In this week’s gospel reading from Luke (13:1-9), we encounter a world-view shared by many of Jesus’ contemporaries – tragedy, sudden death, illness, and suffering are punishment for sin. Likewise, good health, success, wealth, and prosperity are signs of God’s blessing and favor and are the result of a person’s goodness or righteousness. In his interaction with a crowd, Jesus responds by rejecting the idea that the offer of God’s love and mercy are somehow related to our goodness or lack thereof. He points to a fruitless fig tree and a gardener who is patient and willing to allow the fig tree time to respond to the gardener’s care as a reminder of how we must not define the moral character of others based upon their life circumstances. God’s love transcends our goodness and our sin. And, God’s patient and persistent desire is that all of us might be re-created, renewed, and bear much fruit.