There were some present at that very time who told Jesus of the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered thus? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them, do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who dwelt in Jerusalem? I tell you, No; but unless you repent you will all likewise perish.” And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on fertilizer. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
- Saint Luke 13:1-9
As we make our way through the weeks of Lent, it is as though we are on a clearly marked path, with signposts along the way, directing us safely from one point to the next, toward that all-important destination of Easter.
Every year Lent begins with that dramatic story of the temptations of our Lord Jesus Christ. There He is, out in the desert undergoing those attacks from Satan, and through His divine strength and wisdom, we’re able to begin the Lenten journey with the assurance that the power of Christ always overcomes evil and temptation.
Then our Lenten path takes us each year to the height of the Mount of the Transfiguration. And there, with Peter, James and John, we see the Old Covenant united with the New, as Moses and Elijah converse with our transfigured Lord, showing us the glory that shall be revealed on the Last Day, when we come face to face with Almighty God.
Now, on this third Sunday in Lent we’re given the key as to how we move from the desert to the mountain, from temptation to glory – and the answer is “repentance.” Of course, repentance is not necessarily very popular. We’re at a point in our social history when it seems we’re always supposed to be affirming towards others, and we’re supposed to take great pains not to damage a person’s self-esteem. Apparently things like sin, and death, and judgement, and everything surrounding them, are “too negative,” and so aren’t talked about. And for a lot of people, repentance falls into that same category. Too many of us try to dismiss the fact that we have sinned, and that we need to admit it, and say we’re sorry for it. But our Lord Jesus Christ had no such hesitation: He says very clearly in today’s Gospel, “unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
Repentance is an essential ingredient in our spiritual lives. It allows us to get beyond “self” so that we can be more truly conformed to Christ’s likeness. The Greek term for it is “metanoia,” which means a “turning away from sin and a turning back to God.” In that way, repentance is a two-fold thing – it’s a “turning away” and it’s a “turning towards.” In today’s Gospel, Jesus calls for repentance within the context of some events which had happened locally and were well-known to those who were listening to him.
Apparently, one incident was a repression that had been carried out by Pilate against a group of Galileans, and another incident was an accident which had killed eighteen people. Since we’re a couple of thousand years away from these events, we have no idea who these people were or what the circumstances were, but Jesus used them to make an important point: He pointed out all those deaths, and then said that if the people who were listening to Him didn’t repent, they’d also die.
The way He said it was shocking to His listeners, so to help them get His point, He tells them a parable that puts what He said in context. He told the story about a fig tree that hadn’t given fruit when it should have. When the owner wants to cut it down, the vinedresser asks him to give him time to cultivate it and fertilize it, so that it might give fruit the next year. By telling this story, Christ wants to make the point that repentance is essential – in fact, it’s a matter of spiritual life and death – but God is patient, and He’ll help us turn towards Him. He won’t abandon us even when we’re in serious need of repentance. He’ll be like the vinedresser, cultivating us and helping us to turn to Him, because He loves us and wants us to be with Him.
When it comes to repentance it means we have to see the activity of God in our lives. We need to receive and accept what God sends us. We need to let God direct our lives. We need to conform our plans to His. Our position is precarious when we think that we’re in no need of repentance and reform. It’s a short step from that, into thinking that we can simply rely on ourselves to get us through this life and into the next. We’re so easily deluded into thinking that our strength come from ourselves. No – our only foundation is found in our dependence upon God.
So, Christ calls us to repentance – but repentance is as much an attitude as it is an action. If our lives are going to be conformed to Christ, then our hearts first have to be made like His. Just as He loves us with that yearning and passionate love which led Him to the Cross, so we need to have a love for Him that makes us willingly take up our cross and follow Him. Christ is that Love which knows no rest and which never tires until it has found us. Today we need to repent – that is, we need to turn away from our sins and turn towards God, and in turning, we show our love for the Lord Jesus Christ.
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Pictured: "The Vine Dresser and the Fig Tree"
by James Tissot (1836-1902)