by Fr. Tommy Lane
On the first Sunday of Lent each year, the Gospel is about Jesus in the desert for forty days. On the second Sunday of Lent each year, the Gospel is Jesus’ Transfiguration. (The struggle between evil and good in the first Sunday foreshadows its climax in the death of Jesus, and Jesus’ transfiguration foreshadows his victory over evil in his resurrection.) But the Gospels for the third, fourth and fifth Sundays of Lent have one theme, repeated every three years. This year it is repentance and conversion. (Year A, baptism; Year B, Jesus' Passion and Death; Year C, repentance and conversion) Today we heard about the fig tree given one more year to produce fruit (Luke 13:1-9). Next Sunday we will hear about the prodigal son returning home after repenting, and his elder brother refusing to go into the house for the welcome party hosted by the father (Luke 15). The elder son also needs to repent. Two weeks from now, we will hear about the woman caught in sin who was brought to Jesus by the scribes and Pharisees who asked Jesus about stoning her (John 8:1-11). Jesus wrote on the ground—we don’t know what Jesus wrote—but the scribes and Pharisees went away, so many people think Jesus wrote their sins on the ground. Only Jesus and the woman remained, and Jesus asked if anyone condemned her. She replied, “No one” and Jesus said, “Neither do I condemn you. Go, and from now on do not sin any more.” She is to repent.
Unfortunately, tragedies happen to people all the time and in today’s Gospel, we hear of two which are to encourage us to think of repentance and conversion. One was when soldiers from Pilate, the Roman governor in Palestine, slaughtered some people from Galilee who had come to Jerusalem to offer sacrifice in the temple. A second tragedy was when a tower on the Jerusalem city wall in Siloam, the southern side of Jerusalem, fell and killed eighteen people. In case anyone would mistakenly think the way those people died was a judgment on their lives, Jesus made it clear that was not the case. They were not more guilty than anyone else. But Jesus said those tragedies were a call to repent, “if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:5) If Jesus were speaking to us today, we can imagine he would say something like this: those people who died in Kharkiv, those people who died in Mariupol, were not greater sinners than anyone else. But if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did. Then Jesus told a parable about a tree that had not borne fruit for three years. The owner wanted the tree cut down. Presumably he wanted to plant a new tree in its place that would produce fruit, but the gardener asked that the tree be given a chance for one more year and the owner agreed. When Jesus tells a parable, we are to see where we are in the parable. I think we are to see ourselves as the tree, and we are given time to bear fruit. Lent is the time for us to bear the fruit of repentance and conversion.
Jesus told this parable because he wants the best for us. We read in John’s Gospel, “God sent his Son into the world, not to condemn the world, but that the world might be saved through him.” (John 3:17) Repentance is for our salvation. Jesus came into the world, not to condemn it but that it might be saved through him. Repentance is not something negative but results in a grace—more of the life of Jesus within us. Repentance is not something negative, but results in us being new persons. During a Wednesday audience in 2013, Pope Francis gave a very positive description of repentance which is helpful:
If we close ourselves
to the love of Jesus, we condemn ourselves. Salvation is to open
oneself to Jesus, it is he who saves us. If we are sinners—and we
all are—we ask him for forgiveness and if we go to him with the
desire to be good, the Lord forgives us. But for this we must open
ourselves to Jesus’ love, which is stronger than all else. Jesus’
love is great, Jesus’ love is merciful, Jesus’ love forgives; but
you have to open yourself and to open oneself means to repent, to
accuse oneself of the things that are not good and which we have
done. The Lord Jesus gave himself and he continues to give himself
to us, in order to fill us with all of the mercy and grace of the
Father.
(Pope Francis,
Wednesday 11 December, 2013)
To be practical, how might we repent? Turning again to Pope Francis, here is a collection of his thoughts on fasting:
Fast from hurting
words and say kind words.
Fast from sadness and be filled with
gratitude.
Fast from anger and be filled with patience.
Fast
from pessimism and be filled with hope.
Fast from worries and
have trust in God.
Fast from complaints and contemplate
simplicity.
Fast from pressures and be prayerful.
Fast from
bitterness and fill your hearts with joy.
Fast from selfishness
and be compassionate.
Fast from grudges and be reconciled.
Fast from words and be silent so you can listen.
(Taken from the
website of
USCCB)
We could add some others:
Fast from wasting time
on the internet to spend time with others and God.
Fast from
being the center of the world to make others the center of the
world.
Fast from foul words to show your dignity as a child of
God by how you speak.
Fast from taking the Lord’s name in vain
and thank Jesus for dying for you.
A tree did not bear fruit for three years. The owner wanted the tree cut down, but the gardener asked that the tree be given a chance for one more year and the owner agreed. We are the tree, and we are given Lent to bear fruit.
© Fr. Tommy Lane 2022
This homily was delivered in a parish in Ireland.
More Homilies for the Third Sunday of Lent Year C
A Priest’s Near Death Experience and the Parable of the Fig Tree