Third Sunday of Lentt (C)

 

Third Sunday of Lent of Year C [Lk 13:1-9]

23.03.2025

Repentance and the Parable of the Barren Tree

Readings: (1) Ex 3:1-8.13-15 (2) 1 Cor 10:1-6.10-12

1. Theme in brief:

      Urgency of repentance and opportunities offered by God.

2. Focus Statement:

       If we fail to bear fruits of repentance in spite of the urgent appeals of God and the manifold        opportunities given by Him, we shall meet disastrous consequences.

3. Explanation of the text

In today’s gospel Jesus refers to two tragic incidents that invite his listeners to repentance (13:1-5) and a parable that illustrates God’s patience and mercy towards sinners (13:6-9).  In Jesus’ time, the belief that all suffering, including sicknesses and natural calamities, was the result of one’s sins was a common way of explaining the pain of suffering and creating a fear in sinners not to commit sin any more. The Jews used to closely link sin and God’s judgment.

In the beginning of today’s text, we see some people in the crowd that gathered around Jesus speaking about an abominable crime committed by Pilate in the past (13:1). Pilate got some Galileans slaughtered in their temple and committed the sacrilege of mixing their (human) blood with the blood of their sacrificial animals. Imagine terrorists entering our church, shooting down members of our Sunday congregation and mixing their blood with the Eucharistic wine! Jesus’ listeners might have expected a strong condemnation from Jesus of the behaviour of Pilate and his soldiers. They wanted to know from Jesus why those Galileans suffered such a terrible fate. What wrong had they done? Jesus denied that those Galileans suffered such a terrible tragedy because they were worse sinners than other Galileans (13:2), but if his listeners did not repent they too might suffer the same fate (13:3). Unlike the historical event which could not be reversed, they still had a chance to change. They had a tremendous obligation to repent in order to escape from such a disaster.

The second disaster mentioned by Jesus is the collapse of the tower of Siloam, in Jerusalem, that crushed to death eighteen Jerusalemites (13:4). Whereas the first incident mentioned above was man-made tragedy, this one was a natural calamity. Did God punish those who were crushed under tower of Siloam? Again, Jesus clarifies that this did not happen because they were worse sinners than other Jerusalemites (13:4). The sentences in 13:3 and 13:5 are similar: “No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did.” Jesus seems to say, these calamites, were not the result of their personal sins but gave them an opportunity for repentance.

Next, through the parable of the barren fig-tree (13:6-9), Jesus stressed the urgency of repentance and the opportunities given to his listeners by a merciful God for a change of heart. He used the image of a tree bearing fruit to emphasize the urgent need of repentance. He warned them that it could be the last chance given by God, before the final judgement, to be converted to his teachings. If not, they would perish like the Galileans and Jerusalemites, or be cut down like the barren fig-tree (13:7).

Normally a fig tree was supposed to bear fruits in three years of time. When the owner of a vineyard could not find any fruit in a fig-tree planted in it even after three years (13:6-7), he ordered the gardener to cut it down (13:7). The reason was, it was not only unproductive but also “wasting the soil” (13:7) by preventing other trees from getting enough nourishment. Three years probably referred to the three years of Jesus’ ministry left for Israel either to repent or perish. The gardener pleaded with his master to give one more year’s time to that tree to bear fruits (13:8). In the meantime he wanted to “dig around it” and “put manure” on it (13:8).

Earlier Jesus had mentioned that with his ministry the year of the Lord’s favour or mercy (called Jubilee Year) had begun (Lk 4:19). Now Israel was given further opportunity out of God’s mercy – a second chance. If Israel did not repent, the gardener would have no choice next year but to cut it down (13:7). Earlier, a similar type of warning was given by John the Baptist: "Even now the axe is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire" (Lk 3:9). Cutting down is a symbol for God’s judgment. The implication to be drawn from the parable is, though God is patient and merciful, and gives his people enough opportunities for repentance, there is a limit. Finally, God’s judgement will come down on us.

4. Application to life

Jesus’ call for repentance and conversion in today’s Gospel is an urgent and desperate need, especially in the Lenten Season. It contains a stern warning about the disaster, that is, God’s judgement, which will fall on us if we do not change or get converted. It calls for a serious self-examination of the direction in which we are heading.

In Luke’s and other synoptic gospels, conversion or change of heart is always towards God’s Kingdom or its values. We are called to bear fruits of God’s Kingdom – genuine love-relationships among us, doing justice, building peace, bringing about fellowship, etc. If we do not have these fruits on the tree of our life, Lent is the time to do serious ‘digging around,’ ‘manuring’ (fertilizing) and pruning. We can take ‘digging around’ to mean a deeper and serious self-examination and reflection on our attitudes and life-style; ‘manuring’ to mean taking recourse to prayer, the Word of God and sacraments; and ‘pruning’ to mean giving up our selfish ways. This Lenten Season is another (but may be the last) opportunity/chance given by an infinitely merciful God to respond to his love and call to repentance. It is up to us either to harden our hearts, or to melt them by humbly turning towards God and his ways.

