Value Life, Cultivate Growth
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
For March 23, 2025:
Value Life, Cultivate Growth
by Tom Willadsen
Luke 13:1-9, Isaiah 55:1-9
Why waste good soil on that tree? It’s not worth a fig! Cut it down! Throw it into the fire! Make room for something that will bear fruit. Now!
What if that tree isn’t mine? What if it’s my neighbor’s tree, and I want its shade and the fruit that falls on my side of the fence?
What if I’m the tree? Pour on the fertilizer and give me another chance!
In the Scriptures
Luke 13:1-9
Catastrophes
The two occasions of sudden death that Jesus mentions in the first portion of today’s reading are not attested anywhere else. Galileans certainly worshiped at the Temple, and Pilate was the kind of guy who would slaughter people when they were worshiping. Presumably, Jesus’ audience was as aware of this event as they were of the collapse of the tower in Siloam, a community southwest of Jerusalem. Jesus’ point was that tragic, sudden death is not an indication of a sinful life. Random acts are not precision-guided by the Lord to punish evil people. Because life is uncertain, Jesus is telling his audience they should eat dessert first. Wait, no, that was my Aunt Barbara who said that. Jesus’ conclusion to that section, “Unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did,” seems to indicate that repentance prevents calamity. It is more likely that Jesus’ point was that they should repent now, while they have the chance, because a tower might fall on them tomorrow.
Luke 13:1-9
Figs
Figs are the third tree mentioned in the Bible. The first two are the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil [both Genesis 2:9]. It is interesting that the figs’ first appearance is not because of their fruit, but their leaves. After Eve and Adam ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they sewed fig leaves together to cover their private parts. Christian tradition typically conceives of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as an apple. But there were no eyewitnesses. One of the last century’s greatest theologians penned this line:
They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple
But man, I ain't going for that
I know it was her pink Cadillac
(Bruce Springsteen, “Pink Cadillac,” 1984)
Jewish tradition imagines figs, citrons, grapes, and even wheat, as the fruit of that tree. The presence of the fig tree in today’s parable would not have implied a connection to the Doctrine of Original Sin for those who heard it. That concept originated with Augustine in the fourth century.
The connection between these two portions of the gospel reading is the need to repent and seize second chances when they are possible.
In Mark and Matthew, Jesus tells a parable about a barren fig tree, presumably a judgment on the contemporary state of faithfulness among his people. The people were not bearing fruit. In Luke, the story is one of forbearance, but the question remains: How long, how many chances will the people get to repent and get right with the Lord?
The parable recalls “Bless the Lord” from Godspell, which is based on Psalm 103:9-10:
He will not always chide
He will with patience wait
His wrath is ever slow
To rise.
But are second chances infinite? Seventh chances? Seventy times seven chances? The fig tree gets some special attention, and another year, then what?
Isaiah 55:1-9
The Conclusion
Isaiah 55 is a summary of the entire work of Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55. It should be read with that understanding. The end of today’s reading is a declaration that the Lord’s ways are not human ways. For example, the Lord is prepared to provide rich, high-quality food to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. Perhaps this food begs a reference back to the gospel lesson for March 9, when Jesus rebuffed the devil with words from Deuteronomy: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (italicized portion not in the Luke reading, but clearly Jesus was alluding to all of Deuteronomy 8:3).
In the News
Talk of “dismantling” the federal government and federal workforce belies the reality of a wholesale attack on all things federal by the current president and the unelected billionaire. “Dismantling” sounds careful and deliberate, as though one were taking something apart and setting the pieces aside carefully, thoughtfully looking ahead to reassembly. Dismantling sounds like a scalpel is the tool of choice — the president’s tool has been charitably described as a chainsaw. To me, the most galling thing about what the president and unelected billionaire are trying to do is the presumption that everything the federal government does is wasteful and unimportant. Forecasting the weather, researching disease, keeping water safe to drink, inspecting food, funding the arts — if it’s government, it must be bad.
Is this a pruning, a cutting back with an eye toward more fruitful growth? (I doubt it.) If it is, when will the metaphorical fertilizer and thoughtful attention of the arborist begin?
In the Sermon
A parable, any parable, can change completely depending on whom one identifies with. Parables are meant to be tried on and walked around in. “Try to imagine things this way,” Jesus invites us to consider. Preaching the parable about the fig tree — is the preacher the farmer or the tree? The one insisting on, entitled to, fruit from the unproductive tree — it’s just taking up soil! — or the one needing the grace of more time and special attention to become fruitful?
SECOND THOUGHTS
Disordered Empathy
by Chris Keating
Isaiah 55:1-9
Isaiah’s voice rises above the din of a marketplace crowded with exiles yearning for the satisfaction of hope, empathy, and compassion. Instead of feasting on God’s abundance, they have consumed a steady diet that bloats but does not satisfy. Like the children lost inside Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the exiles have traded the abundance offered by God for impurity, greed, and selfish entitlement.
But Isaiah knows God has not given up. Paradoxically, those who hear the prophet’s invitation are those who have chosen excess over abundance. They have selected toxic individualism over healing community. Isaiah’s joyful ebullience extends an alternative vision rooted in God’s other-affirming love. “Hear, hear,” cries the prophet, “Why are you wasting your time and resources on that which does not satisfy?”
Isaiah’s invitation to us this Lent is a reminder of the love that God offers. That love is revealed in Jesus, whose face is set to Jerusalem. He speaks of repentance and nurture, and a blessed fruitfulness. His travels toward Jerusalem invite us to invest in living bread and water, which cannot be bought or sold. Isaiah imagines a rich feast where all are welcomed and all are fed. This is the fresh hope offered by the abundant provision of God that dares to trust in a loving kindness that so often the world does not see.
