Lk 13: 1-9
Ex 3:1-8.13-15
1 Cor 10:1-6.10-12

focus: Jesus is compassionate, but not wishy-washy.
function: He calls sinners, he calls us, to repentance.

Why they? Why does God allow this to happen? Why doesn’t God spare the innocent? Disasters and calamities raise these questions time and again. At Biblical times and today, people look for explanations.

Some approach Jesus with this on their minds. They talk about a horrific incident. The ruthless Roman governor, Pontius Pilate, had Galilean pilgrims murdered. The people are powerless faced with such abuse of power. So, they ask the question: Were those Galileans somehow guiltier than others?

Jesus corrects this way of thinking. No, he says! We have no right to judge others. To reinforce his point, he gives another example: 18 people were killed when a tower collapsed. Was this punishment? Again: No! Jesus does not answer directly in words the question of why people have to suffer. Instead, he answers it with compassion, showing suffering people God’s great love for them and solidarity with them.

In today’s gospel he directs his listeners’ attention into a different direction: We all are in need of repentance, he points out. The parable of the fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit describes the fat of those who don’t repent. The parable’s “bear fruit or die” is parallel to the “repent or perish” in the first part of the gospel. This is a parable of crisis – with the intention to light a fire under us if we are procrastinators, who say, “tomorrow not today, I will change my life.” Tomorrow, Jesus points out, might be too late.

At the same time, this is also a parable of hope, of hope to the disciple of Jesus who stumbles along the Christian way and falls time and again: Now there is another chance, in every “now” throughout our lifetime!

This morning’s first reading underscores the hopeful aspect of Jesus’ message. To Moses at the burning bush, God is revealed as “I AM WHO AM.” The God of Israel is the God who IS WITH his people to guide them faithfully, despite their own faithlessness. God is the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our God, the God of promise who insistently and persistently loves and cares for his people.

Dear sisters and brothers, Jesus is compassionate, but not wishy-washy. He calls sinners, he calls us to repent. What can we do during Lent to “cultivate” or “fertilize” our spiritual lives? One idea would be a good confession, in which we honestly acknowledge the reality of our lives, including our shortcomings and our sinfulness.

The traditional three Lenten practices of prayer, fasting and works of charity can help us to become more open again toward God and toward the needs of our brothers and sisters. In the Eucharist, we can hold out our whole being, our strengths, abilities and talents, as well as our weaknesses and struggles to God that God may transform them together with the Eucharistic gifts and use them for His greater glory.

Finally, Jesus’ parable is a call for all of us, “to live out in our daily lives the patience and mercy which the Father constantly extends to all of us” (Pope Francis). Giving other people the benefit of the doubt, being patient, refraining from judgment and showing mercy – that’s what our gospel today calls us to also.

Ultimately God is Lord over his orchard. However, the essence of God is captured better in the parable in the person of the gardener than in the person of the orchard owner! And we, as daughters and sons of God, are invited to do everything we can in order to be also for one another loving and caring gardeners and in this way a source of HOPE.

AMEN.

~Fr. Thomas Leitner, OSB