Morning Prayer Hymn of Faith *Amazing Grace* Witness of Scripture: Luke 13: 1-9 Anthem *For the Righteous Shall Be Remembered* Antonio Vivaldi. Chancel Choir Sermon *Let It Be* Steve Graham
Recorded March 23, 2025
Let It Be!
A Celebration of the Good News with the Beloved Community First Christian Church, Norman, Oklahoma Dr. Stephen D. Graham March 23, 2025
Luke 13:1-9
On the one hand, Lent can be a season as harsh as the wilderness—a backdrop to examine our lives. On the other hand, it can be a time, as are all times, infused with mercy and grace—a time to return our hearts to God. It is a time for confrontation and a time for reconciliation. Do not give up too quickly on either dimension of God. Fred Craddock said, “Do not destroy severity by infusing grace, nor grace by infusing severity. “ Luke reminds us to receive God’s judgment, knowing it leads to repentance. The delay of judgment is an act of divine patience. If we give up on either characteristic of God, we may be tempted to give up on ourselves. The parable of the Barren Fig Tree, by its very nature, is about judgment, crisis, and the time of decision. But it is also about the unique way in which judgment is, for now at least, suspended in favor of grace. God’s mercy is in conversation with God’s judgment. The parable of the barren fig tree encourages us not to give up on God and not to give up on ourselves. Don’t rush too hastily to a severe conclusion about your worth to God. We fly off the proverbial handle toward harsh judgment when our view of God is imbalanced. The parable shows that even the most accurate judgment may be suspended in favor of grace. When you say, “Cut it down! Don’t let it take up space!” you are rushing to a premature decision. Wait until you know something about the fruitfulness its life could experience with
care. You may live with the all-too-certain knowledge that you fall short of the glory of God. Who among us can stand proud of what we’ve done or failed to do with these gifts we call our lives? But do we know what the mercy of God can do with us over the course of another day, another year? It is the vinedresser who is the Christ-figure here. The vinedresser says, “Let it be, Lord, for one year more till I’ve had a chance to dig around it and fertilize it. Then, if it bears fruit after that, it will be all right. If it doesn’t, then you can cut it down.” Jesus said, “I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world” (John 3:17). We live under the rubric of forgiveness. However, we often think we live by merit and reward. Robert Capon offers this: “We hope to get a pat on the back from a God who either thinks we are good eggs, or, if this God knows how rotten we are, considers our repentance to make up for our unsuitability… But this is not the way it works. By the foolishness of God, by the folly of the cross, Jesus takes on our sin… goes outside of the camp for us, is relegated to the dump for us, becomes garbage, compost, fertilizer for us… Jesus didn’t come to see if we are good, but to disturb our own efforts by which we pretend to be good. He doesn’t come to count figs, but to forgive for free, for nothing, on no basis, because like the fig tree, we are too far gone to have a basis. We are saved by gratis, by grace. We do nothing, and we deserve nothing; it is all absolutely without qualification. It is one huge, hilarious gift” (Capon, p. 98). “Let it be for another year!” Instead of sounding like the end, it sounds like the beginning. God is saying yes to our lives. God does not rush to the same harsh conclusion that we are prone to come to. God says “Amen” to the work of grace in our lives. Let it be. Leave it. Permit it. Suffer it. Keep on keeping at it, for God knows the plans that God has for you. (I preached this text several years ago with a Native American
congregation, and they acted out this parable. The withered tree played by a congregational leader. The harsh owner played by a teenage girl. The gardener- a young father with a bright smile. When a fresh bag of potting soil was poured into a washtub the room was filled with the aroma of the Creator’s good earth.) Let the Spirit of God turn the soil at the base of who you are. Take the spade from the shed and turn some soil as a picture of opening your life to what God wills to do in you. There is nothing so wrong—though there is enough wrong in each of us—but nothing so wrong that, if God’s loving Son were to engage with us, the result would be far more fruitful and productive than anything we could hope to experience on our own. Let the Spirit of God fertilize the very soil of your soul. Let this one who died on the garbage heap of this world’s sin and shame nourish your life. Let this one and his love be spread throughout to give your heart and soul the nutrients they so hungrily crave to survive and blossom. Trust God’s sure judgment. Receive God’s warm grace. Let it be lavished upon you. God can do a good work in you. The fig tree required the care of the gardener. So, too, your soul requires the care of the Creator. Hear Isaiah 55: “Everyone who thirsts, come to the water. You who have no money, come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why do you spend money for what is not bread, and your wages for what does not satisfy? Listen carefully to me and eat what is good and delight yourself in abundance! Then you will go out with joy and be led forth in peace. The cypress will come up and stand in lasting witness to the glory of the Lord.” Consider the gift of another year as an act of God’s mercy. Let it be a year of forgiveness, restoration, and second chances. We learn from the Gardener that God’s attitude toward the world involves favor from the
start. Unnecessary, spontaneous delight is the very root of God’s relationship with the world (Capon). James Russell Lowell, in his poem on Columbus, is written as a product of the 19th century- a time of great social and political change. His poem reflects the optimism and idealism of the era as well as its concerns about the dangers of industrialization and the growing gap between the rich and poor. He longs for a world that is more just and equitable. In the poem he encourages a trustful expectation upon the mercies of God. He writes of the immense pressure from the crew to turn back after days at sea with no sign of land, as food and water supplies diminished. As an assertion of hope, Columbus cries out and begs for one more day: “God, let me not in their dull ooze be stranded; one poor day! Remember whose and not how short it is! It is God’s Day. It is Columbus’ day. A lavish day! One day, with life and heart, is more than enough time to find a world!” (Earnest Campbell, p. 156). We pray: “Creator, Sustainer, let there be another day. Another day of grace is more than enough time to find our place on this good earth. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.”