Much like the barren fruit tree in Luke’s parable, the orchards in our world have been overwrought by decay. They have failed to produce the very fruit they were created to bear. To them comes the call of the prophet: “Seek the Lord while it is still possible; call upon God while God is near.”
In the coolness of this early spring, I went looking for signs of life on a redbud tree planted in October in memory of a teenager who took his life. Perhaps it is still too early, or perhaps our brutal winter destroyed its tender shoots. I hope that is not true, and so I find a certain optimism in the words of the vineyard worker: “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.”
I imagine Jesus wrapping it with empathy and covering it with compassion. I pray for that rich mercy Isaiah imagines, and then I remember that it is our imagination that keeps us from seeing God’s gifts of kindness, empathy, and justice.
It’s been just five years since Covid-19 shut down our world and forever rewired our thinking about abundance. When supplies of personal protective equipment, toilet paper, and other essentials ran low, our anxiousness told us this was the new reality. We resisted the medicine that would make us safer and healthier and embarked on frantic searches for everything from Clorox wipes to test kits and vaccines.
But along the way, we also curiously found that even a bit of empathy could make a big difference. We cheered healthcare workers as their shifts ended and managed to make sure every child in public schools could have adequate nutrition. We mustered up some additional measures of compassion and empathy and found ways to offer financial relief to small businesses while encouraging giant automakers like Ford to switch production lines from cars to ventilators.
As we look back over those years, writes Mitch Albom, it is worth considering whether or not the seeds of pandemic empathy have blossomed. Albom offers a short assessment of the ways we pondered choosing virtue over self-interest. He finds that in the long run, most of us did not choose wisely.
Albom takes no rosy-eyed approach to recalling the pandemic, and he risks overlooking some of the incredible triumphs we achieved. “Pivot!” became more than just a line from the old Friends sitcom; it was the watchword that guided our steps. Employers shifted policies to help their team members work from home. Pastors learned how to live-stream, and Grandma and Grandpa discovered the beauty of hosting Zoom family meetings. Residents of Barcelona and other Spanish cities shouted “Bravo!” and “Viva Los Medicos!” in gratitude for the exhausting work offered by nurses and doctors.
But old habits die hard. We stop by Five Guys for lunch instead of bringing a salad. Now that the pandemic has waned, Albom’s question lingers. It’s similar to the invitation posed by Isaiah: Will we keep searching for that which does not satisfy, or will we accept Isaiah’s invitation to chow down on God’s wondrous empathy?
The demands required of social distancing exacted a toll. “We stopped seeing each other’s mouths,” says Albom. “Our very sense of space was flipped. We went from a society that bro-hugged and smooched to one where you had to stand on little stickers, six feet apart.”
Five years down the road, it feels as if empathy has nearly vanished. Self-centered narcissism leads the day, making one wonder if we really did learn anything from those months of shutdown.
Is it ironic or pathetic that the social media platform that was once the catalyst for the Arab Spring and provided a medium for Spaniards to organize nation-wide cheering for hospital workers is now owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who recently called empathy a “suicide pill?”
In addition to being the world’s richest man, Musk is quite possibly one of its least empathetic. But it is one thing if a creative genius lacks empathy; it is quite another when that person has been empowered to reshape government under the direction of a president characterized by his own epic struggles with empathy.
“Empathy is not an asset,” reads one of Musk’s life principles, derived from his long infatuation with the online game, “The Battle of Polytopia.” (Musk reportedly played Polytopia all night long the day before he purchased Twitter.) While acknowledging the importance of caring for others, Musk still insists that the “fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.”
That’s a remarkable statement for one who has nearly unfettered access to the President of the United States. The game Musk is now playing has much higher stakes than the Battle of Polytopia and indeed seems to be the symbol of our growing empathy deficit. Trump’s drive for “efficiency and draining the swamp” has led Congress to propose a budget bill that slashes government support for the most vulnerable Americans. In other cases, Congress is allowing pandemic-era programs that helped feed children to expire — including two Department of Agriculture initiatives that support local farmers and students in need.
Known as “Local Foods for Schools,” the program supplies more than $1 billion in funds for school nutrition programs and food banks. Districts use the funds to purchase nutritious food grown by local farmers — sort of a dual harvest of empathy. But funding cuts will hurt children and farmers and will be especially detrimental to “chronically underfunded” school districts.
Empathy now seems as elusive as a probationary federal employee. It appears as if we have accepted the myth that compassion and empathy are finite. In the process, we renewed interest in the myth that caring for others means we reduce our ability to care for those in our immediate circle. We fall prey to the cries of buying bread that does not nourish and water that does not satisfy.
Isaiah prompts an alternative vision. He sets before us the best food at the lowest prices — and reminds us that choosing empathy will lead us closer to resurrection, not destruction.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:
Isaiah 55:1-9
Come to the Place of Abundance
Come, all of you hungry and thirsty people, the prophet Isaiah says, and settle into a place where you don’t have to be stressed. Robin Wall Kimmerer says that she has some family members who have created such a place, right in the middle of our everyday world. She tells us, “They live in an urban neighborhood where there are plenty of curmudgeons growling at kids to stay off their lawns. So they converted their once tidy little yard into a garden of berries and patches of flowers and put up a welcome sign for the kids in the neighborhood to come on in and find a handful of berries and pick a bouquet to take home. They converted their 'private' yard into a common space. The currency of this gift economy is relationship and a neighborhood where people know each other’s names, even the curmudgeons. The Tragedy of the Commons became the Abundance of Community. This is a gift economy within reach of everyone. It’s subversive. And delicious.” (from The Serviceberry)
Echoing Isaiah, we can call people into spaces like this, too.
