March 21, 2022
Paulist Fr. Rich Andre preached this homily on the Third Sunday of Lent (Year C) on March 20, 2022, at St. Austin Catholic Parish in Austin, TX. The homily is based on the day’s readings: Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15; Psalm 103; 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; and Luke 13:1-9.
In our gospel passage today, Jesus addresses two local tragedies that have happened recently – people who were brutally killed by Pontius Pilate, and people who died when a tower inadvertantly collapsed. He then uses this opportunity to tell a parable about a fig tree, a gardener, and a landowner. If we ever think we completely understand a parable, we’re probably mistaken. We don’t always have to be the fig tree in the story. How are we like the landowner? How can we be more like the gardener?
At this Mass, we will celebrate a special rite for the three people in our community who were baptized into other Christian traditions and will be coming into full communion with the Catholic Church at the Easter Vigil in 4 weeks. In this rite, we will ask them to scrutinize the sins of their past. As we offer them our support this weekend as they prepare for their first reconciliation and their confirmation, we also should scrutinize how well we are each living our vocation as Christian disciples.
Let us take a moment to acknowledge the times when we have fallen short, and to ask for God’s forgiveness.
In this parable, I don’t think that Jesus is telling us that we have a limited number of chances to reform our lives. I think the point is that we have a limited amount of time. No matter how old or how young we are, we could die tomorrow. Mass murder is currently occurring every day in Ukraine, with a ruthlessness unrivaled by Pontius Pilate. Just as people died in the collapse of the tower of Siloam, many Texans are at risk of death and destruction from the wildfires. Those who die tragic deaths have not been cursed by God; nor have they suffered fate or kismet; nor do they have bad karma. But whenever our lives end, we will have run out of the chances given to us to reform our lives. As Paul reminded us on Ash Wednesday, now is a very acceptable time to reconcile with God.
That said, I find the most common interpretation of today’s parable to be quite troubling. People traditionally see the fig tree as Israel, the owner as God the Father, and the gardener as Jesus. I believe that God the Father is a god of love. Would he give up on us as easily as the owner gives up on the fig tree? Does God the Father only spare us from wrath because Jesus puts in a good word for us?
Sometimes, we are the fig tree, in that we need God – and other people – to tend to us, to help us grow and flourish. God is ultimately the one who provides the sun, the water, and the nutrients to us. Others help regulate the delivery of the water and nutrients. And sometimes, more drastic care is necessary to restore us to health – perhaps a branch or a limb needs to be pruned, or we need to be uprooted and moved to another location! Lent is a time to ask if there are changes to make in our routines in order to more fully flourish.
But this gospel becomes much more challenging and relevant if we don’t always place ourselves in the role of the fig tree. What if we think of the fig tree as the co-worker who seems unable to produce high quality work? The easy thing is to treat them like the landowner would, and say that they should be cut off, let go. But at least 95% of the time, people want to do a good job. What if we were like the gardener instead? What if we tried to understand the co-worker’s challenges? Perhaps their job description isn’t clear. Maybe they need better training. Maybe there’s a family crisis stressing them out. Maybe there’s a different role in the company that’s better suited to their skills and interests.
What if the fig tree is like a family member who annoys us? There are cases when a family member is truly toxic or abusive, and we need to cut them out of our lives. However, how often do we cut ourselves off from people who really, on the whole, aren’t all that bad? We want others to give us a second chance, so shouldn’t we do the same for them?
Yes, the Bible has examples of Christians determining to keep certain people at the edge of the community until they change their ways…but there are countless more examples in the Bible of people being shown mercy when they were expecting to receive punishment. Whenever we decide to cut someone off, we need to weigh these decisions carefully and revisit them often. For example, too often, American prisons seem to be places solely to house people we have “cut off,” rather than places also to help people reform their lives by giving them the education, skills, and rehabilitation to become productive, law-abiding citizens.
Questions about justice and mercy are complex, and too often, we try to simplify them. God has given us the ability to choose justice, mercy, or a combination of both.
The parable of the fig tree invites us to ask ourselves several challenging questions. I’ll articulate them out loud, and give us a few moments to answer them in the silence of our hearts.
Question #1: Who are the people that I have cut out of my life?
Question #2: Who are the people that my family, my friends, my workplace, or the larger community have cut off?
Question #3: God has given us each the authority to be the landowner, the gardener, or a combination of both. With each of the people that I have thought about in Questons #1 and #2, which role does the Holy Spirit invite me to exercise?
The Lord is kind and merciful. We have an unlimited number of chances to reform our lives. But if today we hear God’s voice, let us not harden our hearts. What we don’t have is an unlimited amount of time.
Photo credit for podcast art: JR P/Flickr/CC BY-NC 2.0