Minding Our Business
6 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. 7 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?' 8 He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" (Luke 13:6-9)
Some of Jesus' followers had come to him with a troubling story (Luke 13:1-5) - that Pilate had disrespected some Galileans (Jesus was Galilean) by mixing their own blood with their sacrifices. While the specifics aren't shared, we understand that even those hearing the story were offended. But Jesus asked his followers if they believed this disgrace had occurred because the sin of those particular Galileans was more offensive to God than the sin of any other Galileans. We don't know the response of Jesus' followers, but Jesus answers, "No!" The affected Galileans were not more sinful - all are in need of repentance (turning away from sin and toward God).
We, too, have the tendency to believe that the events in our lives speak for God - that when good things happen it's because God is pleased with us, and when bad things happen God is displeased. That's an easy arithmetic that we can understand, but God is not so easily explained. We've all seen people - ourselves included - experience circumstances, both positive and negative, that were undeserved.
When Jesus finished explaining his followers' miscalculation, he told them the story of the fig tree that had yielded no fruit for three years. While the landowner was ready to give up on the tree and cut it down, the gardener requested one more year to tend it and see if there would be improvement. We have the responsibility to tend to the sin in our lives by continually repenting, and we have the responsibility to tend to the barren, seemingly dead, places in our world in an effort to bring about growth, health, and new life. This is our business - to offer ourselves rather than our opinion or our judgment. If we are devoted to minding our business, we won't have time to look down on, or place blame on, others for the calamities of life that we all are just as likely to experience. We won't have time to compare ourselves to others in an attempt to validate our goodness. Each new day we get to see is another opportunity to grow more into the people of faith God wants us to be
- not due to our merit, but due to God's love and grace.
1 O God, you are my God, I seek you, my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water. 2 So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory. 3 Because your steadfast love is better than life, my lips will praise you. 4 So I will bless you as long as I live; I will lift up my hands and call on your name. (Psalm 63:1-4)