* * *
Isaiah 55:1-9
Seeking God
“Seek the LORD while [God] may be found,” Isaiah urges.
Julia Baird describes this process of seeking God by choosing a different kind of worship space. “In a little Salvation Army hall near my home one Sunday, I found myself sitting around a table with a small group of people, a motley crew of drifters and seekers. I’d come to this place because I’d grown bored of conventional church and wanted to roll my sleeves up. The Salvos run a soup kitchen and a range of outreach programs, so most of those who turn up on Sundays have needs they bring to the community: mental health, homelessness, disabilities, dementia. It means that when we sit around and talk about life and what it means, no one pretends to be anything other than who they are — just people trying to get by. This strips our conversations of clichés or pat rhetoric, and I love it.”
On one particular day, “the minister — or officer — asked everyone to pull a card from a back table, and each card had a question on it that we all had to answer. Next to me was J——, who read his card in a loud voice: “Describe a beautiful place you have been to.” He went first. “Well, anyone who knows me knows I have psychiatric problems, and sometimes I go to the hospital for treatment. Outside the corner of the main room there, it looks onto a concrete slab, and when it rains, the sound of the water hitting the concrete is just... incredible.” His entire face lifted, lit. “It sounds like a waterfall. I am really into nature and waterfalls, so that place is pretty special.” I looked at him. “I bet that is really calming to listen to.” “Yeah, exactly, calming, I love it.” The way rain splashes onto cement and stone: a beautiful place.” (from Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything)
God is ready to be found whenever we are ready to seek the face of the divine.
* * *
Isaiah 55:1-9
The End of the Wicked
The prophet Isaiah has hope for the wicked people around him, urging them to return to God. “Let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
In How to Have an Enemy, Melissa Florer Bixler offers an understanding that God always views people this way. “The Talmud tells a story that reminds us how much Christians can learn from our Jewish siblings and their commitment to peace. In the story, Rabbi Meir is so distressed about the havoc caused by delinquents in his neighborhood that he can imagine no other mercy than for God to cause them to die. His wife, Beruriah, overhears this and wonders how he has come to believe such a prayer is permitted. Perhaps Rabbi Meir is thinking of Psalm 104. So Beruriah reinterprets the psalm for her husband. Rather than causing the wicked “to be no more” (Psalm 104:35) through death, God intends something else. Beruriah explains that the hope for the criminals in their neighborhood comes in a different prayer: ‘Pray for them that they should repent, and there will be no more wicked people.’ He prayed for them, and they repented.”
God reminds us, through Isaiah, that the divine vision is always different. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.”
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
Birthday of the Trees
Perhaps there are no figs on the tree because it hasn’t had its birthday yet. Dating back to Biblical times, tradition holds that trees have a shared birthday that marks the age of the tree. “Because tracking the exact anniversary of the flowering of every individual tree was impractical, farmers had to decide how to determine the 5-year mark. Their solution: a birthday for the trees! The first mention of Tu B’Shvat comes from the Mishnah, but scholars and rabbis agree that the traditions at the heart of the holiday date to biblical times. Since then, Tu B’Shvat — literally meaning the 15th of the month of Shvat — has become a widely celebrated holiday,” like a Jewish Earth Day.
The holiday continues to be celebrated in our time with tree planting and a kind of Seder meal. “In ancient times, it was merely a date on the calendar that helped Jewish farmers establish exactly when they should bring their fourth-year produce of fruit from recently planted trees to the Temple as first-fruit offerings. After this, all subsequent fruit produced from these trees could be eaten or sold as desired.”
In modern times, Tu Bishvat continues to be an opportunity for planting trees — in Israel and elsewhere, wherever Jewish people live.
The parable makes reference to this tradition for dating the age of the tree.
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
In a Hurry
If the impatient owner of the fig tree lived in our era, he might be part of a new trend, dubbed airport theory. This trend, promoted on social media, suggests arriving at the airport just 15 minutes in advance to clear security — going against the conventional wisdom of showing up hours in advance. While this might seem like a gamble, videos about “airport theory” have taken off on TikTok, amassing a whopping 400 million views. “It is currently 9:24, and my flight started boarding four minutes ago,” said one human guinea pig named Lexi Smith in a video demonstration of the time-saving hack. “We’re in security right now; let’s see how fast we can get through this.” She claimed she got through security at 9:29, just five minutes later — despite getting randomly selected for additional screening — and then had to transfer to her gate via bus.
It works for some people who can’t stand to wait, and also “Google searches for ‘I missed my flight’ have skyrocketed by 645% this past month.”
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
Timing
How do we know when it’s time to give up? In the parable Jesus tells, the owner is ready to give up on the fig tree, and when Tony Bennett, longtime men’s basketball coach, retired last year, he said it was an issue of timing. “When I looked at myself, I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” a choked-up Bennett said between pauses as he collected himself. “And if you’re gonna do it, you’ve gotta be all in. You’ve gotta have everything. And if you do it half-hearted, it’s not fair to the university.”
The work of coaching demanded skills that he knew he didn’t have, Bennett said, adding, “I’m a square peg in a round hole.”
