With the warmer temperatures this week it sure felt as if spring might be right around the corner didn’t it? Perhaps the sultry weather even left some of you itching to get back into your garden or to start working on your yard.
Regardless of the weather God is always thinking about gardening and landscaping. Jesus once informed his disciples, “I am the true vine, and my Father is the gardener” (John 15:1). This concept of divine gardening is not just a New Testament one. In our Old Testament text for today Isaiah prophesied about some landscaping that Jesus himself would do to display his splendor as our Saviour. According to the prophecy Jesus would create a divine plantation of trees called oaks of righteousness (Is. 61:3). I’m looking at that plantation right now. Yes, every one of you is a plantation of the Lord. You are oaks of righteousness. In picturing us as oaks of righteousness God is illustrating both what Jesus has done for us, and what he plans to do with us. Perhaps we could put it this way. The Lord’s landscaping leaves us 1) groovin’ in his garden, and 2) gardening in his groove.
What am I suggesting when I say that the Lord’s landscaping leaves us groovin’ in his garden? I’m saying that Jesus’ work of salvation gives us every reason to rejoice. In our Gospel lesson this morning Jesus told the people of Nazareth that the opening verses of Isaiah 61 spoke about him. He (Jesus) had been appointed by the Father and anointed with the Holy Spirit to preach the good news to the poor, bind up the broken hearted, proclaim freedom for the captives, comfort all who mourn, to bestow a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of gladness instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair (Isaiah 61:1-3). In short, Jesus had been sent by the Father to cheer up the world.
But what did we need cheering up from and how did Jesus cheer us? We needed to be cheered up from our sins and its effects. When God first created the world everything was perfect. It didn’t take long though for Adam and Eve to crash into sin, marring God’s Eden. In its place a scraggly, scrawny Gethsemane took root. People no longer loved God or their neighbour, only themselves. They longed for compassion and understanding from others but didn’t understand how to be compassionate themselves. They craved respect but only bothered to respect their cravings. They bickered, pouted, and lost their temper with their loved ones. They hated and schemed against their enemies and their enemies against them. Their sins created a depressing world to live in and our sins have only made things worse.
It’s from that depressing world of sin that Jesus came to save us by dying on the cross to take the punishment that we deserved for our rebellion. By dying in our place Jesus gave us forgiveness. To have forgiveness means to have freedom from guilt, and freedom from the fear spending an eternity in hell because of what we have done. Forgiveness gives us freedom to rejoice, and the freedom to look forward to a perfect future with Christ in heaven. It’s pretty neat isn’t it how God turned that old rugged cross, a tree of death for some, into a tree of life for all.
Unfortunately not everyone understands the freedom that Jesus won and proclaims. Some think that Jesus has set them free to work out their salvation. That was brought to mind this last week when I was watching “The Mission.” In this movie, Robert DeNero plays a slave-trader/murder/mercenary turned Jesuit (Catholic) monk. Before DeNero could be assured of forgiveness for his past sins however, he was told to do penance. He was instructed to demonstrate his true sorrow over his sins by taking his armour and weapons, the things he had used in his former sinful life, and drag them behind him on a long journey into the South American jungle. That trek took DeNero through rivers, over rocks, up waterfalls, and down banks of mud. Can you imagine how hard it is to hike through the jungle while dragging a two hundred pound bag behind you?
Brothers and sisters, that’s not what Jesus meant when he proclaimed freedom from sin. Instead a native, whom DeNero had once enslaved, best illustrated what forgiveness means. When that native saw DeNero struggling up a cliff with his bundle of guilt he quickly ran over, cut the bundle free, and threw it over the edge. In the same way God has cut us free from our sins and thrown them over the cliff. Our past sins no longer follow us around therefore neither should the guilt that goes with those sins. What good does it do to carry guilt around anyway? It doesn’t make us more forgiven. It doesn’t undo the harm that our sins have caused. Refusing to let go of our guilt only makes us guilty of rejecting Jesus’ proclamation of freedom. Get rid of your bag of guilt and replace it with the garment of praise Christ has given you. Start groovin’ in his garden because Jesus has made you an oak of righteousness and as such you stand before God as a forgiven child.
