“One More Chance”
March 23, 2025
Rev. Rebecca Migliore
Have you ever regretted doing or not doing something? Have you ever thought, “if I only had one more chance—I would say something different, or act differently!” And for a little while, we might change our actions, change our words, change how we live our lives—but many of us, find ourselves right back to where we started. Ah, the difficulty of living a life full of justice and mercy and walking humbly with our God.
I think Jesus is trying to jolt us into that space of realizing we could change, we should change, we must change. Now. We know that John the Baptist was preaching a message of repentance—of metanoia—change of mind, change of heart. And to symbolize that change, he was baptizing in the river Jordan. Jesus’ message is about “proclaiming the good news of the kin[g]dom of God” but he also emphasizes that we need to live into that reality: “Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you; bless those who curse you; pray for those who mistreat you.”
So, here we have the reality of human life—that we don’t live up to what we are capable of, that we often misuse the time, the talent and the treasure that we have been given, that we miss out on the opportunities to make a difference, to do the right thing, in our little corner of the world. And every now and again, we see clearly—for a moment, and we repent, we turn around, we make promises that we will do better, that we will be better—and then…we do what humans do, we slip off the path.
Where do we see God in all this? Do we see God as the watchful mean eye in the sky just waiting for us to mess up, so God can pounce and say, “Aha, wrong again! Messed up again! Worthless again!”?
I’m afraid that all too many people see God like this, and either avoid God in any way possible, or maybe worse, give up on God because it is too hard to constantly have a mirror held up to us, showing us our faults, reminding us of our mistakes, being disappointed in our failures.
Or, is God different than that? Is God the encouraging parent, always ready to lend a helping hand when it’s really needed, always seeing what we do in its best light, always ready to offer help when things go awry, always ready to say, “you’ll do better next time”? Always loving us, no matter what—no matter how much we step off (or run) from the path, no matter how lost we get, no matter how far we think we are from God.
This is an ancient question. We can even see it in our parable for today—the parable of the fig tree. We have two important figures and we have the tree. There is the owner of the vineyard, the one who the fig tree planted, and he comes out to inspect his land and his tree. And he sees that, AGAIN, the fig tree has not produced anything. It has not done what he intended it to do. And what does this one say, “What a worthless tree.” And he turns to the gardener, the one working in the vineyard, and says, “Cut it down.”
Isn’t this one supposed to be in the image of God? I mean, it’s the one who owns everything, the one who is in charge, the one who has the authority. Isn’t that how we picture God? And as we often think of God, this is one who is tired of waiting for the fig tree to get its act together. Stupid fig tree! I’ve given it three chances, three years. And what has it done? Nothing. Time to cut it down, tear it out, throw it on the trash heap, light it on fire, so that at least its ashes can do some good.
And then there is the other one in the vineyard. The gardener, the worker, probably the one who planted the tree in the first place. The one who has been there day in and day out, weeding and pruning and watering and talking to the tree.
And this one, who is employed by the owner, who could just say, “Yes, sir”—this one speaks up for the tree. Instead of saying, “it’s all the tree’s fault”—the gardener sees it differently. Maybe the tree needs a little more help. Maybe it needs some different nutrients in the soil. Maybe I need to cut a little deeper, or maybe a little more gently. Maybe it needs some more water—or maybe it got too much. Maybe we could try a few more things, give it one more chance. I know this tree can produce.
I think Jesus is prodding us to imagine that maybe this second one might be God in the parable. Yes, I know, it is sometimes hard to change the way that we have envisioned God. God, the gardener? God not the owner? God the one working in the field? God the one who tends and lovingly caresses and fights for and wrangles out one more chance for the tree that hasn’t gotten itself all together? Doesn’t that sound like the God that Jesus presents to us sometimes?
So here is the dilemma. God behind door number one—the mean owner God, might scare you into repentance. And that is what Jesus wants—for us to turn our lives around. For us to stop procrastinating and get to the business of living in the right. Is the scary God the way to do it? Or is it better to have God behind door number two—the patient gardener, the one who always wants to give us one more chance, the one who gets between us and the ultimate consequences, the worst consequences of not living the way we could?
And here is the truth of the matter. God might be both. God wants to give us one more chance, and one more chance, and one more chance, but at some time, the chances run out, and we will have to stand face to face with what we did with our lives. I think that is what Jesus is trying to get at with his depictions of what happened to the Galileans who had their blood comingled with their sacrifices (a horrible dishonoring as well as a brutal way to die). Or the people who were killed when the tower in Siloam fell.
He even asks, “do you think they were more sinful than you are?” And behind that question is the implication that God was punishing them for something that they had done, to die senselessly or tortuously. And Jesus immediately says, No. No, that’s not what happened. What happened is that time ran out for them. And time could run out for you today. So, repent, turn around, take your chance, change your life. Produce fruit. Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind and strength, and love your neighbors as yourself. God is routing for you. God is on your side. God can help you because God wants you to be the best you can be—a beautiful child crafted in the image of God.
Now just in case you think that this mean God versus kind God is an Old Testament versus New Testament thing—or a Jewish versus a Christian thing—let’s just consider this. Jesus was a devout Jew. Jesus had learned his ideas about God from the Scripture that we call the Old Testament. Jesus knew that this dichotomy (this two-sidedness of God)—the God of Justice on one side/the God of mercy on the other—has always challenged us humans. Because we can rarely combine justice and mercy. We want hard-nosed justice for those others. We want gentle mercy for ourselves. But God is a God who is both, who wants both, who has demonstrated both. Maybe that is why God’s ways are so far from our ways. God wants Shalom, justice and peace intertwined. God shows justice and mercy, intertwined.
Think of the God of Isaiah who is like a seller at the market, calling out to everyone—Are you thirsty? Come and drink. You don’t have to have money. You only have to have the desire for water. And I have water. I have water in abundance. Are you hungry? Come and eat. I can satisfy your hunger. No need for you to pay. I have more than enough. Even the wicked, even those who are unrighteous, if they will return to me, there is pardon, there is forgiveness. And to any who question how this can be so, how this is justice? Hear: My ways are not your ways.
And what I cling to, when I get so tired of this world, or so despondent about the choices that we are making, the way we are behaving—are the words that follow our Isaiah reading.
Isaiah 55:10-11: For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven/ and do not return there until they have watered the earth, making it bring forth and sprout, giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater, so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth; it shall not return to me empty, but it shall accomplish that which I purpose and succeed in the thing for which I sent it.”
God is sure that the water, the food, the love that God showers down upon us, upon us as individuals, upon us as a world, will break through our hard-heartedness, our resistance, our failures. God is sure that God’s word “will not return to me empty.” There will be watering, there will be sprouting and growth, there will be fruit, so that there will be seed for the sower and bread for the eater.
Just as Paul is sure that nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus, God says in Isaiah (and Jesus asks us to pray) that God’s will will be done, God’s purposes will be accomplished. God says in Micah that Justice will roll down like waters and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream. God’s steadfast love is everlasting and God’s mercy is ever sure. Of that there is no doubt.
What we have to recognize is that we have a choice to make. One more chance. Each and every day. What will we choose? Life or death? What will we choose? The way of God or another way? What will we choose this day, and every day?
May it be to hear the call to turn towards God again, and again, and again. May it be to produce the fruit of love and justice and mercy. May it be to humbly, gratefully, walk always with our God.