dispose of it in his death and resurrection. And in its place he cultivates righteousness so that we can
come back to life - and bear fruit once again.
This, then, is repentance. It’s the Gardener’s gift that all we have to do is accept.
And, just as the fig tree yields up the dirt it is sitting on, the faithful sinner yields up sinfulness - it’s
an act of repentance. Soon the ground gets softer and the gardener doesn’t have to dig around quite so
strenuously, and the tree that has let go of sin can drink in the grace and become what it’s supposed to
be.
And that, finally, is to be a blessing to the vineyard.
I began this sermon talking about repentance from sin, particularly the corporate, systemic sin of
poverty among our children.
What would that look like?
Again, I don’t have the answer, but I do have this: I have hope because of Jesus who is at both
the Holy Gardener and the Holy Fertilizer that has given us another chance. And that means we have
power. That means that instead of
denying the condition of that fifth child,
instead of excusing her condition,
and instead of obsessing from afar about his terrible life and
instead of feeling powerless and hopeless,
instead of sitting there like the man in the painting who has discovered that his head is on upside down
-
now we can roll up our sleeves and dig in to the Holy Gardener's work of helping the other trees in
the garden.
What will that look like for you? For me? For this church? There are as many responses as there
are Christians who choose to let the Holy Gardener - Jesus - dig around in their lives. Let me throw out
some thoughts about some possibilities:
Someone will feel called to go to University Hospital and hold crack babies.
Someone will feel called to collect food.
Someone will feel called to participate in the political process.
Someone will feel called to vote for the greater good of society (the vineyard) instead of their
personal interests.
Someone will feel called to speak truth to power.
I don’t know what all it will look like - but I think it’s going to be holy fun to find out.
1
Chagall-Oh God, 1919
2
Marion Wright Edelman, “America’s Fifth Child” in Church and Society,The Journal for Just Thoughts,
January/February 2004, Volume 94, Number 3.
3
Catherin Gordon, “As Military Costs Go Up, Spending for Social Programs Declines” - March 2,
2004. Published by the Stewardship of Public Life (SPL) advocacy program of the Washington Office,
Presbyterian Church (USA), 110 Maryland Avenue NE, Washington, D.C. 20002, (202) 543-1126.
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