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Isaiah 55:1-9 * Ps 63:1-8 * 1 Cor 10:1-13 * Luke 13:1-9

Happy Spring!! At 8:33 this morning the Vernal or Spring Equinox took place – one of two moments in the year when the Sun is exactly above the Equator, and day and night are of equal length. And this is true all around the world – this and Autumn Equinox are the only time that happens, and it was technically just for that one moment this morning when we might have been eating our porridge or brushing our teeth. But it applies to the whole day of course, so wow – isn’t it nice to think that today no one needs to live in more darkness than light?

Today then my theme is darkness and light. As I was recently reminded on a Harry Potter book description – sometimes darkness comes from unexpected places. But we can say the same about the light – sometimes light comes from unexpected places as well. Today our most beautiful and light-filled reading seems to me to come from Isaiah (55:1-9). Everyone who is thirsty is invited to come to the waters and drink – to drink from the fresh waters of creation which the Creator made to nourish ALL of life. And then those without money are invited to come – buy and eat! “Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” Imagine that – imagine if everyone on earth had equal access to the things that both nourish life and help us to rejoice.

And then we’re asked why we labour and spend money for that which does not satisfy? “Listen carefully to me,” says God through Isaiah, “and eat what is good, and delight yourselves in rich food.” My first thought was to pull the small cheesecake out of the freezer – I always keep one in there in case of, you know, emergencies like unexpected company etc. Of course, while we enjoy such delicious thoughts, we also must remember the terrible cruelties and inequalities in the world, that keep millions, especially children, without adequate food, while over 2700 billionaires cling to totally immoral amounts of money. To help understand how much a billion is I appreciate this comparison: a million seconds is 12 days, while a billion seconds is 32 YEARS!! Here Isaiah’s 7th verse is helpful: “let the wicked forsake their ways, and the unrighteous their thoughts”. As if all that monstrously evil greed was not bad enough, we now have the terrible war in Ukraine which, besides all the immense and immediate suffering from brutal and destructive violence – also presents an upcoming threat to food security around the world, since Ukraine has been called the breadbasket of the world because of its typically huge wheat production. Already the main spring planting is becoming impossible because of the war … so the hungry of the world are in line to become even hungrier. This is absolutely NOT God’s plans for all of God’s children around the world.

In terms of darkness and light it’s often been the case that humans tend to believe that the suffering of others – like those in wars or starving – is somehow their fault, perhaps due to their sins, or the sins of their ancestors. There’s also something in the human psyche that wants to believe that me and mine deserve the best, while “others” … especially perhaps those who look entirely different from us … are simply not as much in God’s favour as we are. Unfortunately, we inherited the whole “Chosen People” idea from our Jewish forebears in the faith. Christians certainly ran with that idea given the immensity of exploitative colonization that they carried out throughout Christian history … and yes, it was often done in the name of Christ, sad to say. Like Harry Potter came to realize – darkness can come from unexpected places.

Jesus makes clear, in our gospel today, that we must not equate suffering with sin. We must not think that those who suffer greatly must have sinned greatly – like Job’s friends tried to mistakenly tell him. Jesus refers to some recent episodes of great suffering and emphasizes that the victims of those events were not greater sinners than the rest of us. Nope. Suffering comes to many good people, including the saints and of course Jesus himself. So, Jesus asks all of us to repent (v5), but again I remind you that repentance in Greek is ‘metanoia’ which means a transformative change of heart – a change of direction in our attitudes and actions. There’s still time to change the darkness of our compliance with a world of great inequality and violence. There’s still time for us to help cast the light of compassionate care onto all of the world’s suffering.

Seems odd that Jesus immediately switches from the call to repent – to the parable of the unfruitful fig tree. But there can be great comfort in that. It’s easy in our times to feel unfruitful – to feel quite inadequate to the task of bringing forth the help and nourishment that our world desperately needs. But we are not asked to do this on our own steam. God the gardener is full of patience with us, and ready to dig around to make more room for our roots of discipleship to deepen; and to ‘fertilize’ our efforts towards more fruitfulness. Yes, that may involve us with another word for manure, that starts with ‘sh’ … but isn’t that exactly how we often flourish and grow – by enduring and overcoming unwelcome trials and tribulations?

My friends, let us rejoice in this new season of increasing light – and ask God to help us be more fruitful in bringing greater compassionate light to the world, Amen.