Today’s gospel draws our attention to another issue very much prevalent in human society, that is, a common belief in divine punishment for our sins. There is a wide-spread belief from ancient days till today that natural calamities like floods, droughts, earthquakes, cyclones, etc., are a punishment from God for our sins. In some societies, people believe that calamities like sickness, accidents and death are caused by evil spirits, witches or sorcerers and by a bad omen. In man-made calamities people normally blame the authorities (civil or religious), the system or anybody/ anything else. From today’s text we understand that Jesus did not equate natural or man-made calamities with divine punishment. He made use of the memory of the two above-mentioned human tragedies to speak about another disaster that could happen, unless things change. If we do not repent, that is, change our ways or turn away from ungodly ways and turn back to God’s ways, we also will perish like the Galileans and Jerusalemites. Natural and man-made calamities remind us of the fragility of human life, and to be prepared to meet the Lord by going through a personal purification every day and working for a social transformation.

Jesus has tackled this problem of evil in another place also. When his disciples met a blind man they asked Jesus, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents that he was born blind?” (Jn 9:2). Jesus replied that neither the man nor his parents had sinned; instead, that person’s blindness gave Jesus an opportunity to heal him and reveal God’s glory through this ‘work’ (that is, healing miracle. cf. Jn 9:3). Therefore, according to Jesus’ mind, instead of wasting our time in useless speculations like who sinned, it is high time that we check our own tendencies or weakness towards violence and revenge. Though people like Pilate are responsible and culpable for their misdeeds, it is useless to hide behind the blame-game and escape from our own responsibility for evil in the world. Otherwise, it could be an excuse for avoiding our own need for conversion.

Repentance and conversion should be a continual process because we never know when a tragedy of this sort will fall on us; when we shall meet a tragic accident; when we shall get a heart attack or become a victim of a fatal illness. Neither the Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate’s soldiers nor the Jerusalemites had any opportunity to repent, because the tragedy happened all of a sudden without any previous warning.  Repentance helps us to live without fear of death. It is an occasion to think about the impermanence of life. What would we do if we had only one year more to live? Therefore, it is high time to make up for wrongs done and opportunities missed. We are to live your life such a way that we shall have no fear of giving an account to God. Life is so fragile. At any time any of us could stand before the judgment seat of God without any notice.

Jesus reminds us not only about the need for personal conversion but also for self-examination of our social responsibility. For instance, we should think of the disaster that may fall on us and on the world if we do not protect our environment from further degradation by changing our selfish, greedy and irresponsible ways of over-exploiting and misusing natural resources, or if we conscientiously do not try to conserve nature’s resources. We should imagine the tragic consequences for our families and society if we do not protect our children from the onslaught of violence propagated by the media. Similarly, if we get into the habit of valuing money more than human relationships, or blindly imitate the corrupt ways of the world, what a disaster may fall on humanity! Jesus says that instead of busying ourselves in blaming others like Pilate for man-made calamities or attributing God’s curse/punishment to natural calamities, it is better to spend that time for personal transformation.

In the Bible we find a progressive growth in the revelation of God’s unconditional and boundless mercy towards sinners from the OT to the NT. In the OT, though God is generally depicted as gracious, merciful and forgiving, sometimes he is depicted as the one who curses and punishes his enemies.  Jesus came and purified or re-interpreted the OT thus: “You have heard it was said (in the OT)…..but I tell you ….(differently). [Read Matthew 5:21-48]. He presents the image of not a punishing and terrifying God, but of a Dear Daddy (‘Abba’ in Jesus’ language) who loves without any limit and conditions. The parables (stories) of the Lost Sheep and the Prodigal Son (found in Luke 15) tell us that God loves a sinner even while sinning and never rests until he/she returns, and forgives as if nothing has happened (when he/she repents).

Hence we need to read and understand the OT not literally or as it was understood by the Jews but with the ‘torch’ provided by Jesus in the NT. Therefore, we now understand the story of flood in the OT at Noah’s time when God drowned the whole world and showered rain of fire and brimstone over Sodom and Gomorrah in a symbolic way. Even today its message is fully relevant – If we do not lead a virtuous life (like the wicked people in Noah’s days), surely it has disastrous consequences for ourselves and our society. You see the fire and brimstone coming down on the Mother Earth (as it happened to Sodom and Gomorrah) every summer due to global warming and climate change. This is because human beings have overexploited the nature out of their greed. Can we say that climate change is God’s punishment? Thanks to Jesus Christ, we now don’t believe in a cursing, punishing, revengeful God, but in a God who blesses even his worst enemies.

5. Response to God's Word

What is our response to the last chance given by God to repent? Instead of blaming others for the evils of the world, do we ourselves change first and own our own responsibilities for the ills of the world? How often did we miss the opportunities given by God to reform ourselves and change our attitudes and life-style? Suppose you would get only one more year to live till the next Lenten Season, what would you do to make amendments in your life? Do you believe in a punishing and cursing God or an infinitely merciful Father, a Dear Daddy?

6.    A Prayer

Merciful Lord, give us the docility of heart to heed to your urgent appeal and also a stern warning about the disaster, which will fall on us if we do not get converted to your ways. Considering the fragility of our life, grant that we may feel the need of repentance to become worthy to meet you at the end of our life. Grant that we may make use of the manifold opportunities given by you to change, especially during this Lent, and bear fruits of love, justice, peace and fellowship. May your infinite mercy melt the hardness of our hearts. Amen.