The Third Sunday in Lent, March 20, 2022

Luke 13:1–9

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘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.’ ”

The account in which the Lord warns the people to repent lest they die like the people in Siloam and the Galileans, and the parable about the fig tree, may not seem to go together, but they are both about repentance.  The fig tree must start acting like a fig tree and produce fruit in due season.  The man who owned the orchard did not expect anything extraordinary from his fig trees, only that they produce figs.  This particular fig tree seemed unwilling to do so, although a gardener tended it.  The fig tree acted against itself in its unfruitfulness.  This is the situation between God and ourselves.  He does not give us extraordinary commands which no one can follow.  He does not order us all to fast forty days and forty nights, or to walk on the water.  His laws for us do not benefit him in any way as the laws of tyrants do.  His laws are for our good and simply direct us to act in a way which is good for us.  Above all, he commands us to love.  There should seem no need for him to direct us to do this since love can be so joyful and liberating, but we humans balk at it and delay and even refuse — acting just as the fig tree.  We do this out of pride, rejecting laws we have not made for ourselves, or even deciding for ourselves who is worthy of our love.  We also do this out of sloth, for love is sometimes work, although, as in the case of the harvest, it is work that brings joy.

We can think of the unproductive fig tree as any part of our life that is not dedicated to God.  If we examine our lives and find that a certain relationship is not good for us or is sinful, then we “cut it down”.  It is not helping us and is hindering us from our true purpose.  Or, if we find in our life some aspect which is good but that could be better oriented to God, then we modify it accordingly — we “cultivate” and “fertilize” it.

The “fig tree” signifies Israel in the Prophets.  The Lord found no fruit on it — no believers in him — and so found it without life.  It particularly signifies the leaders of the Jews at the time, who were plotting against him.  We must take care in our lives that we bring forth fruit through our prayer, words, and good works so that the Lord will be pleased with us.