What Does Repentance Have to Do with Bearing Fruit
March 23, 2025 Lent 3
A man borrowed a book from an acquaintance. As he read through it, he was intrigued to find parts of the book underlined with the letters YBH written in the margin. When he returned the book to the owner, he asked what the YBH meant. The owner replied that the underlined paragraphs were sections of the book that he basically agreed with. They gave him hints on how to improve himself and pointed out truths that he wished to incorporate into his life. However, the letters YBH stood for “Yes, but how?”
Those three letters could be writ on the margins of ours souls: “I ought to know how to take better care of myself, but how?” “I know I ought to spend more time in scripture reading and prayer, but how?” “I know I ought to be more sensitive to others, more loving of my spouse, more understanding of the weaknesses of others, but how?” These are all good qualities and we know that, but how can we acquire them? As Christian people we know the kind of life we ought to live, and most of us have the best of intentions to do so, but how? We are afraid because we know where the road paved with only good intentions leads!
This morning we hear Jesus’ parable of the fig tree, telling us to repent and bear good fruit. We know what the Christian life requires of us and yet, if we are honest with ourselves, we also know how far short we fall. So the question that confronts us this morning is: “Yes, but how?” (Sermons.com) READ Luke 13:1-9
We love to compare sins. We wonder if other’s sins are worse than ours. We take comfort in others getting their due for their transgressions. But we whine when we think God is punishing us. (Yet when tragedies happen like an airplane suddenly crashing to the ground, or fires decimate Los Angeles, they trouble our hearts and create questions in our minds. This is exactly what Jesus brings to light when telling the two strange and tragic stories of loss and death. “One apparently took place at the temple in Jerusalem, when Pilate ordered some Galileans killed while they were in the act of making animal sacrifices to God; the blood of those devout worshipers became mingled with the blood of the animals. The other incident had happened not long before that. The tower of Siloam, which was part of the fortification of Jerusalem, had collapsed, killing 18 persons. Now the people approached Jesus and asked, “Why do those kinds of things happen?” Did they happen because the people involved were so wicked that the tragedies were God’s judgment upon them?” (Sermons.com). At the time, people thought when bad things happened it was God punishing them for their sins.
Jesus says no. No, these people did not die because of their sin. Sometimes horrible things happen, but that is not God’s punishment. Yet Jesus does call them to repentance. Twice Jesus calls for repentance, saying, “unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did” (3, 5). “Only through true repentance, Jesus advises, can (you) avoid the fate of the Galileans” (Working Preacher, Debra Mumford).
Then Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. He is echoing words of John the Baptist who, while calling people to repentance said, “Bear fruit worthy of repentance” (Lk 3:8). John never minced words, calling them a “brood of vipers” because they wanted to rest on their ancestry and laurels, instead of repenting. So, by telling this parable, Jesus is connecting bearing fruit with repentance.
In our Bible study on Forgiveness there is a chapter called repentance. Marjorie Thompson explains that metanoia, the Greek word for repentance, combines meta which means “beyond” and nous, or “mind.” “Repentance means adopting a new mind-set, going beyond our ordinary ways of thinking, perceiving and responding to life….The purpose of repentance is to transcend our limited view of reality (which is focused on our ego)… Our self-absorbed (ego) mind-set is intent on finding those things all people yearn for: security, affirmation, recognition, love and meaning…. Repentance, then involves turning ourselves in a new direction: away from ego and toward God” (p. 37-38).
I bet you are thinking, YBH, yes, but how.
This week I saw asparagus seeds in Home Depot, and considered buying them for Brad, who loves asparagus and gardening. But he told me it can take several years before asparagus bear fruit. So, I looked up how long it takes for a fig tree to bear fruit- it ranges from 2 to 5 years. Once established, fig trees produce fruit twice a year. So, the man could have checked 6 times during the first three years, with no fruit. No wonder he is getting impatient. But the gardener steps in to help the fig tree.
“The beginning of repentance is putting ourselves in God’s hands, acknowledging that we need what only our Creator can give” (Forgiveness, p. 38). We need mercy and grace; we need a second and third and tenth chance. The fig tree needed a second chance, needed tending, a good gardener to dig around and apply fertilizer to stimulate maturity and growth. The tree can’t do that for itself and neither can we. We cannot go it alone, depending on our egos, and expect to produce good fruit. God does not leave us to our own devices but encourages our repentance.
This new mind-set of repentance might feel strange at first. But all change does. I am going to Physical Therapy right now. I am diligently doing my exercises and stopping the ones that hurt. But I was amazed to realize my breathing was affecting my recovery. Strengthening my lower back requires all layers of my core to work in harmony. But holding my breath was thwarting my efforts. That is a new mind-set. I will be doing the same exercises but breathing differently and being open to how that may improve my situation. This new mind-set of repentance does not mean we know how this will turn out, only that we are surrendering to a new way and asking God to be with us on the journey.
Repentance is not only between us and God, but it also includes how we interact with our fellows. Often, repentance leads to an apology. We admit our wrong. We acknowledge our offense and take responsibility for it. We show regret and remorse for our action. But the hardest bit is to be vulnerable to the offended party. This means we do not defend our actions but seek to make right what our wrong has done. Aaron Lazare has an interesting way to think about the power of apology. It lies in “the exchange of shame and power between the offender and the offended. A role reversal takes place: in the original injury the offender had the power and the offended felt shame, in the apology the offender feels the shame and the offended assumes power. This creates a moral rebalancing” (Forgiveness, p. 41). I like thinking of repentance that leads to an apology as a moral rebalancing. We get to find a new stability in God’s grace and mercy that allows us to be willing to take a deep breath, apologize and change, with God’s help.
Let’s remember, there is an urgency to our repentance. The gardener bought the fig tree a year, but judgement is still coming. We have time to discover where we need God’s help and then to allow God to turn our soil, rearrange some things in our lives and our character. God gives us situations that help us mature and grow and ultimately to bear fruit.
“Like the fig tree, we are often given multiple opportunities to do better, to be better, or to do the right thing. The same grace that God extends to us we must also extend to one another. We sin. We repent. And by the grace of God, we are given another chance to be the people God is calling us to be” (Working Preacher, Debra Mumford). Amen.
