Friends, today’s Gospel includes the parable of a fig tree that bears no fruit.
This
is a standard trope in the theological literature of Israel: the tree
that bears no fruit is evocative of the moral person who bears no
spiritual fruit. Every single person has a mission: to be a conduit of
the divine grace into the world. Planted in God—think of Jesus’ image of
the vine and the branches—they are meant to bring forth the fruits of
love, peace, compassion, justice, nonviolence.
And
notice that this should be effortless. The closer God gets, the more
alive we become. But the mystery of sin is that we resist the invasion
of God; we prefer to go our own way; we cling to our own prerogatives
and our own narrow freedom. And the result is lifelessness. It feels
like depression, like your life is going nowhere—in Dante’s language,
like being "lost in a dark wood."
In
Jesus’ parable, the one caring for the tree begs the owner for one more
chance to manure the tree and to hoe around it, hoping to bring it back
to life. But if no life comes, the tree will be cut down. This is the
note of urgency that is struck over and again in the Bible. We can run
out of time. We can become so resistant to God’s grace that our leaves
dry up. This is not divine vengeance; it is spiritual physics.
So don’t be afraid of God! Surrender to him.
Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 478
Brothers and sisters:
Grace was given to each of us
according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
Therefore, it says:
He ascended on high and took prisoners captive;
he gave gifts to men.What does “he ascended” mean except that he also descended
into the lower regions of the earth?
The one who descended is also the one who ascended
far above all the heavens,
that he might fill all things.
And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,
others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
for building up the Body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of faith
and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood
to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
so that we may no longer be infants,
tossed by waves and swept along by every wind of teaching
arising from human trickery,
from their cunning in the interests of deceitful scheming.
Rather, living the truth in love,
we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
from whom the whole Body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
with the proper functioning of each part,
brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
He 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.’”
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