BURNING BUSHES AND FIG TREES: THE TIME IS NOW!

BACKGROUND

Around the time that Israel is in slavery under Egyptian domination, the prevalent belief was the existence of a pantheon of gods. Almost every element of nature, every breathtaking place, and every human emotion was personified in a god. There were gods of war, gods of love, god's of holy mountains, agriculture, fertility and so on. It is is in the midst of this religious environment that Moses, while tending the flock of his father-in-law, encounters the burning bush. Intrigued by the fact that while the bush appeared to be on fire, it appeared to not be consumed by the flames. Moses draws near to it and encounters the God of Israel, who sends him on a mission. "And who shall I say sent me" asks Moses. This is a reasonable question given that Moses, a former prince of Egypt, expects that there is a pantheon of gods. The God of Israel, however, will not play into this question. "Tell them I Am who Am sent you", says God.

IMPLICATIONS

The divine answer, "I Am who Am", reveals to us that God is not a creature and God is not one among many gods. "I Am who Am" tells us that God is pure being itself. St. Thomas Aquinas described the God of Israel as "Ipsum esse", which is Latin for "to be".

God, the creator of all things is not "a" being, but rather pure "being". Our very existence as creatures is possible because we participate in the ultimate reality of this God of pure being.

The significance of the burning bush not being consumed by the flames lies in the fact that when the God of Israel draws near to us, we are not diminished. The stories of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman gods always result in some diminishing of human life - human beings are hurt, tricked, seduced, and ignored by the gods. When the God of Israel draws near to us, we radiate - that is to say we are set aglow without being consumed. We become more fully human the more God draws closer to us. St. Ireneus said: "The glory of God is the human person fully alive". The more we are alive, the more glory we give to God and the more glory we give to God, the more fully alive we become.

THE FIG TREE

In our Gospel Jesus tells the parable about the unfruitful fig tree. This is an often used symbol in biblical writing - the fruitless tree being a sign of the person who produces no spiritual fruit. St. Paul tells us that if we truly live in the Spirit then we will demonstrate the fruits of the spirit: love, compassion, mercy and justice. We human beings fool ourselves when we think that we do not need God; when our freedom is based on decisions that do not take the "fruits" of the spirit into consideration. This has been the cross of humanity since the time of Adam.

While many would have us believe that if we are unfruitful we will be cut down, Jesus tells us that we are given a second chance. The season of Lent calls us into a time where we can till the soil of our faith; seek the source of life which is God; and turn our hearts from selfishness into selflessness.

To know that we have a second chance in God's eyes is quite a relief, but notice that there still remains a sense of urgency in the parable. The gardener argues for ONE MORE YEAR. Though its hard for us to accept, we must understand that we really can run out of time. If we leave our faith untended eventually we will shrivel up and die - or, be cut down. This is why the parable is urgent.

SUMMARY

Our scriptures call us to live in the radiant love of God and to reflect that radiance back on to the world around us through fruitful living - acts of mercy, justice, love and compassion. God is in our presence seeking to make us more fully human - to light us on fire without consuming us. The parable of the fig tree, while calling us to urgency, invites us not to be afraid. God will not consume us; we are always given a second chance and we must work to bear fruit. But remember....it is urgent to always be at work on our spiritual lives lest we run out of time!

CHRIST HAS BEEN THERE

The following is a synopsis of the Sunday Sermon. If you would like the full version, please join us Sundays at 11am.

Luke 13:31-35 "...Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets...how often I have longed to gather your children together as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing!"

OUR LIVES

We have likely all encountered moments in our lives when fear seemed to grip us and we were unsure how we would get through the crisis at hand. We face these moments everytime there is disaster, illness, disease, relationship troubles and general anxiety. In the midst of these moments we feel as if the world around us is falling apart - as if our safety net has been removed.

In our Scripture today we get a glimpose of Jesus in such a moment. He has begun his journey to Jerusalem where he will meet with a kangaroo trial and face the sentence of death. Having been warned: "Herod wants to kill you!", he is determined to continue his journey. The Scripture tells us: "He set his face toward Jerusalem" - a way of saying that he was resolved to carry on his mission without distraction.

But Jesus was the Son of God. As such, he must have known that death would not be the end - that he would be raised from the dead. With this knowledge, how can we relate to such a Jesus in our times of crisis?

UNDERSTANDING JESUS

We want to be able to relate to Jesus - but the fact of his divinity holds us back. We want to believe that his experiences of temptations, suffereings and death are the same as our own, but his divinity gets in the way. We know that Jesus is human - but we also know that Jesus is divine. Wouldn't all these things be a walk in the park for this God man?

The sacred writers always acknowledge the divinity of Jesus, but they very much want us to understand the reality of his humanity. They want us to understand that Jesus was a human being like is in ALL things, but sin. These experiences are NOT a walk in the park for Jesus. We recall that the Gospel says he "wept" at the death of his friend Lazarus and that in the garden just prior to his arrest, he was overcome with fear. In fact Jesus was so fearful about his fate that we are told he asked God to let this "cup pass from me". For Jesus, this was a way of saying: "please God...don't make me endure this". Jesus was not just God in human clothing - he was a human being, full of emotion, in everyway possible (except sin) trying to make sense of his humanity and reconcile it with his divinity. And so the feelings Jesus had when facing his moment of crisis were the same as our own. What saw him through this crisis was not his divinity, but rather his own humanity and therefore we have something to learn from him.

HOW DID HIS HUMANITY SEE HIM THROUGH THE CRISIS OF THE MOMENT?

JESUS LIFE WAS ORDERED AROUND GOD

Some of the Pharisees tried to warn Jesus that he would be put to death in Jerusalem. He did not allow this threat to distract him. His response,"tell Herod, that fox, that I am casting out demons and peforming cures today and tomorrow..." speaks to us that his mission will continue to be the focus. Jesus will not be detered from the work that God had placed on his shoulders. With resolve ("he set his face toward Jerusalem") he will go about his work today and tomorrow.

JESUS MAINTAINED HIS CONNECTION WITH GOD

The Gospels are full of references to Jesus going off to a quiet place to pray. He realized that his mission must be fed by something other than his own ego. Even though God dwelled fully in Jesus, he too, in his humanity, had to remove himself from his work and commune with that inward divinity that was the source of his ministry. The world can overwhelm us, as it could have overwhelmed Jesus, but God will not allow that to happen if we turn frequently to the source of our lives in prayer.

JESUS NEVER TOOK HIS EYES OFF THE HORIZON

Jesus always saw through eyes of faith which were fixed on the goal ahead. His ministry was one of cuing the ill, extending compassion to the poor, helping people to be freed from the bindings that held back their full human potential. No matter what occured around Jesus, his eyes never left the horizon. Even though Jerusalem would mean death and even though Jesus could not gather his people with the vulnerability and love of a moother hen, he would still see his mission through to the end.

SUMMARY and APPLICATION
So Jesus turns out to be not unlike us at all. In his moment of crisis he calls on the strength of his own humanity to see him through, but that humanity is not disconnected to his divinity. His humanity is ordered to God; his humanity is always in conversation with God; and his humanity always looks toward the completion of his goal by never taking his eyes of the horizon. Is there something for us to learn in his story? Something that will teach us how to handle moments of crisis when they arrive?

Ask yourselves this week:

Is my life ordered around God or is it ordered around earthly comforts?

Do I pray? Am I in conversation with the God who gives me strength? What is the source I turn to for refreshment?

Do I keep my eyes focused on the horizon? What is the work I should be about? Do I allow things to distract me or do I see my goals through to completion?

And God bless you!