Do you bear fruit?
3rd Sunday of Lent
Jesus received a tragic report. Some Galileans were killed by Pilate
and their blood was mingled with their sacrifices. Jesus knew there was
something the people wanted to insinuate, that these dead were the worst
sinners in town. Jesus even
offered another instance of similarly tragic nature. Eighteen men died when a
tower fell on them. Did the people
think they were also great sinners because they suffered thus?
In the gospel for the third
Sunday of Lent (Luke13), Jesus carefully scrutinizes the hearts, the motives of
the people who came to him. They
so easily accused others and imputed since on others. That is a strong human
tendency. We gloat at others
people’s misfortunes and think they deserve them because of their unworthiness.
This is the object of rumor and gossip mills.
But the Lord took a different
response. He did not join the
people in their speculations. He
taught them it was not their business to judge other people’s conscience. Jesus shared the parable of the fig tree. He wanted the people to see that God
does not want us to see the “others” change before our eyes. It is rather that God wants to see the
change in “us”.
A man planted a fig tree and
cultivated and nourished it. For
three years he has been visiting his tree in search of fruits, but continually
he was disappointed. The caretaker
suggested that the tree be cut down.
The man refused to give up.
Give it another try, he said.
Maybe in the future, it will bear fruit.
The parable shows us that while
we expect others to prove their worth, to show they are worthy, to manifest
their innocence, the Lord is actually probing our hearts and inviting us
instead to bear fruit. And how
patient he is in his invitation.
We must admit that we are lacking fruit but God if always faithful in
visiting his people. The call to
conversion is first of all personal, as the encounter between God and Moses on
the mountain in today’s first reading (Exo 3).
Last week has been a difficult
week for me. People came to me
reporting about a person they accuse of a terrible wrong. And other people cheered on as the
accused was humiliated, feasted on and maligned. It turned out that all these things were conditioned by a
few persons secretly settling a grudge.
When questioned, one by one, the accusers admitted to exaggerations and
outright lies to destroy a person.
Like the people in Jesus’ time,
do we look at others and demand of them what we ourselves do not do? Are we content in accusing others with
faults we know reside more steadfastly in our hearts? Do we think others must be converted while we are immune
from the call to transformation?
It is not our neighbor who must
change. We all must desire
conversion. The call is personal
like the encounter between God and Moses, in the mountain called Confession. When
we open our hearts to this humble meeting with God, maybe like the fig tree, we
will bear fruit in the coming days and years of our lives.