As he moves closer to his own death, Jesus has an exquisite sense of timing, and when time runs out.
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
On a Different Clock
As Jesus tells his mini-parable about the fig tree, the gardener has a sense that the tree is on a time schedule that the impatient owner can’t see. Author Jenny Odell notes that this is true for most living things. She observes, “Most living entities and systems on this planet obviously do not live by the Western human clock (though some, like the crows who memorize a city’s daily garbage truck route, do, of course, adapt to the timing of human activities). To watch a brown creeper as it inches up and down, peering into crevices and extracting bugs with its little dentist beak is thus a way of catching a ride out of the grid and toward a time sense so different that it is barely imaginable to us.”
Other creatures have rhythms we can’t even see, Odell adds, noting, “In Jennifer Ackerman’s book The Bird Way, I learned that the male black manakin, a South American songbird, can do somersaults so fast that a human can see them only in slowed-down video. Some birdsong contains notes that are sung too quickly or are too high-pitched for us to hear. Veeries, a species related to the American robin, can predict hurricanes months in advance and adjust their migration route accordingly, and no one currently knows how.” (from Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock)
As we follow Jesus through Lent, we can match his sense of time as part of our Lent journey.
* * *
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
For Example
Paul writes to the faithful in Corinth about all the bad examples we have in the people who went before us in faith. It’s easy to get discouraged, and then we remember the powerful example we have in the life of Jesus. As we follow Jesus through Lent, David French notes that his example remains compelling for us. Here’s a call to move deeper into humility: “Christ’s words were clear, and they cut against every human instinct of ambition and pride: ‘The last will be first.’ ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’”
Those were the words. The deeds were just as clear. He didn’t just experience a humble birth; Jesus was raised in a humble home, far from the corridors of power. As a child, he was a refugee. The way of Christ, by contrast, forecloses cruelty. It requires compassion. It inverts our moral compass, or at least it should. We love rags-to-riches stories, for example, so if many of us were writing Christ’s story, we might begin with a manger, but we’d end with a throne.
French asks this question for our Lenten journey: “When Jesus himself is humble, how do we justify our pride?”
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by Katy Stenta
Call to Worship
Leader: God calls us together
People: We worry about producing, bearing fruit, getting things done
Leader: God calls us to the garden, to be nourished
People: We want to bear fruit
Leader: God calls us into sanctuary, to take the time we need
People: Come let us spend time with first gardener God
Leader: Come let us spend time cultivating sanctuary
People: Come let us spend time together
OR
Leader: God we thirst for you
People: Our souls long for you
Leader: For your steadfast love is better than life
People: Come let us meditate on Go
Leader: Come let us sing for joy in the shadow of God’s wings
People: Come let us bless the Lord
Call to Confession
God we confess that sometimes we feel like the landowner and feel like nothing is getting done, and we can see no fruit of our labor and just want to cut it all down and burn everything up. We confess, that it is hard when we can’t see any progress. Help us when we need to nurture things, or give time or space or sanctuary things.
Confession Assurance of Pardon
Hear the good news, Forgiveness has already flourishing and abundant, thus we can tell one another the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day
Jesus Christ, help us to garden like you do, giving the space and time that is needed for things to happen. Help us to be a people of nourishment and sanctuary we pray. Amen.
Prayers of the People
God we are people of so many needs and longings. Our souls are thirsty. Hear our prayers and needs:
So too are our souls able to sing for joys in the shadow of your wings. Thus we lift up the prayers for the good that we celebrate together:
God we lift these prayers that we have lifted out loud and the ones that remain in our heart…we do so using the prayer your son taught us together (…Lord’s Prayer)….Amen.
Hymns
Amazing Grace
UMH 378
H82 671
PH 280
AAHH 271/272
NNBH 161/163
NCH 547/548
CH 546
LBW 448
ELW 779
W&P 422
AMEC 226
STLT 205/206
Renew 189
There's a Wideness in God's Mercy
UMH: 121
H82: 469/470
PH: 298
GTG: 435
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELW: 587/588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
I Love the Lord Who Heard My Cry
AAHH: 394
PH: 362
GTG: 799
NCH: 511
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMON
Jesus Tells A Story Of A Fig Tree
by Katy Stenta
Luke 13:1-9
In Jerusalem, fig trees are super special.
They are so special that families give them names!
Here Jesus tells the story of a fig tree that isn’t giving any fruit.
Figs are fruit like apples or oranges.
The landlord wants to cut the fig tree down.
The gardener says,
“Let’s give it time
And food
And water
And see what happens.
You know some people call God
The great gardener.
And sometimes
When we aren’t doing so well
We just need time
Or food
Or rest or a nap.
That’s what Jesus gives us.
He gives us what we need
So we don’t of quit
Or destroying everything.
This story suggests that we
Take care of ourselves
And each other
When things are hard.
Dear God,
Thank you
For giving us
What we need
When things are
Hard
Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 23, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Value Life, Cultivate Growth by Tom Willadsen based on Luke 13:1-9 and Isaiah 55:1-9.
- Second Thoughts: Disordered Empathy by Chris Keating. Empathy and compassion are the rich gifts God longs to provide—and will lead us away from destruction into hope.
- Sermon illustrations by Mary Austin.
- Worship resources by Katy Stenta.
- Children’s Sermon: Jesus Tells A Story Of A Fig Tree by Katy Stenta based on Luke 13:1-9.
Value Life, Cultivate Growthby Tom Willadsen
Luke 13:1-9, Isaiah 55:1-9
Why waste good soil on that tree? It’s not worth a fig! Cut it down! Throw it into the fire! Make room for something that will bear fruit. Now!
