Gospel reading on the Third Sunday of Lent: Luke 13.1-9
There is a problem. A man has a fig tree that has produced no fruit in three years. To him, it is wasting the soil and he wants to cut it down. The gardener, on the other hand, wants to weed round it, apply manure and give it another year. Another chance.
Often this parable of Jesus is taken in sermons to mean that God is a patient God, always willing to us us another chance. But I’m wondering. Who is the man? Who is the gardener? And why hasn’t the gardener been doing his job for three years? After all, if he had been manuring and weeding the fig tree properly, it would have produced figs well within three years – as did my fig tree in Exeter – and one year more isn’t going to make any difference.
Supposing the gardener is God, what does that make the man? Maybe he represents the religious Powers that Be, quick to judgment of others. Or the World, holding up an idealised image of what a Christian could or should be. Or maybe ‘the man’ is me, quick to judge myself for not being effective and/or far advanced along the spiritual journey, or my Self, or my Self’s projections.
And what would that make the failing tree? The Jewish people? We Christians? An aspect of myself that I haven’t cultivated or pruned properly? In order to flourish and do what comes naturally, a tree needs to be in the right place and the right conditions, with enough sunshine and moisture, protected from diseases and pests, and without competition. If it is a tree grown for food, its productivity depends on it being cared for and treated well. How can I do that in my own life and in my relationships with others?
Alternatively, suppose the man is Jesus, during his three-year ministry finding little faith and followers who fall away in the time of testing. Suppose the gardener represents those who have failed and failed and failed – leaders, witnesses, disciples – but in the end hear the call and its urgency and step up. And the tree? Well, the harvest could be plentiful, but the labourers have been few.
-oOo-
A further musing on weeds.
Many plants described as weeds are not. For example, dandelions are usually viewed as weeds, difficult to eradicate because of their deep thick easily-broken roots. But they are part of the complex web of life, giving and receiving within the whole – beautiful, useful even to humans, beloved by pollinators, and a pioneer species. That thick root growing deep is loosening and aerating the soil, helping with water drainage and improving the soil for other species. It doesn’t compete with their shallow roots for nutrients, and when it dies it makes the soil more fertile and leaves tunnels for worms and microbes. Maybe it’s a better idea to work with dandelions than expect a perfect lawn.
So with our shadow.
When we’re growing up we continually receive messages from parents, teachers and other authority figures, which more or less subtly tell us what is OK and what is not OK. What is OK goes into our conscious ego, which we project to the world. What is deemed not OK is buried in our shadow, sometimes so deep that we don’t know it’s there, sometimes coming close enough to the surface that it erupts. What is deemed not OK might be positive as well as negative – for example to express a creative side as well as a logical side, or vice versa.
We cannot pretend our heart is a perfect lawn, because we will always act out our shadow dandelions, usually in an unhealthy way. Moreover, trying to root out our dandelions may well fail, doing violence to the tender undeveloped parts of ourselves and pushing the root deeper. Instead, work with the dandelions. Listen for the shadow – that particular inner voice and its attendant feelings – and learn to recognise it. What is it saying? What is its personality? How can it contribute? Does it offer wisdom and health? Build a relationship with it and learn how to respond to it, whether catching the negative before it erupts and does damage – developing a set of techniques – or embracing the positive and maybe becoming that artist or that lawyer.