March 23, 2025 Third Sunday of Lent

Welcome Father Daniel Today’s Readings: Exod 3:1-8a, 13-15 | 1 Cor Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12 | Lk 13:1-9

Jesus in the Gospel invites all men and women to repentance and conversion of heart. In today’s Gospel, some people approach Jesus and tell him of how some Galileans had been killed by Roman soldiers in the Temple sanctuary. It was said that Pilate had built the much-needed aqueducts in Jerusalem using the Temple money. The Galileans were angry at this and they protested. Pilate sent the soldiers to mingle among them during the festival and had them killed for their revolt. Jesus seems to be aware of the tragedy. History, of course, says nothing of Pilate’s act here mentioned. Pilate’s rule was marked by cruelty toward Jews, and contempt for their religious views and rites. Now Jesus responds by taking another track altogether. Instead, he mentions another incident, apparently a pure accident when a building fell on some purely innocent people and killed many. Jesus asks his questioners whether it is their sin that brought the innocent people to death. In fact, Jesus provides us with the reason for this disproportion between misdeeds and punishment: “Unless you repent you will all likewise perish.”

The response of Jesus is built around the event, where people are taken away by sudden death. Of this instance, namely the tower of Siloam also, there is no other historic mention. It too was a small incident among the accidents of the day. This tragedy was done by humans. Towers that are built for safety often prove to be men’s destruction. Jesus cautioned his hearers not to blame great sufferers, as if they were, therefore, to be considered great sinners. When on earth no place or employment can be considered secure from the stroke of death, we should consider the sudden removal of others as warnings to ourselves. On these accounts, Christ founded a call to repentance. The same Jesus bids his listeners repent, for the kingdom of heaven was at hand; or again he called them to repent, for otherwise they too shall perish. This also brings to our mind the problem of suffering why God allows people to suffer.

The Gospel Reading mentions of the parable of Jesus namely the unproductive fig tree which stresses God’s divine patience and forbearance. This parable immediately follows after Jesus explained that sin is offensive to God, that it deserves severe punishment. Sin is understood as missing the mark and negation of God’s presence. In the parable that Jesus told, a man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. When the man went to look at it for fruit, he found none on it. The tree had now been without fruit for three consecutive years. Finally, tired of that useless tree, the man told the gardener to cut it down. Upon hearing this, the gardener asked the owner to patiently wait another year during which time he would dig around the tree and put manure on it in the hope that it would bear fruit. If that helps after one year and there are fruits on it, good; if not, then it should be cut down. The fig tree was a favourite tree of the Jews. It was a tree of peace where a happy Jew sat for his regular prayers. Here is the fig tree that had taken so much nourishment from the soil.

In the parable, the master had already waited for three years and the gardener asks for another year where it would receive extra care. Here Jesus is issuing a warning to all of us that now it is the time to repent and to change. No one knows when God will call us to ultimate accountability. The fig tree reminds us of two kinds of human persons, those who give and those who take. Those who give symbolise the sacrifice they make and fulfil the purpose of their existence. They give what they have without holding back anything for themselves and this is in generosity. Those who only take have to justify their existence. They have to fulfil their purpose of existence. To accept Christ’s message is to be open for conversion and change of heart. It invites the person to bear fruit and fulfil the purpose for which it has been created, namely to give. Repentance or Conversion means to respond to God’s care for us, to devote ourselves to a life of vigilance day in and day out and constantly renew our cooperation with God’s grace.

The parable of the useless fig tree while it applies directly to the stubborn Jews of Christ’s time has a lesson for all times and for all sinners. God’s mercy is infinite but man’s earthly life, during which he can obtain the divine mercy, is very finite. God’s mercy can forgive sins no matter how grievous but it cannot forgive even less serious sins unless the sinner is sorry and asks for forgiveness. Christ the high priest who is the mediator between God and man is continually interceding for us but unless we do our part of repenting and changing our behaviour, his intercession will be of no avail to us. God does not want anyone to be destroyed but he always respects our freedom and humility to repent. He calls us to be vigilant and alert to listen to him and respond to him. The gardener in the parable is Jesus himself who pleads for us continuously.

During this season of lent, we ask the grace to live in a continual spirit of renewal and repentance. Repentance demands that we become honest to ourselves and recognise our unfruitfulness and change ourselves to bear the right fruit for God. Moses was asked to change his view and do his mission. Each fig tree is expected to bear fruit that represents the good works and virtues of those who help to build the Body of Christ. Each must answer his calling according to where he has been sent by God. The fig tree is called upon to be generous in the fulfilment of the mission. We have to recognise our nothingness before God and be ready to receive him during this season of Lent. It is only after such a serious reflection that we shall have that remorse for our failures.

Source: shortened from Fr. Eugene Lobo S.J. Shimoga, India, https://msjnov.wordpress.com/2025/03/16/third-sunday-of-lent-march-23-2025/ Image: Theotokos the Unburnt Bus icon

News

• 23 March - There will be confessions in English after Mass.
• 23 March - The Parish Team meets after Mass to discuss a few issues. We invite anybody who wishes to be a part of the decision-making process to stay after Mass for the meeting.