What if that tree isn’t mine? What if it’s my neighbor’s tree, and I want its shade and the fruit that falls on my side of the fence?
What if I’m the tree? Pour on the fertilizer and give me another chance!
In the Scriptures
Luke 13:1-9
Catastrophes
The two occasions of sudden death that Jesus mentions in the first portion of today’s reading are not attested anywhere else. Galileans certainly worshiped at the Temple, and Pilate was the kind of guy who would slaughter people when they were worshiping. Presumably, Jesus’ audience was as aware of this event as they were of the collapse of the tower in Siloam, a community southwest of Jerusalem. Jesus’ point was that tragic, sudden death is not an indication of a sinful life. Random acts are not precision-guided by the Lord to punish evil people. Because life is uncertain, Jesus is telling his audience they should eat dessert first. Wait, no, that was my Aunt Barbara who said that. Jesus’ conclusion to that section, “Unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did,” seems to indicate that repentance prevents calamity. It is more likely that Jesus’ point was that they should repent now, while they have the chance, because a tower might fall on them tomorrow.
Luke 13:1-9
Figs
Figs are the third tree mentioned in the Bible. The first two are the tree of life and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil [both Genesis 2:9]. It is interesting that the figs’ first appearance is not because of their fruit, but their leaves. After Eve and Adam ate from the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, they sewed fig leaves together to cover their private parts. Christian tradition typically conceives of the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil as an apple. But there were no eyewitnesses. One of the last century’s greatest theologians penned this line:
They say Eve tempted Adam with an apple
But man, I ain't going for that
I know it was her pink Cadillac
(Bruce Springsteen, “Pink Cadillac,” 1984)
Jewish tradition imagines figs, citrons, grapes, and even wheat, as the fruit of that tree. The presence of the fig tree in today’s parable would not have implied a connection to the Doctrine of Original Sin for those who heard it. That concept originated with Augustine in the fourth century.
The connection between these two portions of the gospel reading is the need to repent and seize second chances when they are possible.
In Mark and Matthew, Jesus tells a parable about a barren fig tree, presumably a judgment on the contemporary state of faithfulness among his people. The people were not bearing fruit. In Luke, the story is one of forbearance, but the question remains: How long, how many chances will the people get to repent and get right with the Lord?
The parable recalls “Bless the Lord” from Godspell, which is based on Psalm 103:9-10:
He will not always chide
He will with patience wait
His wrath is ever slow
To rise.
But are second chances infinite? Seventh chances? Seventy times seven chances? The fig tree gets some special attention, and another year, then what?
Isaiah 55:1-9
The Conclusion
Isaiah 55 is a summary of the entire work of Second Isaiah, chapters 40-55. It should be read with that understanding. The end of today’s reading is a declaration that the Lord’s ways are not human ways. For example, the Lord is prepared to provide rich, high-quality food to everyone, regardless of their ability to pay for it. Perhaps this food begs a reference back to the gospel lesson for March 9, when Jesus rebuffed the devil with words from Deuteronomy: “One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (italicized portion not in the Luke reading, but clearly Jesus was alluding to all of Deuteronomy 8:3).
In the News
Talk of “dismantling” the federal government and federal workforce belies the reality of a wholesale attack on all things federal by the current president and the unelected billionaire. “Dismantling” sounds careful and deliberate, as though one were taking something apart and setting the pieces aside carefully, thoughtfully looking ahead to reassembly. Dismantling sounds like a scalpel is the tool of choice — the president’s tool has been charitably described as a chainsaw. To me, the most galling thing about what the president and unelected billionaire are trying to do is the presumption that everything the federal government does is wasteful and unimportant. Forecasting the weather, researching disease, keeping water safe to drink, inspecting food, funding the arts — if it’s government, it must be bad.
Is this a pruning, a cutting back with an eye toward more fruitful growth? (I doubt it.) If it is, when will the metaphorical fertilizer and thoughtful attention of the arborist begin?
In the Sermon
A parable, any parable, can change completely depending on whom one identifies with. Parables are meant to be tried on and walked around in. “Try to imagine things this way,” Jesus invites us to consider. Preaching the parable about the fig tree — is the preacher the farmer or the tree? The one insisting on, entitled to, fruit from the unproductive tree — it’s just taking up soil! — or the one needing the grace of more time and special attention to become fruitful?
SECOND THOUGHTSDisordered Empathy
by Chris Keating
Isaiah 55:1-9
Isaiah’s voice rises above the din of a marketplace crowded with exiles yearning for the satisfaction of hope, empathy, and compassion. Instead of feasting on God’s abundance, they have consumed a steady diet that bloats but does not satisfy. Like the children lost inside Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, the exiles have traded the abundance offered by God for impurity, greed, and selfish entitlement.
But Isaiah knows God has not given up. Paradoxically, those who hear the prophet’s invitation are those who have chosen excess over abundance. They have selected toxic individualism over healing community. Isaiah’s joyful ebullience extends an alternative vision rooted in God’s other-affirming love. “Hear, hear,” cries the prophet, “Why are you wasting your time and resources on that which does not satisfy?”
Isaiah’s invitation to us this Lent is a reminder of the love that God offers. That love is revealed in Jesus, whose face is set to Jerusalem. He speaks of repentance and nurture, and a blessed fruitfulness. His travels toward Jerusalem invite us to invest in living bread and water, which cannot be bought or sold. Isaiah imagines a rich feast where all are welcomed and all are fed. This is the fresh hope offered by the abundant provision of God that dares to trust in a loving kindness that so often the world does not see.
