"WHAT IS OUR PURPOSE?"

          Jesus confronts the notion that people suffer because they are sinful. He points to the 18 people killed when the tower in Siloam fell on them. They were no more sinful than many other people in Israel and yet, they were tragically crushed.  Jesus deals with the harsh reality that life is not fair.

          Jesus continues by telling a seemingly unrelated story about a fig tree that won’t yield fruit. The purpose of a fig tree is to produce figs. The tree is given chances to fulfill its divine purpose but if it does not then it will be destroyed. The story, it turns out, is not unrelated but critical to understanding what it means to repent.  Repent is one of those words that makes the hair on the back of my neck stand up. It conjures up images of TV preachers shaking their fists at the people and reciting a litany of evils that will surely damn them to hell. Today it is my hope that “repent” might mean something different to us by the time we leave this place. To repent literally means to “turn around.”  God gives us many chances to turn around but if we continue to exist without purpose then ultimately our lives are meaningless.

          This past week both Rev. Teena and I conducted memorial services for people in our community who died. Not once did either of us mention what kind of car the beloved deceased drove, where they lived or how much money they made. We talked about the only real thing that is enduring and meaningful - the love that they left behind. God’s spirit of love shining forth in each one’s life. Both were young people, some might say that they were cut down in the prime of their lives.

          Coming face to face with our own mortality makes us step back and evaluate our lives. We begin to see where we have failed to love the people important to us. The words of encouragement needed most by our partner are not said or the phone call to our parents can’t be fit into our busy schedule.Our sins of complacency or quiet omissionbecome clear to us. It is the slow turning away from God that hardens the soul. Sin is not always some melodramatic incident. Sometimes it is as ordinary as the tasks that distract us from expressing the love we have for those around us.

          The people Jesus encountered in the story today assume that those killed by Siloam’s tower did something to deserve their untimely deaths. The truth be told many of us ponder the same questions when death strikes close to us. Philosophers and theologians have spent centuries trying to understand the suffering of innocents. Why is life unfair?

          I remember being a little girl and going to my grandmother’s house. My middle brother and I loved to sleep on her enclosed porch - a huge screened - in veranda with lots of windows and a  long swing. My brother got to sleep on a single bed located at one end of the porch. I, on the other hand, had to sleep on a folding cot. I told my mother that it was not fair. She replied that Phil was older and one day I would be able to sleep on the bed when he was no longer interested in sleeping on the front porch. My response was, “What fun will that be if no one is stuck on the cot?” The honesty of young children is amazing. For me fair meant that someone must be in the position I deemed less desirable in order for me to enjoy my position.  I suppose to some extent that is human nature. We spend a good deal of our time evaluating ourselves in relation to other people.   

                Being one up from our neighbor, comparing favorably to a neighbor can be the most important pursuit if we lose the fundamental sense of purpose that Jesus is talking about. The unfairness of life is both a blessing and a curse. Grace is a gift of love undeserved from a God that cares for us no matter what we do or don’t do. If life were fair there would be no grace only those who were perfect would be worthy of God’s love.

          Back to the fig tree, the farmer was expecting to get a return for his hard work of watering, pruning and weeding yet, still no figs grew. God gives us fresh water from a well that never will run dry. Yet there are times we hoard our spiritual nourishment - we keep it to ourselves feeling that maybe for us the well will run dry. The grace of God through Jesus can only really appreciated when we share that force of love with others.

          God has a way of cutting away those parts of us that are decaying and old. We can be refreshed and renewed in God’s hands when we are open to the careful pruning. Sometimes it feels like God cuts away the wrong thing - something that we think we can’t go on without. Sometimes we kick and scream as we lose something or someone that we do not want to lose but there is always growth and new life if we can put aside our wounds long enough to see it.

          God will always reveal our unique purpose on the earth to us if we are open to how God’s spirit moves in each of us. God, the wondrous gardener, knows how we are to bloom and grow and will bring those conditions into our lives if wefollow God’s will. 

          Repentance is a coming home to our individual and collective purpose. It is using our own wills to turn from all that tempts us to be unloving, unkind, unpatient, or to deny our joy and freedom.

          There is plenty in the world today that can draw us away from God. Lent is a time to reflect on what our purpose is in the world. After you are gone how will those you leave behind be blessed by your presence?  What steps can you take to realize your dreams? What relationships have you neglected lately? Who needs to hear that you love and care about them?

          When the farmer, God, comes to inspect your life will you, the fig tree, bear fruit. I know some of you will be fruit. I couldn’t resist. Seriously, will you be able to look God in the face and say, “I did exactly what you called me to do.” As wemove towards the end of Jesus’ journey on the earth take some time each day to reflect on how Jesus knew his purpose and fulfilled his purpose. Even when it appeared to his followers that all his efforts had been for nothing.  The authorities crucified him. God continued to use Jesus and hislife and message of love reigned triumphant over death.

            God wants us to love one another, nothing more and nothing less. Your unique purpose will be revealed to you by God. Love has infinite expressions and it is your job to figure out what God’s love in your life looks like.

          Don’t get so caught up in what we think of as life that you forget to live a real one - a life in the Spirit. To fail to discover why God planted us here is to perish. It is to be cut off from life and to settle for mere existence.

          Repent, yes, turn around and face the one that has held you and carried you this far and never ever leave God. Embrace the grace - that amazing and transformative gift of love that God has waiting for you always. Amen!

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