Luke 13:1-9      Gardening tips

It is an age-old question: “Why do bad things happen to good people?”  We hear of two tragedies in the Gospel today.  The first is where a number of Galileans were killed by the Romans as they made sacrifices to God in the Temple.  Some Jewish leaders at the time viewed the Galileans as second-class Jews, and so the question raised here is about more suffering.  They want to know if the Galileans suffered because they were not really ‘Jewish enough’.  Jesus responds with a sharp question about another recent tragedy, when eighteen people were killed by the collapsing tower of Siloam.  Were these people worse offenders than others in Jerusalem?  Is this really how God works in our world?

Jesus then tells his hearers the parable of the fig tree.  It is an appropriate parable for Lent, because it makes us a little uncomfortable by challenging us.  Jesus invites his listeners to focus on living a full life themselves, rather than spending time wondering whether others deserve their misfortune.  When we hear of tragedies it is often an opportunity for us to reflect on the big questions of life.  It is also an invitation to ask ourselves, ‘how am I doing?’, because we realise that death can come at any moment.

In my life, am I bearing the fruit of which I am capable?  The intent is not to beat ourselves over the head with a branch of the fig tree, rather it is to help us live our best lives and to make the most of the time that has been given to us.  If we are not bearing fruit, then we might take the opportunity of looking more closely at our lives to see what needs attention.  Maybe some extra pruning or nourishment is required?  The parable concerns the unfruitfulness of the tree, but it also suggests that there is the opportunity for change.  Jesus invites us to the fullness of life.

© Triona Doherty & Jane Mellet, 2021.  The Deep End: A Journey with the Sunday Gospels in the Year of Luke. (Dublin: Messenger Publications 2021.

______________________

“I wish the need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo.  ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and do all who live to see such times.  But that is not for them to decide.  All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.’         – J.R. R. Tolkien