Franciscan Friar Fr. Paul Gallagher reflects on the Gospel readings for the Third Sunday of Lent during this Holy Year. What are your thoughts and feelings as you encounter homeless men, women, and children, or hear of people living in their cars?
The content is edited by Franciscan Sister of Christian Charity Sister Anne Marie Lom and Joe Thiel. The excerpts from the Sunday readings are prepared by Joe Thiel. To read or download the complete pdf with excerpts for your prayer, please click here:Franciscan Gospel Reflection March 23 2025 . Excerpts are from the Lectionary for Mass for Use in the Dioceses of the United States of America, second typical edition © 2001, 1998, 1997, 1986, 1970 Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc., Washington, DC. Used with permission. All rights reserved. No portion of this text may be reproduced by any means without permission in writing from the copyright owner. Photo: Pietro Voso, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons; Nativeplants garden, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Luke 13:1-9
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.'”
Background:
The description of the two tragic events in this Sunday’s gospel are unique to Luke. There is no historical record of the event described in the first verses of gospel text. This is the only place in the gospel were Pilate is mentioned. Some find the Pilate in the passion accounts to be a weak ruler, easily swayed by outside forces. That is the Pilate that Luke paints in the description here. History also contains records of this ruler being capable of decisive and ruthless behavior.
The two events recorded in the first part of the gospel are used by Jesus to confront an understanding of many at the time of Jesus who believed that misfortune was the result of sinful behavior, and similarly that if some misfortune happened to a person, it was due to some sinfulness.
Jesus’ parable about the fig tree turns the belief that God punishes sinfulness. Fig trees were prized for their fruit and wood. But it took both female and male trees in an orchard to be productive. The trees are identical in appearance. But the female tree does not bear as many of its seeded fruit as the pollinating fruit produced by the male variety.
The barren tree in the owner’s eyes appears useless, using the precious soil nutrients, and he thinks it should be cut down. The wise gardener begs that the owner be patient and give the tree some extra amount of care.
Many if not most of the people of Jesus’ day would have seen misfortune as a punishment for some sinful behavior. Jesus’ parable turns that way of looking on misfortune to instead be a reason for God through the gardener to bring extra tenderness to the fig tree that the owner was ready to discard as worthless.
Jesus makes his point with a bit of humor. The gardener who has suggested nurturing the tree with more fertilizer would be using only one kind of fertilizer, manure. The unproductive tree would be understood to represent the religious and civil elite of the day, who are not taking their responsibilities seriously but instead are living well off the fruits of the labors of others. A common person in the crowd would delight in the thought of a gardener liberally spreading manure around the base of a fig tree, imagining the religious and civil leaders being liberally covered in manure.
Reflection Questions:
- What are your thoughts and feelings as you encounter homeless men, women, and children, or hear of people living in their cars?
- Do you also encounter people who believe that those who are experiencing some trials of life somehow deserve what happens to them? How do you respond to that reality?
- How do you think God responds to the tragedies that occur in the world?
- How do you respond to Jesus’ suggestion that the gardener fertilize the fig tree one more year?
- When and how have you been reminded of your own need for forgiveness and repentance?
- Have you ever doubted God’s mercy for you? Where does that come from? What experiences of the gardener do you have in your life?
- Can you take some time now to talk to God honestly about your own need for forgiveness, your fear that you are not truly forgiven for some past sinfulness, or your gratitude for God’s forgiveness?
