Read Luke 13:1–9
The practice of digging around a tree is common when it is not growing well and, in turn, not producing the fruit it was planted for. When the soil around the tree is disturbed, the roots are damaged in the digging, and then the tree has to grow new roots, which, in turn, strengthen the tree to bear fruit for the next season.
Jesus tells a parable about a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit. The owner says, ‘Well cut it down’, but the man taking care of it says, ‘Leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilise it’.
The tree doesn’t need to be destroyed but disturbed and fed instead.
We are like this tree. We were planted in the kingdom of God by faith in Jesus and given a purpose – to bear fruit. Yet it is easy to drift away from Jesus and begin to follow the way of the world and the way of ourselves. We find it easier to listen to the devil, tempting us with lies in the idea that ‘it is my life and my body; I can do what I like’.
But Jesus has chosen you as his own for his purpose. To bear fruit. The fruit of God’s love in action toward those around you. You are created to be a blessing to others. You are blessed to bless others with God’s love in action.
When the word of the Lord challenges you to live differently, it is like Jesus digging at your roots – the roots in self rather than in the word. You see, the word is the fertiliser of life, and the word of Jesus Christ will feed and sustain you in bearing the fruit of God’s love in action.
When Jesus digs at your roots, hear the word, and be ready for his word to guide, challenge, heal and restore you. Be prepared for his word to nourish your hungry soul, ready to go out into the world with new growth and fruit that blesses others.
Dear Jesus, dig into my roots of selfishness and worldly ways. Let me grow in you to bear fruit for others. Help me to be a blessing to everyone I meet today. Feed me, nourish me, and strengthen me daily in your holy word. Amen.
Pastor Mark lives with his two daughters aged 11 and 8 in Redcliffe, just north of Brisbane. He currently serves as a pastor in the LCANZ and is passionate about sharing Jesus’ love with those around him. Pastor Mark loves to travel with his family to see the wonders of God’s creation and meet people who share their stories of what God has done for them.
And I’m starving
by Shane Altmann
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Then they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days (1 Samuel 31:13).
Read 1 Samuel 31:1–13
It’s about 3.30 in the afternoon. Our college here in Redlands, in bayside Brisbane, is quietening down as the last of the kids slowly wander out to their busy afternoons. Teachers are poking around, tidying up and chatting with each other. Some kids are doing sport training on the oval; office staff are industriously toiling away as they do. The afternoon is settling in.
And I am starving.
Somewhere in the distance, a car horn honks, busy school traffic starts to thin out, and vehicles start moving more freely again. The phone rings, and our receptionist takes a call from a mum whose kid lost their hat. Tradies wander past in their high-vis gear, finishing up from building works they have been doing on-site. The afternoon is settling in.
And I’m starving.
Some brave men sneak up to the wall of Beth-shan, take down Saul’s body, carry it home under the cover of darkness, burn it and bury the bones. Then they fast for seven days.
And I’m starving.
Wait! What? Seven days?
When you say seven days, you mean they just skipped breakfast or something, right? Or were the days shorter in biblical times? Perhaps seven Old Testament days are like two of our days.
It staggers me that people could fast for that long. God bless the disciplined. The hunger and the fatigue must be dreadful.
In 2 Corinthians 12:10, Paul reminds us, ‘That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weakness. In insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. When I am weak, then I am strong.’
When everything has been stripped away, when there is nothing left, when our metaphorical king is dead and hanging on our enemy’s wall, all we have is God. What great sustenance that is. Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness. This is the upside-down God we worship. The God who dies. The God who lives again.
Don’t get me wrong, we are not called to be ascetics, to practice extreme self-denial and live miserably to get close to Jesus. We are freed from such things and freed for a life that is full and abundant, a life of joy, hope and love.
But when it’s tough, when we face misery and mourning, hardship and trials, right there in that space is where God is close to us.
Where he carries us.
Jesus, you know what it is to suffer, to be fully human, to feel grief and loss, anxiety and sadness. Be close to all who suffer. Bring them comfort by your Holy Spirit and through the connection and care of those around them. Grow in us hearts of compassion and care for those we meet. Amen.
Shane Altmann is the principal of Faith Lutheran College Redlands in Queensland and has served in education for more than 35 years. Married to Monica and father of two children, Harry and Zoe, Shane has learnt that he is largely helpless without the love and support of the people with whom he lives and works. A pilgrim of multiple Caminos de Santiago, a Penrith Panthers tragic and a restorer of old stuff, Shane loves a project and, when he is able, fills his days tinkering with something.
It’s very Shakespeare
by Shane Altmann
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Then the woman said, ‘Whom shall I bring up for you?’ He answered, ‘Bring up Samuel for me’ (1 Samuel 28:11).
