Readings (click here for full text of the readings):
   Exodus 3:1-15; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 10:1-13; Luke 13:1-9

“For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction.” So said Isaac Newton.  Now that might seem like an unusual place to begin a sermon, especially since most of us probably did our best to avoid it in high school, and the rest of us who couldn’t get out of it promptly forgot most of it. But the truth is that while Newton’s theory may have been original in the field of science, it had already been around a long time in the field of theology.  In fact, even if we don’t know it as Newton’s Third Law of Motion, I’ll bet most of us use it every day.  And misuse it, too.

Obviously we don’t apply Newton’s law the way he did – to physical objects and gravity and all that.  We apply it to our lives, and to God. We think that if we do the right thing, we’ll be rewarded. But if we don’t do the right thing, we’ll be punished. It’s neat, and makes perfect sense. It seems like the way the universe should work.  But in the end, it has very little to do with Christianity, because Jesus specifically preached against that way of looking at things.

Like in today’s gospel reading:  people are telling Him about some Galileans who had really been treated badly.  Pontius Pilate had executed them and mixed their blood with the sacrifices being offered to God, thereby tainting the sacrifices, too.  And the people Jesus is talking to obviously feel like the Galileans must have done something terrible to deserve that.

But Jesus tells them they’re just plain wrong. “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you.” Jesus is saying that there’s no cause and effect. Bad things happen to good people.  And good things happen to bad people.  That’s the way of the world.

But even if it’s the way of the world, maybe it’s not God’s way. Shouldn’t God intervene and restore order, we might ask? Shouldn’t God make sure the guilty are punished and the innocent are protected? We have to realize, though, that when we ask God to do that, we’re assuming that we’re among the innocent. After all, anybody who wants everyone to get what they deserve obviously thinks that he deserves mostly good stuff. You don’t see notorious sinners praying to God asking for everyone to get what’s coming to them. The people who ask for that are solid, honest, hard-working folks who just want what they deserve.

So what is it that we deserve?  Jesus goes on and tells us, without even stopping for a breath. “Unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.”  No mention of whether you’re a good person or not. No consideration given to hard work and noble intentions or whether you come from a “good family.”  If you don’t repent, you’ll perish. And not just die a peaceful death, but be executed in a way that would make Isaac Newton conclude that you must have been a very bad person.

The reason for that is that we’re all sinners. All of us have fallen short of the glory of God, as St. Paul wrote.  Sure, we might think we’re a little bettter than the guy sitting next to us, but even if that’s true we’re still full of sin. No matter who we are we don’t have the right to stand before God and tell God that He is obligated to bless us. God accepts us only out of the goodness of His heart, not because we deserve it in some way.

So all of this fits. It fits with what Jesus said His whole life. It fits with the penitential season of Lent, as we prepare ourselves for Holy Week by reflecting on our sinfulness. So far, so bad.

And then Jesus tells a parable that might, at first, sound familiar. We might remember the story of the fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit, but we might remember it a little differently.  Because both Matthew and Mark tell the story of Jesus coming upon a fig tree on the side of the road, and when He saw that there was no fruit on the tree, “He said to it, ‘May no fruit ever come from you again!’  And the fig tree withered at once.” (Matthew 21:19)  It was a miracle, but not a feel-good, make-you-feel-all-warm-and-fuzzy kind of miracle.

But Luke tells it differently. Instead of a miracle, we have a parable. It starts off the same way: a man comes upon a fig tree that isn’t bearing any fruit.  He’s actually been looking for fruit on the tree for three years, but nothing ever grew. The reference to three years makes us think that the man in the story is Jesus, who taught and healed for three years before He was crucified.  So if the story ended with the man telling the gardener to cut it down, it would fit perfectly with this whole theme of sin and damnation.

But that’s not where Jesus ends the story. The gardener asks the man to give it just one more year.  He’ll care for it and till it and fertilize it. And if it still doesn’t bear fruit by then, then he’ll cut it down. But just give it one more chance.

So in the midst of all this “repent or perish” stuff is a tale of hope and redemption. A story of second chances.  And that’s what really fits with what Jesus has been saying all along.  You think you deserve a reward – think again.  But you think that somebody else should be punished because they haven’t done anything – think again, as well. Grace is a two-edged sword, and it cuts both ways. 

In the end, Jesus isn’t the owner of the vineyard; Jesus is the gardener.  He’s the one standing up for us, asking for just one more year.  And if that year passes by, and we still haven’t borne any fruit, He’ll ask for another.  And another.  He’ll give us a second chance, and a third, and a fourth.  All the while hoping that someday we’ll bear fruit.

And let’s be clear about what that fruit is. It’s not love and good deeds.  It’s not being a nice person.  It’s not doing what God tells us to do. Because if we think it’s any of those, all we’ve done is fallen right back into the rut He’s been trying to pull us out of our whole lives. We’ve gone back to Newton, to thinking that we have to be good for God to love us.

We don’t have to be good for God to love us. We just have to ask God to love us.  To save us.  To change us. To make us more like God.  That’s what Jesus was talking about: repent.  Literally, in Greek, that means “turn around.” Turn to God. Trust in God, not in your idea of what you deserve and don’t deserve. 

Ultimately, this is a great example of God not giving us what we ask for, because that would be the worst thing for us.  Because if we were to be judged based on how good a person we are, all of us are in deep trouble. But if we’re judged according to God’s infinite love, where it’s never too late and there’s always a second chance waiting for us if only we’ll ask for it, then there’s hope for all of us. 

Newton may have said that “for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction;” but Jesus said that “no matter what the action, God is ready to save us, if only we turn to Him.”

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