Word to the Wise
Sunday, March 23, 2025 - 3rd Sunday of Lent - C
[Exod 3:1-8a, 13-15; 1 Cor 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9]"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.'" [Luke]
SUNDAY, MARCH 23, 2025 3RD SUNDAY OF LENT
[Exodus 3:1-8a, 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12; Luke 13:1-9. These are the scriptures for Cycle C, the one for this year. However, in parishes with an OCIA program, today is the "first scrutiny" and the scriptures for Cycle A may be used.]
"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.'" [Luke]
I will be preaching a "parish mission" at a local parish here in Lufkin, TX, during this week on the theme of "Cultivating the fig tree." The image is important because it may describe the state of spiritual being for many people in ways big or small. The owner of the garden expects fruit from the fig tree, but all he is getting is pretty foliage for three years! The gardener himself may not have paid much attention to the tree. Now a time of reckoning comes - cultivate or cut?
At various times, we may be the tree or we may be the gardener or maybe both. What is the state of our faith and how is it "bearing fruit" that the owner can see? Is our faith in a kind of stagnation - "same old, same old?" Maybe it does need attention, not only from an external gardener but from an internal one!" Lent can be a time when we do the "same old, same old" for 40 days with no lasting fruit. If we enter into the season with attention and intention, we may indeed be surprised at what may result. The owner may indeed be the Lord in this parable, but the gardener and the tree touch us.
In the parish mission (which I used to preach all over the USA) I stress baptism, forgiveness and healing as important ways of cultivating a "same old, same old" faith. If we take our baptismal identity seriously, we need to forgive and ask for forgiveness and then reach out in healing, whether sacramental or simply personal, to our brothers and sisters. This "cultivation" can lead to a tree heavy with fruit. The owner is granting "an extension" and expects results. I love fig preserves, but it doesn't just make itself! AMEN