Jesus establishes that Bad things happen to good people. They are not sinful, their parents were not sinful. They are not being punished. 

 As one Theologian said “If sin had direct consequences, the tower of Siloam should have fallen on the contractor who built it, probably with substandard materials and mortar.”

The reality is that God really is a forgiving God . If you sin and don’t repent well that’s your choice and you must accept the consequences of caring that burden . 

God has paid the price for sin, and forgiveness is free for the asking. We choose to carry our guilt and our sin. 

That is what the second part of the scripture is telling us. That God does not give. Up. 

 How many of us have looked at our Gardens at the plant that is just not doing well and think I should take it out (yes we know it is my whole garden)  but we don’t we give it that one more chance.   

Then there is that favorite piece of clothing. It is past its best before date but it is so comfortable so you keep it mended you don’t give up on it even if it should have seen the curb a while back. This of course is more of a guy thing. 

Jesus tells the same story. Brian P. Stoffegen states “I note that the "sin" of the fig tree is not that it is doing something bad, but that it is doing nothing! It is just taking up space in the orchard.”   

Like living life on auto pilot, the sin is not that we are doing something bad, it is just we are not doing anything. We go threw the actions without thinking. The other day I was getting ready for the day not really thinking and I put two contacts in the same eye and couldn’t figure out what was wrong. 

We are called to grow in our faith beyond just the motions of church to strive to better our lives in Christ. Growth is not so much advancing oneself as it is becoming oneself. To come in to our person of faith.  To strive to discover the divine with in. 

Barbara Brown Taylor, an acclaimed Episcopal preacher, writes of the fig tree parable: "(Jesus wants them to turn or repent) which is why he tweaks their fear. Don’t worry about Pilate and all the other things that can come crashing down on your heads, he tells them. Terrible things happen, and you are not always to blame. 

But don’t let that stop you from doing what you are doing. That torn place your fear has opened up inside of you is a holy place. Look around while you are there. Pay attention to what you feel. It may hurt you to stay there and it may hurt you to see, but it is not the kind of hurt that leads to death. It is the kind that leads to life." 

Living involves choices and the choices we make effect our lives and the lives that surround us and one of the realities of life is that sometimes life is not fair. It wasn’t fair for the those that the Tower of Siloam fell on and it’s not fair when a tornado touches down in a trailer park.   

 In life bad things happen to good people, bad things happen to bad people but it is life and not divine punishment. Our God is a loving God not a vengeful God. 

Our God is a God of Mercy. 

 God’s greatest mercy is time, time to learn from our past, to profit by our mistakes, time to start over. Christians have a word for that sort of mercy “repentance”.

The Greek word is metanoia, which is the root from which we get our word metamorphosis to change form. 

Repentance is when sinners and none of us here can claim a clean slate, changes form, turns, returns to God, starts over, bares fruit. 

Repent means turn around. To move in a new direction.  To find yourself on the right road in the right direction. 

God does not give up on us, but, like the gardener cares for us nurtures and feeds us. There are times that there is some pruning but that is to be expected.  In turn we to become the gardener, in living our faith and allowing it to grow.  God sees the potential we are called to see the potential 

We see only the spaces, the distances between us but God sees the connections. 

God has set for us a task and it is our calling to follow.   

We must not become discouraged and yield to the temptation to quit. Jesus did not quit. We must  take heart in walking with Jesus, not to turn away from where we are called and lead to. We now stand at the trail head of our calling to be a community of faith. We are to grow in our faith. To live our faith. To look for that one more opportunity to grasp it reach with confidence setting our direction moving forward in our faith with all awareness of God with us for we are not alone. 

Prayers of the people

Hear our prayer we humbly offer

Grant to us your peace O God

Hear our prayer we humbly offer

Grant to us your peace O God.

Prayer 

We hear your voice, O God, in the quiet moments, saying “don’t be discouraged believe in me, I am with you always.”  Despite this we at times feel very alone. We feel very lost and discouraged. We watch the news and what is happening in the world, and it is heart breaking. Yet then comes the breath of spring. And there is hope. You remind us that there is always hope.  In that hope we pray for all those who are a part of our lives that need to know your presence.  We name those whom we know before you….

We pray for The presence of your healing touch. The comforting of your spirit in our grief. 

In that hope we pray for those that know war and fear in their everyday for all those people who are displaced by war and know such great violence and fear.  For all those that live under oppressive regimes. For all those that know illness and hunger. 

 We see only the spaces, the distances between us but You O God see the connections. Be with us as a community of faith as we seek the connections that bind us to each other.  We bring our own prayers to you here in this sacred space.  We offer you the great prayer that binds us as one saying Our Father….