March 20th 2022.  Third Sunday of Lent

GOSPEL   Luke 13, 1-9

Translated from a homily by Don Fabio Rosini, broadcast on Vatican Radio

 

Don Fabio’s reflection follows the Gospel reading . . .

 

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GOSPEL   Luke 13, 1-9

Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with that of their sacrifices. At this he said to them, ‘Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did.’

He told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it but found none. He said to the man who looked after the vineyard, “Look here, for three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and finding none. Cut it down: why should it be taking up the ground?” “Sir,” the man replied “leave it one more year and give me time to dig round it and manure it: it may bear fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.”‘

The Gospel of the Lord: Praise to you Lord Jesus Christ

 

SUMMARY OF HOMILY

1. How do we make sense of the tragic events of our day? Is someone responsible for them? Jesus shows us that there is a right way and a wrong way to respond to such happenings.

Jesus is asked to make sense of the tragic events that happen in his day. Such events are part and parcel of every age. In response, Jesus tells the parable of the man with the fig tree. It has produced no fruit, but the labourer pleads that it be given an opportunity for one more year, while he digs around it and manures it. We too are being given an opportunity in the tragic events that are being presented to us on a daily basis! The second reading on Sunday (from St Paul to the Corinthians) recounts how the Israelites were taken out of Egypt and nourished by the Lord on spiritual food. But they failed to respond in a way that pleased the Lord and they were struck down. St Paul says that this is an example to us that “we might not desire evil things”. The parable of the fig tree, similarly, challenges us to respond in the right way to the difficult challenges that face us.

 

2. The tragedies of our time are invitations to conversion and to fruitful living.

The second reading recounts the story of Moses and the burning bush. The Lord tells Moses that he has seen the oppression and suffering of his people and that he intends to liberate them. Similarly, the negative chronicle that we read in the Gospel regarding the cruelty of the Romans and the tragedy of the tower are not just news to be processed but invitations to conversion. Moses approaches the burning bush with curiosity, but the Lord tells him to take off his shoes for it is sacred ground. When we hear the negative headlines in the news, we too are asked to not remain at the level of curiosity. We are to search for the sacred and to bear fruit. The facts that we hear call upon us to respond in a fruitful way. History is not a collection of facts but a series of opportunities to convert and bear fruit.

 

3. Jesus is the merciful keeper of the vineyard. He digs around us and wants us to be fruitful. In the difficulties of our lives, let us respond according to Christ’s grace.

The Lord Jesus is the merciful keeper of the vineyard. He has descended to proclaim to us a time of grace. He has dug around us with his wisdom, fertilized us with his blood, called upon us to mature and respond with love to the things that happen to us in history. When these difficult or challenging things happen, our task is not to understand why these events have happened, but to know how to respond to them. In fact, Jesus tells us explicitly in this passage not to ask if such and such a thing happened because of the subjective guilt of such and such a person. Rather, what we are asked to do when we see these tragedies is to repent and be converted. This third Sunday of Lent, what we are called to do is to consider these things that happen in our lives and all around us, and to respond with love, the love that God places within us, not with some sort of forced muscular reaction. Let us respond by listening to the inspirations that God gives us. We are asked to not let these events get on top of us, but to respond fruitfully by living according to Christ.

 

ALTERNATIVE HOMILY

Some people approach Jesus and ask him what he thinks of the tragic news story regarding the Galileans who were killed by Pilate. In one fell swoop, Jesus addresses two mistaken attitudes of these people: firstly, it is wrong to conclude that the sinfulness of the Galileans led to their misfortune; and, secondly, it is wrong to look on tragedies such as this in a detached way without our hearts being moved. We must be converted or we will perish the same way! In today’s culture we browse news stories as if we were in a supermarket. We behave as detached observers and use these stories to titillate our curiosity. Jesus is warning us that the painful facts that these stories relate are a call to change our hearts, to remind us that the time for conversion is short. He makes this point with the parable of the fig tree. The tree is given just one more year. It must bear fruit by then or it will be cut down. Jesus is telling us that he wants to see fruit from us. We must cease acting like detached spectators in the world. The tragedies in our news stories are a call to radical conversion. Just like those victims in the news, our time is coming soon and we will be asked to give an account of ourselves. The news is not a commodity for recreation! It is a call to conversion, to truth, to fraternity, to service.