Although God’s work of making us into oaks of righteousness has been completed he still works on grooming us. He wants us to become more and more like him so that we can reflect his love to others. There are a number of ways in which God grooms us. One way is by fertilizing us with Means of Grace, namely the Word and Sacraments.
Right now you are being fertilized by the Word and in a just a bit many of you will be fed through the Lord’s Supper. It would be easy to think that in the Lord’s Supper we simply eat the bread and wine, and body and blood of the Lord to make it a part of us. But what actually happens is much more marvelous than that. The phrase, “You are what you eat.” rings true when it comes to Communion. When we receive Christ’s body and blood we become more like Christ. Luther pictured it this way. He said that what happens in the Lord’s Supper is as miraculous as if a wolf would turn into a lamb after eating one. Yet, that’s the power of Holy Communion in our life. Christ’s body and blood make us more and more like him. Therefore don’t take Communion for granted but look forward to every opportunity you have to receive it.
The other way that God grooms us oaks of righteousness is a little more painful. Like any good tree trimmer he cuts us back from time to time so that we can grow more fully in the future. His cuts may include a job, our health, a loved one, anything that we depend on more than we should. When he cuts those things out of our life he’s not punishing us. He’s simply showing us that that we don’t need those things to survive and flourish. All we need is his Word and his love. Therefore when God prunes you don’t bristle but thank him for the individualized attention and look forward to a strengthened faith and closer walk with him.
While the Lord’s landscaping leaves us oaks of righteousness groovin’ in his garden he hasn’t created us just to put us on display like the trees in the Muttart Conservatory here in Edmonton. Trees are much more than decorations; they are useful. Think of how a tree produces oxygen and fruit, or how it provides shelter and protection. In the same way as oaks of righteousness we are meant for service. Listen to verses five and six once again. “Aliens will shepherd your flocks; foreigners will work your fields and vineyards.6 And you will be called priests of the LORD, you will be named ministers of our God.”
According to those verses we could say that the Lord’s landscaping leads us to garden in his groove because he has made us his ministers and priests and wants us to be gardeners in his fields and vineyards.
Doesn’t that picture remind you of the parable of the sower? Just as the sower scatters the seed across the field so we have been called to scatter God’s Word through our community. While we might be faithful in gathering God’s Word when we come to listen to it here in church how serious are we about scattering it? When the opportunity presents itself for us to comfort someone do we bring in God’s Word to do it? When people are looking for answers to life do we direct them to the life-giving Word? Sharing God’s Word means more than just inviting people to come to church, it means sharing with them the fundamental truths of law and gospel.
Once God’s Word has taken root the work of gardening isn’t done. As God has continued to nourish and nurture our faith so we will need to do the same for others. Nurturing someone’s faith means using both the knife of God’s law to cut away harmful growths and the healing powers of the gospel to patch that wound. Don’t be afraid to speak God’s law to those who need to be called to repentance. If we shy away from doing so we will lose trees to the harmful vines of sin that will eventually choke out saving faith. No, the weeds will never stop trying to kill the tender shoots that God has planted but we can remain confident that if we keep gardening with God’s Word those weeds will never have a chance to choke out life.
In Genesis 2:9 Moses wrote, “And the LORD God made all kinds of trees grow out of the ground—trees that were pleasing to the eye and good for food.” God is still in the business of making trees isn’t he? He has made us oaks of righteousness by dying on the cross and calling us to faith. He continues to plant us where he wants us to share his Word with others. Therefore keep groovin’ in his garden rejoicing at the forgiveness that is yours, and keep gardening in his groove so that many more will join us here in this little arboretum we call St. Peter’s. Amen.
