Flourishing
Passages:
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Luke 13:6-9 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke 13:6-9&version=CEB
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Zechariah 3:7-10 https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Zechariah 3:7-10&version=CEB
Another Fig Tree
Once again we have a parable about a fruitless tree. This tree has not produced any fruit over the three years the man has owned it. A Rabbii might point out that the Hebrew Bible actually prohibited harvesting those figs for the first three years. The owner wants to destroy the tree for something he can’t expect.
The Owner as Gd
The servant refers to the man as Lord so one way to read this is that the man represent god. From that perspective, god is being unreasonable. In the world of fire and brimstone, this could be cast as the sinner in the hands of an angry god.
But…. but…. but… then there’s the servant, pushing back against the unreasonable.
There’s a rabinic traditiion that arguess that when Moses took his son Isaac to the mountain that Moses may have shown he was obedient but that he failed the real test… that Gd hoped Moses’ heart was still what it was when he argued that Gd spare the city of Lot. We have no way of asking Moses why he didn’t again challenge god… ask him what about, what if, is it possible.
The reason that there’s this tradition is because Rabbis have noticed a long trace through the bible –and since– of people pushing back against the divine. Wrestling with the Angel, wondering what would the people who hate you think if you destroyed the people, asking what if there are ten good people in Sodom? A trace in which the divine changes after hearing the perspective of imperfect people who understand what it is like to be mired in the day-to-day details of life.
The Owner as Us
What if, if we put ourselves in the shoes of the land owner. We think we own the tree and we think we own the vineyard. If your profits depend on productivity, the tree is taking up valuable space. And, from this perspective, Gd gave the garden to Adam to rule over.
But, the catch for us, is that, to some degree or another most of us are owners. I’ve worked with homeless folks who have storage spaces full of stuff they own. For some it’s just a locker but, to some degree we all know what it is like to own.
But, if we’re the land owner, from that Genesis 1 perspective, we don’t actually own the tree or the vineyard. The people who issue land titles and receipts for trees approach things that way but Genesis 2 describes humans being planted in the garden to care for it. Here the impulse to destroy the tree that is bringing fruit, but the gardener responds: wait a year. Sometimes the voice wrestling with the angel is wrestling with us.
Bring them together & Turn ‘em upside down
So, are you the owner or the gardener? That really is the question to sort out.
The world around us teaches us to the owner… the attraction of having stuff… the ability it gives us to control something. The frustration that we can’t control the rest the way we can operate a remote. I wonder if we saw ourselves less as owners if we’d have less of an urge to burn the whole thing down.
Genesis opens with the opposite message. Gd doesn’t hand humanity the deed to creation. Instead, Gd asks humanity to be creation’s gardeners. The challenge for many of us is to start seeing ourselves not as the owner in this parable but as the gardener.
The Tree
And…. there’s actually another character in Jesus’ parable: the tree. Some of us see ourselves in the gardener or the owner. But what of those whose lives are more like that tree. When Ingrid and I rented apartments, there were ways that felt like being at the mercy of the owner. At one place, everytime it rained, the clothes in the closet got wet. For three years. Until we move. For a long time, some land lords maximized profits by minimizing expenses.
Now, one of the risks of living in one of the decreasing number of low-rent homes out there is that the owner who realizes they can make far more money by kicking out tenants, and not just fix the problems but upscaling their properties and triple the rent.
The owner in the parable gets maximizing return, even if it means destroying the life of the tree or leaving tenants looking for an affordable rental that no longer exists.
Jesus’ parables revolves around the owner and the gardener. We have to pair it with Zechariah to understand what it means to be the tree. Zechariah asks what would it be like to be a lone tree in a world where in which you are given the time to be nourish, to nourish yourself, to grow, to bloom and reach your full potential… where the impulse to value things by the return they generate not longer outweighs the flourishing of the entire garden including ourselves and the loan scraggly tree.
If so, where is Gd in this parapble. Maybe the gardener represents Gd. What would it mean to hear the message that, even as the owner is trying to kick you out, that the gardener is willing to argue with the rich and the powerful for you, that the gardener stands with you?
The Garden as a Whole
And…. there’s actually another character in Jesus’ parable: the garden as a whole. I’ve asked what it means to be the owner. I’ve asked what it means to be the gardener. I’ve asked what it means to be the tree. But, the garden as a whole?
The garden is, first of all a place. It speaks to providing what we need to flourish. Flourishing, spiritually, takes drawing on what god provides. It means actively seeking to grow in our faith, to deepen our relationship with Gd, and to bear fruit that celebrates the grace and love of Gd working in and through our lives. Some talk about prayer, scripture, worship, and gathering in community and fellowship. Wesley gave a list of spiritual disciplines.
But, Flourishing is about more than nourishment. A garden does not just provide, it is also where we exist and live. We don’t just draw nourishment. It is given shape and direction when our spiritual practices are brought together with goals and passions.
Flourishing
Flourishing takes place in the lives we live. Prayer, scripture and worship are not the ends. They nourish us, shape us, guide us, fill us.
But, we do not exist in a vaccum. We exist in relationship with the garden as a whole, like the tree to the soil, the tree to the gardener, the tree to the vines. We exist in relationship with family, friends, this family, our community, and the creation around us. We remember our relationships by the lives we have lived together, the trials we have endured, the losses we have suffered, and the things we celebrate,
The gardener contributes to its flourishing. And, the fig tree flourishes together, in cooperation with, in support of the garden around it, including the grape vines. We flourish together because of and for and together with the garden where we find ourselves: the community around us and the creation in which we find ourselves.
Trees bear fruit not just to have fruit. The fruit is one of the ways where the tree goes beyond itself. It provides the seeds for a new generation. It nourishes other people. Fruit is a good short hand for some of the ways we play a role in the lives of others and in growing community. That happens together. The fig tree in the parable will not flourish alone.
Flourishing also comes out of how our goals and dreams and efforts speak not just to our own lives but our lives together with this family, this community, the creation around us.
Conclusion
When you see yourself as the owner, ask what it means to become a gardener. When you see yourself as a gardener, ask who and what you are nourishing, standing with and helping to flourish. If you see yourself as the fruitless tree, ask what does it mean to trust a gardener who is willing to challenge those who would uproot you while you flourish in your own good time. And, however your see yourself… ask what it means to be part of the garden, ask yourself to be spiritually rooted and nourished … and how you can shape and focus and direct your growth in ways that help you and the garden flourish.