Read 1 Samuel 28:3–20
Buckle up. Things are about to get weird.
This passage in Samuel is all Hollywood and special effects. King Saul, bereft of hope, turns to a medium, a clairvoyant, a seer to get in touch with the spirit world, séance style. ‘I need to speak to the recently departed Samuel. Can you get him up for me?’
She screams; his ghostly form appears and delivers the awful truth to Saul. Time’s up!
It’s very Shakespeare.
I mean, Samuel’s ghost appears (at least to the medium)! And talks to Saul! It’s wild.
Where is God in this unholy business? What’s in this for us? Well, for a start, don’t dabble in that voodoo stuff; it generally doesn’t end well. Here endeth the lesson.
But I reckon we can dig a bit deeper here and see some patterns and glean some good about our great God of Love.
I am a firm believer that God is active in the world, in service of people, through the vocation of others and the temporal rhythm of the natural world, his creation. He can – and does – act supernaturally and miraculously, but generally, it is the ordinary stuff of daily life where God is found.
‘Truly you are a God who hides yourself!’ says Isaiah in chapter 45, verse 15. He heals the sick through the work of doctors, feeds us through the work of farmers and shopkeepers and protects us with police and armies. The list goes on. Believers and unbelievers alike are all instruments of God’s loving kindness towards people.
And I think that’s what’s happening here. God has a plan. He is moving Jesus towards us, Jesus of the line of David. So, we need David.
God hides his glory in the baby Jesus, in the humanity and ordinariness of the person of Jesus, behind the cross. But he is always for us, always graciously reaching down to us, relentlessly moving the story forward. So, the seer steps in, pronounces Saul’s doom via the ghost of Samuel. And on we roll.
God at work, even then, even now. God for us.
Lord of Life, thank you for always being for us. Thank you for not just creating us and then leaving us alone, but for being constantly and relentlessly at work in the world out of your great love for all people. Thank you, Jesus, that you do indeed give us this day our daily bread. Bless us as we live out our vocations as your light in the world. Amen.
Shane Altmann is the principal of Faith Lutheran College Redlands in Queensland and has served in education for more than 35 years. Married to Monica and father of two children, Harry and Zoe, Shane has learnt that he is largely helpless without the love and support of the people with whom he lives and works. A pilgrim of multiple Caminos de Santiago, a Penrith Panthers tragic and a restorer of old stuff, Shane loves a project and, when he is able, fills his days tinkering with something.
It’s always God’s work
by Shane Altmann
Click here to download your printable verse to carry with you today.
I fast twice a week: I give a tenth of my income (Luke 18:12).
Read Luke 18:9–14
This old classic. The Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector. It rolls around every now and then to remind us good Christians that we should be humble and not get too far ahead of ourselves with our piety and righteousness. Be like the tax collector, not the Pharisee.
Check.
Except. Uh oh. When I’m like the tax collector, I’m actually being like the Pharisee, rather self-congratulatory about my humble approach to my reliance on God. ‘I’m glad I’m not like that Pharisee!’
Same, same.
Of our own accord, we are, of course, doomed. And that’s the point. It is always God’s work. Always. We are neither the Pharisee nor the tax collector; we are, at the same time, both.
Martin Luther coined the phrase ‘simul iustus et peccator’, meaning ‘at the same time both saint and sinner’. We are not just one or the other, sometimes this and sometimes that, but always both. Fully human, fully capable of great compassion for, and destruction of, ourselves and others. Lost and helpless. But covered, washed white as snow by the blood of the lamb. His work, his unmerited redeeming grace. I am reminded of the beautiful words of the song ‘I am covered over’: ‘When he looks at me, he sees not what I used to be, but he sees Jesus.’
It’s always God’s work.
Jesus’ words in the contrasting prayers of the parable guide us: ‘God, I …’ versus ‘God, be …’ Jesus reminds us to focus not on ourselves, our piety or our humility, but rather on him.
It is God – his work, his action towards us, only ever and always – that is the source of both our salvation and joy.
God of grace, thank you for reminding us again and again of your ever-present love through your word and by your Spirit. Thank you that even now, you are drawing close to your people, Immanuel, God with us. Amen.
Shane Altmann is the principal of Faith Lutheran College Redlands in Queensland and has served in education for more than 35 years. Married to Monica and father of two children, Harry and Zoe, Shane has learnt that he is largely helpless without the love and support of the people with whom he lives and works. A pilgrim of multiple Caminos de Santiago, a Penrith Panthers tragic and a restorer of old stuff, Shane loves a project and, when he is able, fills his days tinkering with something.