March 23, 2025 at Saint William Catholic Church in Naples, FL
Exodus 3: 1-8 + Psalm 103 + 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6 + Luke 13: 1-9
The two events that Jesus refers to at the beginning of this Gospel passage could easily distract and lead us away from the point of the parable. These events could lead us to start the ongoing and never-ending question of why bad things happen to good people. Jesus never addresses that question. He raises those two situations about innocent people dying to remind us that the end can come for anyone unexpectedly whether you are good or not. Everyone sins and everyone dies. The issue here is what happens before the end comes. It’s about a fruitful life.
On the road to Jerusalem, Jesus is teaching and forming us all as he nears Jerusalem. Today, he challenges the smug assumption of those who enjoy good fortune when they look upon others with that ideology that too quickly says: “They got what they deserved.” No real disciple/follower of Jesus Christ could ever say that.
“Deserve” is a tricky word, and we use it way too often to assume that somehow God owes us or that somehow society owes us something. To this Jesus speaks through a parable here to suggest that our best hope, when it comes to whatever we deserve, is mercy.
The story of the fig tree reminds us that God is more merciful and more patient than we deserve. That fig tree had been there long enough to produce fruit. Yet, all it did was sap the soil of water and nutrients. It took and never gave.
There is an interesting comparison possible between the two men in this parable worth some thought. The owner who seems rather cold and greedy cares nothing for the tree. He is only interested in the product, figs. Chopping the tree down was an easy option. He didn’t have to do anything to help the tree. The gardener, on the other hand, is different. He took care of things and seems to be a lover of fruit trees. He cared about the tree, knew about the tree, and did not give up on it willing to put some of himself into it. He seems to know that things become precious to us not just because of what we get out them, but also because of what we put into them.
Too often we are like the owner in this story. His way seems sensible, but it is the way of the head over the heart. It is the way of power rather than love. Power is only interested in results, wanting them instantly. Power has little patience with the slow and no empathy with the weak. The gardener’s way is the way of love, patient and kind. Love does not give up easily, never forces, just coaxes, encourages, and waits.
We learn something about being a disciple of Jesus today, and we have choices to make over the head or the heart, force or coax, take or give. We may be reminded that all we can hope for in the end is mercy. There is a message here that God is patient with sinners. Yet the parable also makes it clear that there is such a thing as a last chance. For people who refuse chance after chance the day will come when they are shut out not because God shut them out, but because by their own choices they shut themselves out.