FIGS ALMIGHTY. Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post, 3/23/25

Have you ever eaten a fig?  I have, and honestly, it wasn’t very delicious—too sweet. overloaded with seeds and with a tough consistency, not unlike the skin of an aging person, like me. Downright seedy!  (Luke 13:1-13)

I pinched the skin on the top of my hand  just to test this figgy metaphor, and LO!—my skin did NOT pop right back to smoothness. It actually waited in an ornery way for me to move my hand or touch it to make it smooth again. With horror, I imagined a day when I might not be able to re-smooth my aging hand, and it would be figgy and seedy forever.

Irritated with Jesus and his dumb parabolic analogies, I repeated my skin-pinching several times. It just made me annoyed, furious, to be honest. I felt like the disciples might have felt. They were committed to following him, because he just might be THE Messiah God promised Jews and everyone. Raw deal! Damn!  

I didn’t get the parabolic lesson. I hated it! What the bejesus IS the point anyway? I pinched my hands until they hurt, so I kissed them. Only then did my tears squeeze out. 

How beautiful is the fig tree that ripens and bears fruit in its time—in its time. Annoyed as it gets me, I do love the subtle wisdom of Jesus’s pace in life—steady and sure and patient all the way to Jerusalem, trial, death, and risen life. I always want to push it, hurry it. 

When I do I usually “trip”.   

2023.09.24 Mercy Me! Lyn G. Brakeman, Spiritual Lemons, blog post

I’ve been a Mercy Associate for over thirty years now. I’m not mercy-full enough. Still, I’m venerable and vulnerable enough to have mercy on God for not living up to our righteous/wrongful expectations.

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Before I get too tangled up in Chronos—ancient personification of time/chronology/sequence on clock, calendar, or map  let me heed Kairos—ancient Greek for just the right time, opportune timING, often identified as Godde’s time. Chronos is quantitative. Kairos is qualitative.  

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When I was a young elementary school age child I was short. I hated to have to be the first in a line-up for walking into some all-school assembly. On the other hand, I hated as well to be last in line.  I also— secretly—hated God for making me short! Why couldn’t I be statuesque like Lucy Lofty, or at least curvaceous like Mimi Malarkey?  

Now, by Chronos, I am eighty-five years old, and guess what? I’m growing shorter, day by bloomin’ day. Of course I know there’s a genetic and scientific explanation for my height. I know my height isn’t a diagnosable condition. I know my bones are worried about support and my skin is shriveling, my memory pillowing—my Chronos is almost up. 

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Today, I read the biblical parable ( Mt. 20:1-16, also told in Mark, Luke), told by Jesus about the laborers in the vineyard. This small story, considered by Jesus scholars to be authentic to Jesus’ words and teachings, has created more argumentation, more ire from fair-minded business practitioners and even more spiritual chaos than most any other story Jesus told.  Equal pay for equal work is a quantitative Chronos-based practice. 

The refrain “the last will be first and the first last” is attached, although scholars doubt its placement here. Jesus doesn’t mock those who hold onto that practice, however, he does offer a Kairos way to understand why the vineyard keeper, the boss, often thought to be God/Creator, would pay ALL workers the same day’s wage, even though some arrived late and worked less time than those who labored all day. 

I don’t know exactly what Jesus might have been up to in his day. I do know that he  consistently spoke hope and blessing to the “poor”—those in deep need. 

I do know that every single worker was EQUAL in need, EQUAL in willingness to labor, and EQUAL in gratitude. And I do know that the vineyard owner freely chose to use his money in this UNEQUAL way.  UNFAIR shout the Chronos-bound people. 

THANKS BE TO GODDE, shout the Kairos-aware people. This is a Kairos parable.

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P.S. Consider the metaphoric parable of a tug-of-war. Two groups pull to WIN. One group finally loses strength and will and drops the rope—LOSERS.  The other group all fall down on their butts and declare themselves the WINNERS.    Now laugh!