Wasted Lives
“Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?” Luke 13:7
Use Up – Parables make one point. That point is often a function of the event context of the parable. So, after Yeshua rejects the religious ranking of sins, He tells this parable about a fig tree that doesn’t produce. The parable is about lives that appear to waste God’s good earth. The parable is about those people whom we decide aren’t worth the ground they walk on. In Greek, the word is katargei. It combines kata and argeo, giving the sense “what makes or renders idle or useless.” What the owner suggests is not simply that this tree doesn’t produce. He says the very presence of this tree spoils or pollutes the ground, rendering the soil useless for anything else. In the owner’s eyes, it’s time to get rid of it. But the vinedresser sees something else.
Put this parable in the context of the sin of the Galileans. What Yeshua emphasizes is the short-sightedness of those who pass judgment on the worth of others. Just as the master viewed the tree as worthless, so it is with those who judge others as polluting sinners. Just as the vinedresser in the parable argued it was too soon to destroy the tree, so Yeshua proclaims it is too soon to pass judgment on God’s handiwork in another. The time will come for judgment, but it is not now. As long as the vinedresser is working on the productive capacity of the tree, the possibility for good fruit remains. And as long as God’s hidden hand operates in the world of men, the possibility of redemption and restoration remains. The last half of Isaiah 61:2 has not arrived (see Luke 4:18-19). As long as it has not arrived, God works among us. Who are we to say He can no longer restore someone to righteousness?
The terrible consequence of ranking sins is premature rejection of the sinner. Too often we conclude that such-and-such a person is a wasted life. There’s no use in continuing to pray, to reach out to, to love as a neighbor. This person is so bad he is beyond redemption. Better to let him go.
You’ll object. “Hey, I don’t do that. I never give up on someone. I keep praying, keep supporting, keep loving – no matter what.” Really? A couple you know gets divorced. Do you find that you let one side go? A business associate is caught in corruption. Do you stop calling him? A family you know has a child who is trapped in drugs or violence. Are they still on your invitation list? Someone in your church has an affair. Does her name disappear from the roster?
Yes, the Bible provides consequences for sinful acts, but those consequences are never about permanent removal from the community. God’s consequences always include purposeful restoration. “Return to Me,” is the foundation of every repercussion of sin. Maybe we need to take the same approach as the vinedresser. “Let me care for this tree and let’s see what happens in a year.”
Topical Index: use up, waste, katargei, vinedresser, Luke 13:7, Isaiah 61:2, Luke 4:19
“Whoever tends the fig tree will eat its fruit, and he who is attentive to his master will be honored.” ~ Prv. 27:18
Great proverb Carmen!
Wow! Skip, this one hit home.
Suzi
Thank God the Vinedresser is still working in this man, and if He has restored one such as me I know He is able to do that with anyone we may ‘writeoff’ as beyond hope.
Skip: if you would be so gracious … could you provide your opinion to the following passages from 1st John and Matthew?
1st John: 5:16 If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not unto death. There is a sin unto death: I do not say that he shall pray for it. 5:17 All unrighteousness is sin: and there is a sin not unto death.
Matthew: 12:31 Wherefore I say unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. 12:32 And whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither in this world, neither in the world to come.
By the way … I am not in disagreement with the content of the last two messages …. I am just not sure that it is as straight forward as presented.
I wrote (and taught) something on this awhile ago. I hope I can find it. Pretty busy now so it might take awhile.
NP ….. don’t worry about it! 🙂
OK, I found it and posted it as an article. Here is the URL
https://skipmoen.com/2009/08/27/blasphemy-against-the-holy-spirit/
Not long ago Skip, you taught us that the disobedient son was taken outside of the community after he refused correction and was stoned to death. That certainly looks like permanent removal from the community to me. Seems quite a different tune you are singing now with “those consequences are never premanent removal form the community”. Quite distressing for me to hear. Why the change or am I missing something?
Hi Yolanda,
With all due respect to Skip, Rabbi Gorelik discussed this issue a couple of weeks ago.
It was one point in the context of a part of his lesson and the context provided so much meaning.
Although what RB said was very simple and clear, for me to try to explain it in writing would be very difficult and time consuming.
Skip could obviously explain it easier and better than I could, but I think some things are easier to see and understand when they come to you in an oral, narrative, format.
You might want to check out last week’s Parsha talk on Antoinette’s website.
If you need help finding it, I’ll try to find it for you.
Hi Yolanda,
Grace is the watchword of God’s character. When we read about the disobedient son, we tend to think in terms of our own culture. Thus, we assume (wrongly) that this Hebrew instruction is about any sign of disobedience, and we are shocked. But Hebrew is about character, the long haul of a life’s direction. It is also about the cancer of allowing a long commitment to chaos (what opposes God’s order) to fester and grow within the community called to holiness. So, a son who refuses instruction, who promotes evil and who encourages others to follow suit is not to be allowed to grow within the community. He is to be put out, and in the extreme, cut out like a cancer. But compassion comes first. Yeshua died for us, the same cancerous sons and daughters.
Now, when God puts someone out (not when we follow His directions), He always has restoration in mind. Wrath has not come – yet. Now is the time of the Lord’s favor. So, we follow HIs instructions with a backward glance at our own miserable lives of disobedience, knowing that restoration, repentance and restitution is always the priority.