Cycle C 3rd Sunday of Lent



Ex 3:1-8,13-15; 1 Cor 10:1-6,10-12; Luke 13:1-9
 
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Deadliest Natural calamities and man made disasters have been part of human existence. Blizzards, diseases, famines, floods, volcanic eruptions and wild fires have consumed the life of millions.
 
Haiti has not yet been recovered from the shock of the earthquake that took away the life of more than 200,000 people. The earthquake in Indian Ocean in 2004 caused widespread death over India and its neighbouring countries, and the great Chinese famine in 1958 deprived 43 million people of their life.
 
In today’s Gospel Jesus quotes two disasters.  The massacre ordered by Pilot and collapse of a tower in Jerusalem. Some people had come from Galilee to worship in the Temple. But Pilot sent soldiers and slaughtered them as they were offering sacrifice in the temple. Secondly, Jesus refereed to the death of 18 men caused by the collapse of a tower in Jerusalem. As against the popular belief that these tragedies and punishment for their sins Jesus reiterated the idea that these are signs for us. They remind us that our time is limited and we have to repent.
 
Jesus emphasizes the importance of repentance and the need to bear the fruit of repentance through the parable of the fig tree. In the vineyards of Palestine the fig tree had a more than average chance but it had not proved worthy of it.
 
Jesus reminded his listeners that they would be judged by the opportunities they had. Many times God reminded the people of Judah to turn away from their sinful ways and accept the message of peace and justice.  Many prophets were sent to remind them of their covenant with God. Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel and a number of prophets came with the call to repentance, but the people ignored all of them and missed all the opportunities to return to God. Hence, the punishment was inevitable, the kingdom was looted, and the people were deported by foreign powers.
 
We are also provided with a lot of opportunities but we fail to discover them. C E M Joad wrote, “We have the powers of God and we use them like irresponsible school boys.”  No generation in human history enjoyed so much of comforts and convenience as that of ours. No generation had so much of medical facilities as that of ours. No generation had the opportunity to see and speak to the people living in the other end of the world. No generation was able to traverse continents and oceans in great speed as we do. And no generation had so much of opportunities and chances as that of ours. Hence our responsibility too is greater.
 
Sir Isaac Newton was once turned out of class as he was incapable of catching up with the class. Albert Einstein was almost dismissed from the school as a disobedient student. Abraham Lincoln contested elections many times only to taste miserable failure. But each of these famous people proved to have certain genius and it grew out of their dedication. They discovered their opportunities and blossomed. The demand on us too is to discover what we are capable of and to accomplish it.
 
Time and again God has shown his impatience with people who do not take advantage of the opportunities he has given to them. In the second reading Paul reminds us off all the opportunities that God’s chosen people missed – and the results. We should not fail to read the signs of time, which serve as constant reminders for a change of heart, mind, soul and will.
 
The Second lesson the parable gives is that uselessness invites disaster.  The process of evolution is to produce useful things, what is useful will survive and grow from strength to strength, but useless things will be eliminated. In the threshing floor the farmer segregates corn and the chaff. Corn is stored and the chaff is burned. A peasant visits his field and identifies and removes the weed so that the corn may grow well. Hence the question is clear, “Of what use are we in this world.”  Unless we are useful we do not have the right to inherit the world and exist in it.
 
The third lesson the parable gives us is that nothing that only takes out can survive. Look at a parasitic plant it draws food and water from the host tree. Finally the host tree dies and it perishes with it. The fig tree was drawing strength and sustenance from the soil, and in turn was producing nothing.
 
We have received innumerable gifts from nature and our predecessors. Use them, improve them and leave for posterity with the mark of our contribution. Abraham Lincoln wrote, “Die when I may, I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flower whenever I thought a flower would grow.”
 
The parable imparts the message of a second chance. Usually a fig tree takes 3 years to produce fruit. If it doesn’t produce fruit by that time it is unlikely to produce any fruit. However, the fruit tree was given one more chance. We too are given chances time and again through constant reminders by natural events, word of God, and the prophetic words and deeds of our brothers and sisters. Never fail to read the signs of time and accept their message. Every calamity, every tragedy, every natural event has a message for us. It is a sign, a reminder that our time is limited and Hence, repent and make ourselves socially useful.
 
Listen to the words of Ben Jonson
 
“It is not growing like a tree
In bulk, doth make man better be;
Or standing long an oak, three hundred year,
To fall a log at last, dry, bald and sere;
                   A lily of a day
                   Is fairer far in May,
Although it fall and die that night
It was the plant and flower of light
In small proportions we just beauties see;
And in short measures life may perfect be.”

-Satish