Much like the barren fruit tree in Luke’s parable, the orchards in our world have been overwrought by decay. They have failed to produce the very fruit they were created to bear. To them comes the call of the prophet: “Seek the Lord while it is still possible; call upon God while God is near.”
In the coolness of this early spring, I went looking for signs of life on a redbud tree planted in October in memory of a teenager who took his life. Perhaps it is still too early, or perhaps our brutal winter destroyed its tender shoots. I hope that is not true, and so I find a certain optimism in the words of the vineyard worker: “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.”
I imagine Jesus wrapping it with empathy and covering it with compassion. I pray for that rich mercy Isaiah imagines, and then I remember that it is our imagination that keeps us from seeing God’s gifts of kindness, empathy, and justice.
It’s been just five years since Covid-19 shut down our world and forever rewired our thinking about abundance. When supplies of personal protective equipment, toilet paper, and other essentials ran low, our anxiousness told us this was the new reality. We resisted the medicine that would make us safer and healthier and embarked on frantic searches for everything from Clorox wipes to test kits and vaccines.
But along the way, we also curiously found that even a bit of empathy could make a big difference. We cheered healthcare workers as their shifts ended and managed to make sure every child in public schools could have adequate nutrition. We mustered up some additional measures of compassion and empathy and found ways to offer financial relief to small businesses while encouraging giant automakers like Ford to switch production lines from cars to ventilators.
As we look back over those years, writes Mitch Albom, it is worth considering whether or not the seeds of pandemic empathy have blossomed. Albom offers a short assessment of the ways we pondered choosing virtue over self-interest. He finds that in the long run, most of us did not choose wisely.
Albom takes no rosy-eyed approach to recalling the pandemic, and he risks overlooking some of the incredible triumphs we achieved. “Pivot!” became more than just a line from the old Friends sitcom; it was the watchword that guided our steps. Employers shifted policies to help their team members work from home. Pastors learned how to live-stream, and Grandma and Grandpa discovered the beauty of hosting Zoom family meetings. Residents of Barcelona and other Spanish cities shouted “Bravo!” and “Viva Los Medicos!” in gratitude for the exhausting work offered by nurses and doctors.
But old habits die hard. We stop by Five Guys for lunch instead of bringing a salad. Now that the pandemic has waned, Albom’s question lingers. It’s similar to the invitation posed by Isaiah: Will we keep searching for that which does not satisfy, or will we accept Isaiah’s invitation to chow down on God’s wondrous empathy?
The demands required of social distancing exacted a toll. “We stopped seeing each other’s mouths,” says Albom. “Our very sense of space was flipped. We went from a society that bro-hugged and smooched to one where you had to stand on little stickers, six feet apart.”
Five years down the road, it feels as if empathy has nearly vanished. Self-centered narcissism leads the day, making one wonder if we really did learn anything from those months of shutdown.
Is it ironic or pathetic that the social media platform that was once the catalyst for the Arab Spring and provided a medium for Spaniards to organize nation-wide cheering for hospital workers is now owned by billionaire Elon Musk, who recently called empathy a “suicide pill?”
In addition to being the world’s richest man, Musk is quite possibly one of its least empathetic. But it is one thing if a creative genius lacks empathy; it is quite another when that person has been empowered to reshape government under the direction of a president characterized by his own epic struggles with empathy.
“Empathy is not an asset,” reads one of Musk’s life principles, derived from his long infatuation with the online game, “The Battle of Polytopia.” (Musk reportedly played Polytopia all night long the day before he purchased Twitter.) While acknowledging the importance of caring for others, Musk still insists that the “fundamental weakness of Western Civilization is empathy.”
That’s a remarkable statement for one who has nearly unfettered access to the President of the United States. The game Musk is now playing has much higher stakes than the Battle of Polytopia and indeed seems to be the symbol of our growing empathy deficit. Trump’s drive for “efficiency and draining the swamp” has led Congress to propose a budget bill that slashes government support for the most vulnerable Americans. In other cases, Congress is allowing pandemic-era programs that helped feed children to expire — including two Department of Agriculture initiatives that support local farmers and students in need.
Known as “Local Foods for Schools,” the program supplies more than $1 billion in funds for school nutrition programs and food banks. Districts use the funds to purchase nutritious food grown by local farmers — sort of a dual harvest of empathy. But funding cuts will hurt children and farmers and will be especially detrimental to “chronically underfunded” school districts.
Empathy now seems as elusive as a probationary federal employee. It appears as if we have accepted the myth that compassion and empathy are finite. In the process, we renewed interest in the myth that caring for others means we reduce our ability to care for those in our immediate circle. We fall prey to the cries of buying bread that does not nourish and water that does not satisfy.
Isaiah prompts an alternative vision. He sets before us the best food at the lowest prices — and reminds us that choosing empathy will lead us closer to resurrection, not destruction.
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Mary Austin:Isaiah 55:1-9
Come to the Place of Abundance
Come, all of you hungry and thirsty people, the prophet Isaiah says, and settle into a place where you don’t have to be stressed. Robin Wall Kimmerer says that she has some family members who have created such a place, right in the middle of our everyday world. She tells us, “They live in an urban neighborhood where there are plenty of curmudgeons growling at kids to stay off their lawns. So they converted their once tidy little yard into a garden of berries and patches of flowers and put up a welcome sign for the kids in the neighborhood to come on in and find a handful of berries and pick a bouquet to take home. They converted their 'private' yard into a common space. The currency of this gift economy is relationship and a neighborhood where people know each other’s names, even the curmudgeons. The Tragedy of the Commons became the Abundance of Community. This is a gift economy within reach of everyone. It’s subversive. And delicious.” (from The Serviceberry)
Echoing Isaiah, we can call people into spaces like this, too.
