Repenting Like a Fig Tree (Third Sunday in Lent)

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After the last couple of years, I’m really tired of change.  Maybe you are, too.  Over the past couple of years, it often felt like every month – or sometimes even every week – brought about new changes in what we were allowed or not allowed to do.  And most of the changes – even if we realized we needed to make them – weren’t happy changes.

But it’s not just Covid.  Over these past couple years, lots of friends and colleagues have moved, retired or died.  I especially don’t like those changes, and those are the kinds of changes that take a long time to get used to.

And as I look around at the world today, most of the stuff that’s changing isn’t so great either.  War has returned to Europe.  Inflation is a becoming a big problem again.  And it’s clear that many of the changes that Covid brought about are still working themselves out.

Now of course, I realize that things always change.  And I’m the person who not infrequently preaches about the need for change!  And there are a few changes coming soon that I AM looking forward to (like the soon to be started Patio/Courtyard project…!)

But even when I realize changes need to happen, it doesn’t change the emotional reality that I’m tired of change right now.  I’d like the changes to slow down.  And I realize that, in spite of the fact that I know better, I’m sub-consciously resistant whenever I hear the word “change.”

Or “repent”.  Because after all, that’s what “repent” means – it means change.  And especially during Lent, Jesus calls me to “repent” over and over again, as he does again in today’s Gospel reading.

And this is not a suggestion – there’s great imperative to this!  “Unless you repent – that is, change – you will all perish as they did!”  This is REALLY, not what I need right now!  Plus, it’s not exactly clear what Jesus means.

Clearly, Jesus didn’t mean that his listeners would all be killed by Pilate or have a tower fall on their heads.  And, Jesus has just told his disciples a few verses before that how bad you are doesn’t cause your untimely death.

So to answer this question about change, Jesus tells them a parable about a fig tree.  And essentially, he tells them that they need to repent like a fig tree!  Which is sort of odd.  How can a fig tree change, after all, and what’s wrong with the way this fig tree is at the moment? 

Perhaps, like me, the fig tree has been through a lot of change lately.  Maybe it’s tired of changing, like so many of us are.  And so maybe the fig tree figures:

• It looks pretty good (it’s probably got lots of pretty leaves), and it’s providing shade for people and a place for birds to nest, so it’s doing fine…

• It’s got a long life ahead, and it has plenty of time to bear fruit, later on when there’s less change and chaos going on around it …

• It’s managing pretty well on its own, and doesn’t need anybody messing around with it, digging around it and throwing manure on it…

So maybe for us, “repenting like a fig tree” means that we’re open to the kind of change that allows us to:

• Give up on the image of ourselves or our expectations of the way life is “supposed” to be – as we’ve come out of Covid, part of what many of us have done both personally and collectively is to want to get “back to normal”, which often means that things look like the way they used to be, even though we know many things won’t be.  Yet the stress and energy we put into keeping up the illusion that things aren’t going to change can end up being harder than the change itself … (there are times when I find myself asking, “what if this program we used to have at church doesn’t come back?  We’ve always had that!  How can we keep doing it, because doing that thing was so important to our self-image…!)  Perhaps repenting like a fig tree means giving up on the “image.”  It means changing how we see ourselves.  And actually, that kind of change can be liberating …

• Focus on what’s really important and necessary now – Martin Luther wrote that God gives “vocation” to everyone, and most of us have several “vocations” (it’s not just work)… The fig tree did, too.  It gave beauty to the surrounding landscape; provided shade for weary people and offered branches for the birds to nest in.  Yet Jesus comes along as says, “you know, you really need to get with the fig bearing part right now!”;  So maybe for us, repenting like a fig tree means paying deeper attention to whatever we believe God is calling us to focus on right now.  It means changing what we put time, energy and thought into, so that we can invest ourselves in what’s really important, instead of being scattered among so many competing priorities…  And actually, that kind of change can be liberating …

• Let God mess with our lives – often, when there’s been a lot of change around me, I don’t want people messing with how I’ve managed to cope!  And frequently, I know I’m not even open to God doing that!  But repenting like a fig tree may mean being willing to accept that I can’t manage the changes by myself, and so I need to be willing to let God start digging around the ground into which I’ve (maybe too comfortably) sunk my roots, because maybe I got too used to the way things are or used to be.  And, of course, this means realizing that sometimes the “crap” that I feel is getting dumped on me might actually be God trying to help me grow!  Being open to God’s help, instead of managing the changes on my own, may be part of what it means to repent like a fig tree. And actually, not having to manage change by myself can also be liberating…

Jesus calls us to repent like a fig tree.  The thing is, that kind of repentance isn’t quick and easy.  Instead, it’s often a slow and gradual process that helps us to be transformed into people who don’t just take up space but actually make God’s love a living reality in the lives of others.

But maybe the most important part of repenting like a fig tree is that it isn’t all about us or what we do.  Sometimes, we tend to think that the change of repentance all depends upon us and what we do or don’t do.  But in this parable, Jesus tells us that’s not really the way this kind of change happens.

Instead, repenting like a fig tree ends up being about the process of giving up on our old ideas of image and expectations.  Repenting like a fig tree is about openness to listening to the movement of the Holy Spirit to focus our actions and attitudes.  And most of all, repenting like a fig tree really means letting God mess with us – digging around in ways that we can’t do by ourselves – so that we can bear the kind of fruit that God needs us to bear in the life of the world around us.

Amen.