Delayed Fruit

Luke 13:1-9, 31-35

 “Delayed Fruit”

12 March 2017 St. Andrew’s Military Chapel Singapore

            Have you ever wondered if you were doing anything worthwhile in life? That feeling where you are spinning your wheels because you know there is something you are destined to do but just it hasn’t yet come to pass? Perhaps it’s a feeling that your talents aren’t being put to their full use, that with just a bit more time, encouragement, practice, learning, etc. you’d get just the right mixture of things and achieve what you were meant to do in life. Something that would not only benefit yourself and those close to you, but something that would benefit society at large. Well, you aren’t alone in that feeling.

In June of 1934 a village in the Plateau Vivarais-Lignon in France called a pastor named Andre Trocme to guide their Huguenot church. He was having trouble finding approval to pastor a church because his pacifist views had angered many of the church’s governing councils throughout France. So, a small church in Le Chambon appointed Andre on a temporary basis to avoid needing approval from the governing council.

In 1939 as the dark cloud of war began to fall over Europe, Andre realized he may be called upon to fight the war. The day after the annexation of Poland he wrote down his struggle with the possibility of being called up to fight again. He had connections with family in both Italy and Germany and couldn’t face the possibility of being asked to kill family members. Neither was he willing to sit in a sleepy French village away from the danger of war.

He offered the church his resignation so that he could go and work in a village affected by the war. The local parish rejected his resignation. Undeterred, he wrote to the head of the Reformed Church in France expressing his desire to work as a civilian stretcher-bearer or nurse. His only desire was to serve the suffering without going against the will of God. The head of the church offered a cold response that essentially said, “you caused enough trouble getting assigned to this parish so we aren’t even going to look for another one. Grow where you are planted.”

At this point Andre probably felt a little like the fig tree not bearing any fruit. He was doing everything he thought was necessary to produce the fruit God had intended for him. Little did he know he just needed a bit more time.

Given the right time and circumstances, Andre and Le Chambon bloomed and produced a harvest that cannot ever be quantified. (Play Video)

Christ has an unfailing belief in each of us to play a vital role in the Kingdom of God here on earth. Jesus will strike a deal to give us the time necessary to fulfill God’s plan for us in the world, no matter how long that may take. Christ will even work to ensure that, in addition to the right amount of time, that we’ll get the right blend of nourishment to thrive and produce fruit. He’s even willing to die protecting us until our fruit begins to bloom and provide a bounty to the world.

As this passage opens, we hear of two different disasters that fall upon two distinctly different groups of people. I think we can all relate to either or both of these groups. We all suffer hardship in our lives. Sometimes it comes directly from an individual or a system created by people. In that case, we can trace our pain back to a certain person, policy, regulation, or institution. We can rally people to our cause and work to change the situation not just for us, but for anyone else that comes after us so they don’t have to experience the pain and suffering to which we were subjected.  

Other times, we can’t explain why something happened, it was just a natural occurrence. Cancer suddenly makes an appearance in our body or the body of someone we love and begins to grow and expand its painful reach. A thunderstorm off in the middle of the ocean passes over some really warm water and explodes into a huge tropical system overnight heading straight for land packing the power of a nuclear explosion. Almost impossible to trace back the source of these, we blame mother nature and call it a natural disaster. But, that doesn’t lessen the pain or suffering caused by acts of nature.

Suffering inflicted by natural causes or due to human evil are still painful and felt by us. Pain and suffering which resonates and sends shockwaves all through our lives.

What I find interesting, though not particularly shocking, about this passage is that Christ doesn’t attempt to explain away or answer the reason suffering is in our world. Does this mean there isn’t an answer? Possibly, but it could be Jesus’ way of getting us to pay attention to what he is about to say regarding his, and our, role when it comes to suffering.

Jesus tells us that asking if what happened in Galilee and Siloam is random or divine law misses the point. Christ wants everyone to participate in the life of the Kingdom. We can make the choice to follow Christ and fully participate in and bring forth the life of God’s Kingdom today. Because death may occur at any moment for any number of causes we shouldn’t wait too long to turn our hearts to God and thus see God right there with us in the middle of our suffering. Our role is to alleviate suffering regardless the source.

Just as he did in turning towards Jerusalem, Christ purposely walks into the storm. He expects to find us there with him. If we need a mother hen to put a wing around us to comfort us and give us strength for the call on our lives, Jesus is there to provide that comfort for the journey ahead. While we may experience pain and death in the process, it will only be temporary yet may produce such beautiful fruit that can’t be quantified.

Andre Trocme was arrested and jailed for four weeks. But he never gave up the hiding and rescue of the Jewish refugees. Over the course of the war, 5000 French Christians provided safe harbor to 5000 Jewish refugees. In 1971 Andre was named as Righteous among the Nations by the Holocaust memorial center in Israel. His wife Magda received the same honor in 1986 and the entire village of Le Chambon a few years later.

When the world assumes we have nothing to offer or we view ourselves as not producing enough fruit for the world, Christ takes a bit more time with us. But not only does he provide the time we need to produce fruit, he tends to us and gives us the nutrients, care, and love that we need to let the goodness we have inside spring forth with the magnificence he sees in the seemingly dormant seeds.

You can listen to sermons from St. Andrew's Military Chapel here.

Just create a login and download sermons at your convenience.