3rd SUNDAY OF LENT
1
Corinthians 3:1-6,10-12
Luke 13:1-9
“…you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did."
Today’s gospel has two parts and carries two respective messages: one, the need of repentance; two, the meaning and importance of mediation. Let us try to meditate on these themes as this third week of lent puts us half way in our Lenten journey.
1. There are times in our lives when we cannot help but compare ourselves with other people, our lives with other people's lives. At times, this saddens us all the more when we find others much better than us. But there occasions too, when we feel a little bit consoled as we discover that at least we are not that unfortunate as others are. Except perhaps of the good or bad feelings they bring, this attitude does not actually make us any better or worse. At any rate, however, we must admit such attitude as part of being human. We cannot just do away with it, no matter how we want; we cannot help getting into it no matter how we avoid.
This may have been the thinking and disposition of some people who came to Jesus in the first part of our gospel today. But instead of riding on, Jesus goes straight to his point: sin is sin and thus the sinner has to repent. True, sin has its equivalent penalty, as any good work has a corresponding reward. It simply goes with the imperative of justice that one gets two, etc. This is in fact the logic behind our belief in heaven, hell and purgatory. Certainly, it would not be making any justice at all - nor making a Just God for that matter - if one who stole a chicken goes to hell together with the other who massacred a dozen human lives. But the point at stake is quite clear: Neither the Galileans Pilate murdered nor the eighteen people killed at Siloam were greater sinners than anybody else. They were not that less guilty either. No one knows. And that they may have been more or less sinful is not the point in today’s gospel. Sin is sin no matter how small. So, there is a need of true repentance, lest we end up with the same fate as that of those Galileans.
The reality of sin, therefore, urges us to get a strong grip on repentance. This is the point of Jesus, which the gospel of Luke seems to emphasize consistently. Repentance is metanoia. It means a change of heart, requiring a 180-degree turning back. Meaning, a repentant sinner turns his back on sin and embraces a life of grace. But more than anything else, repentance is a concrete sign of man's love to God. Thus, sin no matter how small must always be a constant reminder of man’s need to repent. And the one who dearly loves God makes no distinction. Whether big or small, he takes sin as an unjust offense against a God who deserves to be loved. He detests sin not so much because he dreads the loss of heaven and the pains of hell but most of all because he offends God who is all good and deserving of all his love. This is how our catholic act of contrition prepares us for a true confession and conversion. This is the right attitude a Christian must have.
2. The second part of the gospel teaches us the meaning and importance of mediation. Probably mindful of man's sinful nature, Luke puts this parable immediately after. True, man's combat against sin is life-long. The conflict within man seems endless. Even St. Paul acknowledges the reality of it when he himself does the things, which he does not want to do and does not do those things, which he wants to do (cf Rom 8:15). Man is indeed prone to sin. His weakness makes him vulnerable. He wants to run a good race and fight a good bout. Yet he falls very often. His faith calls him to regret, repent and amend. He is determined to run once more, twice more, and many times more. But sadly, he falls again even before he has completely risen up. This situation seems desperate. Even perhaps the spiritual champions must have realized that striving for spiritual perfection most often gives man that feeling of hopelessness. Certainly, it is like searching for fruit in fig tree that does not bear fruit at all. But it is precisely here that the message of today’s parable comes in.
The role of the gardener is the number one focus: “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.” At once, we can get the lesson of the parable. It speaks about the mediation of Christ. In a desperate situation when the best thing for the Father to do is to cut the sinner down, Christ comes in to intercede for the sinner’s cause and mediate on his behalf. The words of the gardener three virtues that characterize Christ as mediator. First is his relentless mercy; followed by patience as the second virtue; and then comes justice as the third and last. Even the sequence has a lesson to tell. Immediately, the gardener implores that the fig tree be spared. What urges him is his mercy. This reminds us of what the Psalmist of old would chant: "If you, O Lord, mark our iniquities, who can survive? But with you is mercy, and for this we revere you" (Ps 130:3-4). Christ knows how futile man’s effort would be. Left alone, heaven is closed. Thanks to his mercy, we are redeemed by his blood.
The patience of the gardener reminds us of the hard way Christ chooses just to save us. The way of the cross is surely a million times harder than cultivating the ground around the fig tree. But Christ does this to set an example once and for all. Christ's falling down for three times as he carries the cross must pose a great reminder not only of the weight of man’s sins but also of Christ's oneness with man who falls not only once but many times in this life's race. There is hope to rise, after all. But as Simeon has his part in the road to Calvary, so too must man know how to take up his cross in this life's difficult journey. A cross without a Christ is just as meaningless as a Christ without a cross.
God’s justice comes last in the parable. And more importantly, it comes as a consequence of the fig tree's fruitlessness. This is a message in itself. God wants all men to be saved. This is why he desires every man to bear fruit, and even labors much in order to see one. Hence, if ever man is cut down and loses eternity forever, it comes out as a result of man’s own doing, not God's. Meaning, man insists in his own ways, and in this case, he insists by remaining fruitless. In other words, sin is obstinacy of the heart.
3. The two significant messages can be harmonized into one message of love. If Christ's mediatorship is the greatest manifestation of God’s love to man, repentance becomes also the concrete expression of man’s love to God. For if sin means obstinacy of the heart, metanoia is nothing else but total change of heart. It is a total turning back: from sin to grace, from darkness to light, from fruitlessness to fruitfulness!