1 Luke 13.1-9 It all started with improving the water supply.

Of course, this isnt a tale about Scottish Water - its about Pilate and Herod. For the Roman Governor had come to the conclusion that Jerusalems water supply was positively ghastly. So he decided to do something about it. He would build an aqueduct which was all the rage in Italy. The trouble was - how to pay for it? Then he had a brain wave - the Jewish temple is loaded, let use some of their dosh. Needless to say, the Jewish population was up in arms and demonstrated the fact. In return, Pilate had the wheeze of having his soldiers disguise themselves amongst the mob. Then, at a signal, they would throw off their civilian cloaks and set about using their cudgels with a will. Trouble was they got carried away and quite a few of the demonstrators were killed. These could well have been the first casualties we heard of in todays lesson. This also may have been the cause of the enmity between Pilate and Herod; a tiff only put straight with the gift of the prisoner of Jesus - one to the other The second group could also have been felled whilst working on the afore-mentioned aqueduct or near some of its pillars. Just ordinary people then meeting their end in an almost random fashion. However, this isnt just a story of ancient Palestinian folk. We could have picked a similar story from our newspapers only this week - hot air balloons, car accidents and illness would feature. The only thing that has changed is its inherent temptation. For in olden times the temptation was to consider these unfortunates as victims of their particular sinfulness. Nowadays the temptation is to view these hapless individuals as having shown some element of personal recklessness or culpability contributing to their demise.

2 However, Christ resists these temptations. Rather when he considers these unfortunate tragedies in the round, he seems to be saying something more profound. For in fact he seems to be suggesting that the doing of right should be independent of your good or bad fortune. Put another way, the doing of good is virtuosity entirely in its own lights. For, obviously, the withholding of the proper action is sinful. Yet the merit of doing of good is also diminished when it is coupled with motivation of reward. The fruits of the fig tree are therefore the actions for good in themselves rather than any outcome. The fruits are in the giving away and never in the taking back. Now I have to say that is quite a difficult concept to grasp. For on my trips to the Churchs offices in Edinburgh I am often confronted with beggars. Some - I have to say - look remarkably well feed and clean. They I think quite rightly deserve a body serve. But there are others who are literally without home, food and the other means to keep body and soul together. I fumble in my pocket and give over a few coins. Later I ponder and worry that they will use the money not for sustenance but booze. Yet in a way that isnt the point. I am giving them the option to choose just as you and I have the right to choose. I must therefore give without taking back even if that is an internal moral judgement. For, in the end, I not the gardener but a fellow consumer of grace. Now of course the world is full of tricksters. Most of the time we detect them and occasionally they get under our guard. But that should not stop us then looking with compassion, acting with mercy and being hopeful that our gift will bestow Gods bounty not on ourselves but on the recipient. Since that is the one way of looking at life which should mark us out from the others without our faith yet who are generous.

3 That indeed should be the sign of the Christian as much as the cross, the istheus or the ostentatious bible. That should indeed be the way the Church serves its seed, it real gardener and its potential glory. And what actions for good could we easily do? Well there are many. But this Lenten time, I would like to propose one above all else. One that seems suggested by our Bible passage. For on Tuesday on returning from the Board and Session meetings, I caught the second half of the film - My house in Umbria. This is gentle bitter-sweet comedy which nevertheless deals with some dark themes. It starts with a terrorist bomb going off on an Italian inter city train. The foreign survivors of the bombed carriage all end up recuperating in a chaotically rustic pension ruled over by a somewhat fey Dame Maggie Smith. The main plot revolves around a small American girl who has been orphaned by the atrocity. She is destined to return to the States with her desiccated and selfabsorbed uncle. In time, it is revealed that the kind young German student, Werner, who is so attentive to the child is in fact the bomber. At the films end, with the child entrusted to this rag-tag groups care, they walk in the warm Italian sunset and Maggie smiths character says to Ronnie Barkers I forgive even Werner. Shocking the others, they ask why. And she replies we all need forgiveness. It seems then by the good action of offering forgiveness, they could give to each other their brokenness as well. And as a result they found peace, they found acceptance, they found even contentment. Now as we approach Easter, let us do the same. For life is of-

4 ten more than power, money and water. Life is less about taking out but more about putting back. It is more about offering our forgivingness, giving our brokenness and bearing the fruit of harmony, community and companionship in generosity. Amen