Reflections...

A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sunday 30 March 2014 by the Rev. Ewing W. [Bud] Carroll, Jr. The scriptures reading that day was Luke 13:9.

If you have ever travel across China’s Gobi Desert you will know this – It’s very big.  Well, that’s not true.  It’s NOT very big.  It’s H-U-G-E.  How huge?  1,295,000 square kilometers.  So you ask – “How big is that?”  About the combined size of South Korea, Thailand, the Philippines, Japan and all of HK: the Kowloon peninsular, the New Territories and our 232 islands.

By regular train across the Gobi– it’s mile after mile, hour after hour; vast stretches of nothing, seemingly barren, lifeless.  But you know that after sundown, when darkness comes, deserts come live.  Animals that are nowhere seen during daytime are suddenly, “out and about.”  In the darkness of night, plants hardly noticed in the bright sunlight begin to blossom; some even with fragrance that can be smelled far away.

In today’s Hebrew Scriptures Isaiah paints a picture of the Jewish people in Babylonian exile.  For many, life had become like a desert.  Those who were still in what is today’s Baghdad, Iraq, were distressed and discouraged.  Life seemed so Dry, so Barren.  Sadly, many had simply turned their backs on God.  And so Isaiah was writing words of both warning and encouragement.  Speaking on behalf of God, Isaiah invited the people of Israel to “repent”; to “turn around;” to “return” to God.  “Ho, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters…Seek the Lord while the Lord may be found…” [Isaiah 55:1].

Centuries later Jesus, who knew the richness and beauty of Isaiah’s words, told the parable of the Fig Tree - with similar encouragement and warning.  Fig trees can grow most any place and they are usually quite productive in bearing fruit.  But Jesus described this particular fig tree as “a loser.”  It consumed water and space but didn’t produce a single fig!  The owner had enough, saying, “Cut it down”.  He wanted a tree that was productive and profitable.

But Jesus wasn’t really talking about fig trees.  He was describing the Jewish people – and you and me, this KUC Family – or any and all who in some way claim to be followers of Christ, but often live in disobedience to God.  Call it sin, separation, alienation -whatever.  The meaning is the same.  Our lives are often not fully in touch with or attuned to God’s redeeming love in Jesus Christ.”

I find this parable particularly useful and helpful for our own faith journey – especially during this Season of Lent.  Look with me for a few minutes at how God invites us to be more productive and profitable- not in terms of money, property, position or power – but in faithfulness.

1.  Try to be useful.  Sometimes when I was feeling a bit discouraged or I couldn’t resolve a particular problem, my then two-year old granddaughter would say to me, ”But you can try, Grandpa.”  The fig tree’s problem was not that it was doing something bad.  Rather, it wasn’t doing anything!  Uselessness invites danger – and often self-destruction.  Idleness in the young and old invites all sorts of problems and trouble.  Of course, there are times when we feel useless.  We say we don’t do anything right.  Problems - in our work place, government and church gatherings, families - all seem so overwhelming.  HK’s motto often seems to be “mwo banfaat” [No way].  Truth be told, that’s mostly self-pity or disinterest.  There’s always a way.  Maybe not OUR way or in our time, but there is always Christ _ Thy Way!

Jesus’ Parable of the Fig Tree is a word of challenge and encouragement.  Clean your glasses!  Look at the world?  There are tremendous needs and opportunities.  Be useful.  God is not asking us to produce five hundred pounds of figs.  Each of us has special gifts we can share with God and the world.  We also have limitations.  But remember, God doesn’t ask us “Have you been successful?”  Only, “Have you tried to be useful?”

2.  Secondly, seek to both give and receive.  Basically all living creatures need to both give and receive; nothing, which only receives, can survive. Some years ago I was visiting a rural development project in Cambodia.  We had been driving through a huge forest when suddenly there was clearing ahead.  Two years before that it was also part of that huge forest - full of beautiful trees, wild elephants and other animals.  Now, nothing.  It looked like China’s Gobi Desert in the daytime. Barren.  Desolate.  The only signs of life were a few internal refugees sawing a huge tree into strips of timber.  The tree must have been 8-10 feet round.  Maybe 100 years old.  I asked one of the men, “How will you ever re-plant this forest?”  “Oh,” he said, “We left the tree stumps.  The trees will grow back in a few years.”  Not a chance!

Some people “take” more than they “give.”  Others – the opposite.  Which do you think you are?  For Jesus, being productive wasn’t/isn’t about becoming financially rich or famous.  He wants us to use whatever talents, gifts and experiences we have for the glory of God.  Otherwise, we dry up.  Our spirits will wither and life will become empty, arid as the Gobi Desert.

3.  Thirdly, celebrate the Gospel of the second chance.  The gardener tells the owner, “Sir, I think we can save this fig tree.  Give me a year and I’ll see what I can do.  I’ll fertilize the tree, water it well and hopefully by this time next year, we’ll have a good harvest of fresh, delicious figs.” But again, Jesus is not talking about trees.  He’s still talking about people – about you and me.

“Repent” or “Perish” is not God trying to scare us to death.  It’s God inviting us to new life.  Again, again and again.  And again!  “Repent” or “perish” remind us that God has not abandoned us.  Nor is God ready to dig us up and throw us away.  Robert Robinson was a pastor in England some 300 years ago.  He was a great preacher and also wrote poetry and hymns.  Sadly, after many years, his faith began to weaken and he strayed far, far away from God’s love.  He left the church, and ended up in France, living a sordid, sad and sinful life.  One night, Robinson was riding in a horse carriage with a wealthy woman from Paris.  She was a new Christian and was interested in Robinson’s views about some poetry she had been reading.  She pulled a small book from her purse and began reading, “Come thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.  Streams of mercy never ceasing, call for songs of loudest praise.”  Suddenly, she stopped and saw Robinson was crying. “What do I think of that poem”” he replied.  “Madam, I wrote it.  But now I’ve drifted away from Christ and cannot find my way back.”

In amazement the woman replied, “Oh, but the answer is right here.  Just what you wrote, ‘Streams of mercy, never ceasing…’” and with that Robinson “Repented”.  He ‘”turned around” and once again became productive for God.  My friends, God is not a gambler; God doesn’t take chances.  God gives chances; again, again and again.  Lent is a time in the words of Isaiah, “To come to the waters”.  This is a time when U-turns are not only legal – they are encouraged.  God’s ”streams of mercy” are never-ending.  So what’s stopping us?