* * *
Isaiah 55:1-9
Seeking God
“Seek the LORD while [God] may be found,” Isaiah urges.
Julia Baird describes this process of seeking God by choosing a different kind of worship space. “In a little Salvation Army hall near my home one Sunday, I found myself sitting around a table with a small group of people, a motley crew of drifters and seekers. I’d come to this place because I’d grown bored of conventional church and wanted to roll my sleeves up. The Salvos run a soup kitchen and a range of outreach programs, so most of those who turn up on Sundays have needs they bring to the community: mental health, homelessness, disabilities, dementia. It means that when we sit around and talk about life and what it means, no one pretends to be anything other than who they are — just people trying to get by. This strips our conversations of clichés or pat rhetoric, and I love it.”
On one particular day, “the minister — or officer — asked everyone to pull a card from a back table, and each card had a question on it that we all had to answer. Next to me was J——, who read his card in a loud voice: “Describe a beautiful place you have been to.” He went first. “Well, anyone who knows me knows I have psychiatric problems, and sometimes I go to the hospital for treatment. Outside the corner of the main room there, it looks onto a concrete slab, and when it rains, the sound of the water hitting the concrete is just... incredible.” His entire face lifted, lit. “It sounds like a waterfall. I am really into nature and waterfalls, so that place is pretty special.” I looked at him. “I bet that is really calming to listen to.” “Yeah, exactly, calming, I love it.” The way rain splashes onto cement and stone: a beautiful place.” (from Bright Shining: How Grace Changes Everything)
God is ready to be found whenever we are ready to seek the face of the divine.
* * *
Isaiah 55:1-9
The End of the Wicked
The prophet Isaiah has hope for the wicked people around him, urging them to return to God. “Let the wicked forsake their way and the unrighteous their thoughts; let them return to the LORD, that he may have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.”
In How to Have an Enemy, Melissa Florer Bixler offers an understanding that God always views people this way. “The Talmud tells a story that reminds us how much Christians can learn from our Jewish siblings and their commitment to peace. In the story, Rabbi Meir is so distressed about the havoc caused by delinquents in his neighborhood that he can imagine no other mercy than for God to cause them to die. His wife, Beruriah, overhears this and wonders how he has come to believe such a prayer is permitted. Perhaps Rabbi Meir is thinking of Psalm 104. So Beruriah reinterprets the psalm for her husband. Rather than causing the wicked “to be no more” (Psalm 104:35) through death, God intends something else. Beruriah explains that the hope for the criminals in their neighborhood comes in a different prayer: ‘Pray for them that they should repent, and there will be no more wicked people.’ He prayed for them, and they repented.”
God reminds us, through Isaiah, that the divine vision is always different. “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways my ways, says the LORD.”
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
Birthday of the Trees
Perhaps there are no figs on the tree because it hasn’t had its birthday yet. Dating back to Biblical times, tradition holds that trees have a shared birthday that marks the age of the tree. “Because tracking the exact anniversary of the flowering of every individual tree was impractical, farmers had to decide how to determine the 5-year mark. Their solution: a birthday for the trees! The first mention of Tu B’Shvat comes from the Mishnah, but scholars and rabbis agree that the traditions at the heart of the holiday date to biblical times. Since then, Tu B’Shvat — literally meaning the 15th of the month of Shvat — has become a widely celebrated holiday,” like a Jewish Earth Day.
The holiday continues to be celebrated in our time with tree planting and a kind of Seder meal. “In ancient times, it was merely a date on the calendar that helped Jewish farmers establish exactly when they should bring their fourth-year produce of fruit from recently planted trees to the Temple as first-fruit offerings. After this, all subsequent fruit produced from these trees could be eaten or sold as desired.”
In modern times, Tu Bishvat continues to be an opportunity for planting trees — in Israel and elsewhere, wherever Jewish people live.
The parable makes reference to this tradition for dating the age of the tree.
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
In a Hurry
If the impatient owner of the fig tree lived in our era, he might be part of a new trend, dubbed airport theory. This trend, promoted on social media, suggests arriving at the airport just 15 minutes in advance to clear security — going against the conventional wisdom of showing up hours in advance. While this might seem like a gamble, videos about “airport theory” have taken off on TikTok, amassing a whopping 400 million views. “It is currently 9:24, and my flight started boarding four minutes ago,” said one human guinea pig named Lexi Smith in a video demonstration of the time-saving hack. “We’re in security right now; let’s see how fast we can get through this.” She claimed she got through security at 9:29, just five minutes later — despite getting randomly selected for additional screening — and then had to transfer to her gate via bus.
It works for some people who can’t stand to wait, and also “Google searches for ‘I missed my flight’ have skyrocketed by 645% this past month.”
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
Timing
How do we know when it’s time to give up? In the parable Jesus tells, the owner is ready to give up on the fig tree, and when Tony Bennett, longtime men’s basketball coach, retired last year, he said it was an issue of timing. “When I looked at myself, I realized I’m no longer the best coach to lead this program in this current environment,” a choked-up Bennett said between pauses as he collected himself. “And if you’re gonna do it, you’ve gotta be all in. You’ve gotta have everything. And if you do it half-hearted, it’s not fair to the university.”
