Frankly Speaking

Commentary on Luke 13:6-9; Synoptic Gospel Parallel Study

I once heard the late Dr. Benjamin Elijah Mays, president of Morehouse College, say that "faith is taking your best step, and leaving the rest to God" (my paraphrase). The missional side of this Gospel reading may be that those who would follow in the footsteps of Jesus are charged with witnessing to the world in the name and spirit of Jesus. The results of this witness are not ours to know. The working out of God's kingdom is not ours to figure out. Our task is to labor, without having all the answers, to acknowledge the deep mystery of it all. The task of the disciple is to witness and then wait, to take our best step and leave the rest to God. We labor now for a future we are not meant to control. Did not Jesus teach us to pray, not "My kingdom come," not "Our kingdom come," but "Thy kingdom come, thy will be done"?

In a prayer often called The Romero Prayer, after the late El Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero, Bishop Ken Untener wrote that there is no single prayer, no single statement of faith, no church program or set of goals that will fully express our faith or accomplish a church's mission. "He waters seeds already planted," he wrote, "knowing that they hold [a] future promise."

So, while we may never see the end results of all our actions, we know that this is the difference between the worker and the master builder. "We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own." **

Luke 13:6-9, ⁶  Then he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. ⁷  So he said to the gardener, 'See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?' ⁸  He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. ⁹  If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'" 

Friends, how many of us enjoy the fruits of someone else’s labor? Unless you chop down a tree and hewn the logs; or raise the farm animals and enjoy the eggs, bacon or steak; or mine the ore to produce the iron to be shaped for a particular purpose; or to go out to waters and bait your trout-lines and return in hope you caught something to eat/sell/give-away. The church is no different. 

We benefit from those who came before us. They left a legacy. We will leave one too. What will it look like?

In my first church appointment, St. Andrews United Methodist Church, Houston, Texas, I “cut-my-teeth” there. I followed several pastors. When I took the average tenure of my predecessors, the math came to 1.6 years. No Bueno. On the other hand, long tenure pastorates do not always bring about a highly effective pastor and church. One day, either I read something or the Lord spoke to my heart, regardless, I was convicted: “Leave the church better than the way you found it.”

I also believe that this is the expectations of God for us, and our expectations for ourselves.

Dr. Leroy Howe, in his parting words to our class, since many of us would be graduating from Perkins, said these words, “Get a hobby.” In so doing, what we do as pastors and church leaders, we may rarely see the fruits of our labors. We plant seeds. We water. We pray. We hope. We plant more seeds. Different seeds. Water some more. God will give the growth. (1Corinthians 3:7)

Blessings from Pottsboro, Pastor Frank (alegria@lakewayumc.org)

Reprinted: 10.23.2023; Enjoy
**Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary - Year C,