Aligned with Christ.

Lent 3

Fr. Tim Nunez

Some months ago, a house across the street on Bullard caught fire and burned during our 10:15 service. It was surreal to see fire trucks going by with their lights and sirens going during the sermon and hear the sirens go silent almost immediately after seeing them.

Of course, I went over immediately after the service to comfort the family, offer support and pray with them. Rob Quam from the Lake Wales Care Center was there, too, and he asked the firefighter in command how often they deal with house fires. “Not much,” he said, “I cannot remember the last one but it has been several years. Most of our calls are traffic accidents and medical emergencies.”

And they get called a lot. There are accidents almost daily, and all too often there are serious injuries and deaths involved. I don’t know about you, but when I read about such an accident, I automatically pick up on things I might have done differently. Were they wearing their seat belts? Were they drinking or speeding or texting?

There are often ways we can mitigate such risks, but we cannot control everything, starting with other drivers and their decisions or inattention. Accidents happen. Sometimes they happen to the nicest people, really good people, the caring and giving and faithful sort of people we admire and want to imitate.  It need not be that sort of accident either. It could be an accident of health or finances or other concerns. We are all at risk in ways we don’t even realize.

People “…told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.” That sounds really bad, doesn’t it? Whether that is a literal mingling of their blood with sacrifices in some way or it’s a metaphor for Pilate killing them, for whatever reason, while they were on their way to the temple to make sacrifices or on their way back, it’s awful. We don’t know any more details about it, but apparently it was fresh on their minds.

And this moment follows immediately after Jesus has been teaching the crowds and his disciples about the Kingdom of God, about being ready and how they should live. It hearkens to a theme that weaves its way throughout scripture that, while true to a degree, is incomplete and thereby distracting from all Jesus is trying to teach them. The theme behind the question - What about them? - is familiar to us: Follow God’s word and things will go well. Where we fail to follow him, we will suffer the negative consequences of sin. God says things like, Scripture tells us repeatedly that we must follow God’s commandments and statutes “that it will go well with you.”

That is true, of course. For example, if we tell the truth, people learn to rely on our honesty and integrity, which helps in building relationships or building a business. If you’re known to be a liar, your opportunities on every front will suffer. But it’s also true that, while we know God’s ultimate judgment and mercy are perfect and will prevail, bad things do happen to good people and we also see a lot of people getting away with a lot of sin in the short run.

So when these people bring up the Galileans who Pilate killed or the people crushed when the Tower of Siloam fell, Jesus stops them from tying to judge what they might have done wrong. He doesn’t want them to hear all he is teaching them as an update rule book. He is imparting wisdom that is rooted in God’s mercy and provision for their future if they will only hear it and soak it into their hearts.

Last week little Jordi Mullerat was in the vesting room while his sister was dressing to acolyte. He looked up at me, pointed to the fire extinguisher on the wall and said, “What’s that?”  So I explained it to him. Then he turned and pointed to something else and said, “What’s that?” and again and again it went on until he got to the torches and asked about them. I answered him and he said, “That’s fire. That’s danger.” I replied, “What do we do if that first got out of control?” He walked over and pointed at the fire extinguisher. Good job Jordi!

My point is he’s a sponge, soaking up everything about the world around him. Jesus wants us to be sponges, soaking up the spirit of God embedded in his teaching. And what makes us ready to soak Him in? Repentance, a contrite spirit that recognizes our ongoing need to be filled, blessed, healed and directed by God’s Word is what we need.

And all of us need it. The one way to deflect it is to ignore it, to disregard it, to rely onourselves or even mere moral standards to shape our lives.

Two verses in particular come to mind:

But now, irrespective of law, the righteousness of God has been disclosed, and is attested by the law and the prophets, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction, since all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God; (Romans 3:21-23)

If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he who is faithful and just will forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:8-9)

When we look at the example of this fig tree, what is its problem? Well, anyone who knows anything about fruit trees knows that a problem begins in the roots. If it’s not bearing fruit, it may be that the soil is poor and the roots cannot get what they need because the nutrients aren’t there to get.  If you then loosen the soil and add some manure and it still doesn’t bear, then the problem is the roots themselves. For whatever reasons they are not acting like a sponge, not soaking up what the tree needs.

All of which is to remind each of us to tend to our hearts and minds, to do our best to ensure we are receptive to Jesus, not merely following what he says as a guide to good living but receiving Him, receiving his grace, that we might bear good fruit.

AMEN!