The work of coaching demanded skills that he knew he didn’t have, Bennett said, adding, “I’m a square peg in a round hole.”
As he moves closer to his own death, Jesus has an exquisite sense of timing, and when time runs out.
* * *
Luke 13:1-9
On a Different Clock
As Jesus tells his mini-parable about the fig tree, the gardener has a sense that the tree is on a time schedule that the impatient owner can’t see. Author Jenny Odell notes that this is true for most living things. She observes, “Most living entities and systems on this planet obviously do not live by the Western human clock (though some, like the crows who memorize a city’s daily garbage truck route, do, of course, adapt to the timing of human activities). To watch a brown creeper as it inches up and down, peering into crevices and extracting bugs with its little dentist beak is thus a way of catching a ride out of the grid and toward a time sense so different that it is barely imaginable to us.”
Other creatures have rhythms we can’t even see, Odell adds, noting, “In Jennifer Ackerman’s book The Bird Way, I learned that the male black manakin, a South American songbird, can do somersaults so fast that a human can see them only in slowed-down video. Some birdsong contains notes that are sung too quickly or are too high-pitched for us to hear. Veeries, a species related to the American robin, can predict hurricanes months in advance and adjust their migration route accordingly, and no one currently knows how.” (from Saving Time: Discovering a Life Beyond the Clock)
As we follow Jesus through Lent, we can match his sense of time as part of our Lent journey.
* * *
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
For Example
Paul writes to the faithful in Corinth about all the bad examples we have in the people who went before us in faith. It’s easy to get discouraged, and then we remember the powerful example we have in the life of Jesus. As we follow Jesus through Lent, David French notes that his example remains compelling for us. Here’s a call to move deeper into humility: “Christ’s words were clear, and they cut against every human instinct of ambition and pride: ‘The last will be first.’ ‘It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.’ ‘If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.’ ‘Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.’”
Those were the words. The deeds were just as clear. He didn’t just experience a humble birth; Jesus was raised in a humble home, far from the corridors of power. As a child, he was a refugee. The way of Christ, by contrast, forecloses cruelty. It requires compassion. It inverts our moral compass, or at least it should. We love rags-to-riches stories, for example, so if many of us were writing Christ’s story, we might begin with a manger, but we’d end with a throne.
French asks this question for our Lenten journey: “When Jesus himself is humble, how do we justify our pride?”
* * * * * *
WORSHIPby Katy Stenta
Call to Worship
Leader: God calls us together
People: We worry about producing, bearing fruit, getting things done
Leader: God calls us to the garden, to be nourished
People: We want to bear fruit
Leader: God calls us into sanctuary, to take the time we need
People: Come let us spend time with first gardener God
Leader: Come let us spend time cultivating sanctuary
People: Come let us spend time together
OR
Leader: God we thirst for you
People: Our souls long for you
Leader: For your steadfast love is better than life
People: Come let us meditate on Go
Leader: Come let us sing for joy in the shadow of God’s wings
People: Come let us bless the Lord
Call to Confession
God we confess that sometimes we feel like the landowner and feel like nothing is getting done, and we can see no fruit of our labor and just want to cut it all down and burn everything up. We confess, that it is hard when we can’t see any progress. Help us when we need to nurture things, or give time or space or sanctuary things.
Confession Assurance of Pardon
Hear the good news, Forgiveness has already flourishing and abundant, thus we can tell one another the good news: In Jesus Christ we are forgiven.
Prayer of the Day
Jesus Christ, help us to garden like you do, giving the space and time that is needed for things to happen. Help us to be a people of nourishment and sanctuary we pray. Amen.
Prayers of the People
God we are people of so many needs and longings. Our souls are thirsty. Hear our prayers and needs:
So too are our souls able to sing for joys in the shadow of your wings. Thus we lift up the prayers for the good that we celebrate together:
God we lift these prayers that we have lifted out loud and the ones that remain in our heart…we do so using the prayer your son taught us together (…Lord’s Prayer)….Amen.
Hymns
Amazing Grace
UMH 378
H82 671
PH 280
AAHH 271/272
NNBH 161/163
NCH 547/548
CH 546
LBW 448
ELW 779
W&P 422
AMEC 226
STLT 205/206
Renew 189
There's a Wideness in God's Mercy
UMH: 121
H82: 469/470
PH: 298
GTG: 435
NCH: 23
CH: 73
LBW: 290
ELW: 587/588
W&P: 61
AMEC: 78
STLT: 213
I Love the Lord Who Heard My Cry
AAHH: 394
PH: 362
GTG: 799
NCH: 511
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
* * * * * *
CHILDREN’S SERMONJesus Tells A Story Of A Fig Tree
by Katy Stenta
Luke 13:1-9
In Jerusalem, fig trees are super special.
They are so special that families give them names!
Here Jesus tells the story of a fig tree that isn’t giving any fruit.
Figs are fruit like apples or oranges.
The landlord wants to cut the fig tree down.
The gardener says,
“Let’s give it time
And food
And water
And see what happens.
You know some people call God
The great gardener.
And sometimes
When we aren’t doing so well
We just need time
Or food
Or rest or a nap.
That’s what Jesus gives us.
He gives us what we need
So we don’t of quit
Or destroying everything.
This story suggests that we
Take care of ourselves
And each other
When things are hard.
Dear God,
Thank you
For giving us
What we need
When things are
Hard
Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, March 23, 2025 issue.
Copyright 2025 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
