Gospel Refection for Sunday 24th March The 3rd Sunday of Lent
God who never gives up on us…
Jesus was a great story teller! He spoke to the people in ways that they were familiar with and understood. He spoke about farming, shepherds, wine, fishing and sowing seeds. Jesus spoke the language of the people of his time. Today, in our gospel is no different.
Bad things unfortunately happen to good people; it’s a fact of life. At the time of Jesus, as some believed in the gospel, those who died at that hands of Pontius Pilate were great sinners. Jesus doesn’t think so! But he does warn those who are self-righteous that they will suffer – unless they change and repent.
The Parable of the Fig Tree
To illustrate this, Jesus offers the people and us today a parable; a farmer plants a fig tree in his vineyard. Even after three years of care, watering and maintenance, it produced no fruit whatsoever.
He asked one of his workers to dig it up and throw it away. The worker suggested another solution: ‘Leave it one more year, give me time to dig around it; it may bear fruit next year, if not, then you can cut it down.’
What could this possibly have to do with us today? Let’s be honest; none of us are perfect. We all makes mistakes; we say and do things that are wrong, that hurt others and break our friendship with God.
However, God does not dismiss or disown us; we are always given another chance to change, grow and improve. Who knows, we too might produce good fruit if we are given the time! (God has plenty of time!)
Jesus comes and accepts us as we are; he loves us not because we are perfect, but in the hope that we will change over the course of our lives and become perfect. If I were to wait until I was perfect to welcome Jesus it would never happen.
One simple word: Repent!
Jesus wants to be part of my life now, just as I am; with all my faults and with all my potential. Our God is a God of second chances; God never turns anyone away who can honestly say, ‘Lord, have mercy on me a sinner.’ The message of today’s gospel can be put into one simple word: Repent!
In the Old Testament we read, ‘Lord, you have cast all my sins behind your back.’ (Isaiah 38.17). When we sin and make a mistake, God neither remembers not holds onto them. God simply offers us another chance to change, repent and improve our ways.
Lent encourages and challenges us not to sin, but when we do, we are given the chance to take our place among those whose lives are not perfect. We are loved sinners, the very ones Jesus came to embrace, forgive and love. Lent reminds that a second, third, fourth and fifth chance are just as valuable and needed as the first one.
Lent reminds us that God loves us just as we are; as sinners. To follow Jesus is not just about how to live, but how to live again, again and again with joy, faith and hope. Why? Because we are sinners who are loved and who are always given another chance to change, repent and produce good fruits!
– Br Michael Moore OMI
Gospel, Luke 13: 1-9
The Lord of the vineyard offers us ample chance to bear fruit
Some people came and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans?
No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them-do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem?
No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.” Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.
So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’
He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next ear, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
