022 + Third Sunday in Lent + Luke 13:1-9 + Pr. Craig Mueller
Did you breathe in the spring air last Wednesday and Thursday? After a long winter and some recent cold weather, it was almost overwhelming. In a good way. As the temperature reached nearly seventy degrees, it felt like I was coming back to life. That nature was giving us all a second chance.
And do we need it! Life has been taking a toll on us in ways we may not even be able to grasp. So on first glance, today’s gospel—#repentorperish—may not be the message we need or want this week. But let’s dig deeper in the soil of this week’s readings to see what we find.
But first, think spring. I mean literally. When I googled to find out the exact time of the vernal equinox, I was more than delighted to discover it will happen today. At 10:33 a.m. CST to be exact. That’s a little more than a half hour from now!
So get this! We have a gospel with vernal images of a fig tree, a vineyard, manure, and fruit. Nature’s second chance! So we are singing every Lenten hymn we can today with images of nature, trees, water, light, and yes, springtime! Lent means spring, don’t forget!
Here's what the gospel suggests to me: a God of second chances. Thus, the parable of the fig tree. It takes three to five years for a fig tree to start ripening fruit. Who can wait that long? Just buy some fig newtons at the store.
The impatient guy in the parable tells the gardener to cut the fig tree down. Nothing is happening! It is taking up good soil space!
The gardener, though, is in it for the long haul. Give it another year. Fertilize it. Put some life-giving manure (holy you-know-what) around it. Wait and see. Give it another chance. After all, growth happens slowly. In nature. In ourselves. In the pursuit of justice.
When I’m in a funk. When my mind is all over the place. When my heart is heavy. Sometimes what I need most is to get my hands dirty. In some soil. Or some bread dough. Or some spring cleaning. Or decluttering. All good Lenten activities and practices.
Or maybe I just get outside. Notice what season it is. Be with what is. Be reminded that the seasons turn. That the earth always gives us a second chance each spring.
Yet it isn’t always that simple. We get overwhelmed. And sermon or a book or therapist’s or friend’s advice isn’t enough to raise our spirits. I’m watching the Netflix poignant drama, After Life. When I first heard the title I thought it would be a sentimental religious show. Or something between Touched by an Angel and The Good Place. No so.
It’s a story about a man getting a second chance at life. Wondering about an “after life.” But Tony, the main character, is an atheist. He’s not counting on life after death. But he does wonder whether his life has any meaning after his wife dies from cancer.
In many ways Tony is a rather pathetic character. He complains about everyone in his life and mocks religion. In the first season he tells a co-worker, “Humanity is a plague. We’re disgusting, narcissistic parasites, and the world would be a better place without us.”
Yet as the series progresses, we see Tony’s tough exterior rub away. He watches hours and hours of videos that his wife made for him before her death. She encourages Tony to move on with his life—to have a second chance, if you will. He begins to learn that making other people happy can improve his well-being as much, if not more, than making them miserable.
Maybe that wisdom isn’t so far from Jesus’ advice in today’s gospel: repent. “Repent” isn’t meant to drag us down in unworthiness. It’s not meant to suggest we wallow in our personal sins and shortcomings. Repent is a hopeful word. A Lent word. Which means a spring word.
Repent. Change your thinking. Change your attitude. Change direction. Time is short. Put winter’s barren landscape behind you and move on.
Our reading from Isaiah helps. Why do we labor for things that do not satisfy us, it asks. I’ll tell you one reason. Commercials give us empty promises. Click now and the product can be delivered today. Instant gratification! You will be happy. You will look beautiful. You will feel wonderful.
Really? Our ways are not God’s ways, the prophet reminds us. Seek the things in life that last, that matter. Nourish yourself instead with rich spiritual food.
Think of it! Every Sunday is a second chance. We gather together at the beginning of a new week! And Christ himself comes among us!
We hear words of promise in the gospel. We share bread and wine to sustain us on the journey. We lean on a community to support us when we lose hope. And through baptism, we have a call, a purpose, a mission—to bear the fruit of repentance in word and deed.
Speaking of baptism, we are joining two adults—Ben and Korey— on their Lenten journey toward baptism at the Easter Vigil. We join them in turning away from self-absorption. Turning away from certainty and needing to be right and have all the answers. Turning away from the ways we harm the earth one another.
And then. And then like the earth tilting toward the sun, we turn toward the God of second chances. The God of springtime. The God of hope. The God of mercy.
Maybe you have observed a tree that needed to be cut down because of disease or some kind of construction. It is a sad occasion to cut down a tree. I don’t have a lot of experience with fig trees mentioned in the gospel, but I am loving more and more the gift of trees in my life. From year to year they stand faithfully as the seasons change. And soon, very soon, we will see again the buds and the green leaves bursting forth.
May spring call you back to life. May Christ awaken your wintry heart. For we are on the way to Easter. The greatest “second chance” of all!