For Sunday, November 29, 2015 – Luke 21:25-36
It is easier to notice what is breaking down than what is emerging. The earth in distress, we notice. Nations confused and in turmoil, we notice. People “fainting from fear and foreboding of what is coming upon the world,” we notice. We more often fail to see the tiny signs of renewal, the way a community bands together after a storm, small shoots of green rising up from the soil of loss.
“Look at the fig tree sprouting leaves,” Jesus says. But who notices something as common and plain as a fig tree? In the region where Jesus was teaching, the fig tree was the most ordinary of ordinary trees. Durable and hardy, with roots that run deep, it was known for producing fruit in even the most inhospitable conditions. Jesus understands the fig tree. He knows what it takes to stand your ground, to thrive in not-so-easy conditions, to put one’s roots down deep and draw nourishment from a hidden source.
The signs are all around us—the breaking down that precedes the breaking through. Constant reports of violence and devastation, the increasing mayhem of distrust and fear. And at the same time, see how compassion sprouts like leaves? The news tells of churches preparing to receive refugees; a growing movement to re-imagine incarceration; the specter of racism being stripped of its deadly masks. Are these not signs that the kingdom of God is near?
“Be on guard,” Jesus says, “so that your hearts are not weighted down with dissipation and drunkenness and the worries of this life.” In other words, don’t squander your energies on what does not heal and bless. Pour yourself out for what matters most, for the promise of summer that even now, as it grows darker day by day, is near.
