Saturday – 29th Week Ordinary Time
Well we hear about a couple of very interesting incidents in today’s Gospel, which we probably would like to know more. However, we simply don’t know anything besides this Gospel’s reference to the incident at the tower or the people slain by Pilate. From what we know of Pilate, we don’t find it too surprising, but obviously Jesus knew of these occurrences and the people He was addressing also knew about them.
Most importantly, see Jesus used these incidents to help apply a truth He was teaching about. And He directly warned them and us to Repent.
Over the years Repentance has culturally been given a bad connotation. In movies, television etc. we see wild and crazed looking people saying things like Repent the end is near. This constant view of the word has had a profound impact on how we as a society think about the word Repent.
In reality though, it does not mean you are evil bad person going to Hell if you don’t straighten up your lives. But that is how the word has been portrayed. But the original texts and ideas don’t appear to have that type of meaning in mind.
Ancient Orgins
Looking at the Hebrew term for Repent, which is “teshuvah” we hear that the word literally means “to return”. It implies a return to the path of righteousness. It relates to the Jewish concept that it is man’s destiny and duty to be with God.
The Greek word metanoó can be defined as “a transformative change of heart; especially: a spiritual conversion.”
And when we look back to the Greek texts that we have of Luke, indeed the word used is the 2nd person plural form of that word metanoēte.
You can see these words have a change of direction implied to each of them. So the Biblical understanding of repent is not what our culture makes it to be. But is a call from God to change our ways. Not to stop sinning because you ae going to Hell, but come back to the God’s ways. It is one of those Bible Basics: transform yourself to be in accord with your innermost desire which is to be with God. “Thy will be done…”
When you stop and think about it, what more could we possibly ask for? God’s ways are perfect. They always are. The problem is that our way of thinking sometimes doesn’t line up with His way. This of course begs the question if our ways don’t match up right now to God’s ways, how long will He wait until they do?
We are the fig tree
Jesus points us toward the parable of the fig tree. Now a tree in itself cannot change its ways. A tree is a tree. But this is a parable and the tree stands for something else. For 3 years this fig tree has been taking up space and doing nothing but soaking up the nutrients and the water from the ground. The owner wants the tree to give fruit. It has not done so, so cut it down. The gardener wants to give the tree another chance. A 4th year to produce good fruit.
As I said this is a parable so, let us look at the tree as Israel.
For 3 years Jesus’ public ministry occurred in Israel. Jesus called for the repentance of Israel and to Follow Him. And in the end He was Crucified. God is very patient. But that patience does come to an end. 70 A.D. the Temple was destroyed, by 135 AD. Jerusalem for all practical purposes no longer existed.
The 4th year was wasted. No matter how much Jesus the gardener called and tried to help, the call went unheard.
Our Call
We can also see this parable as a call to each of us. No matter what we may have done in the past, there is great hope for that fourth year. This 4th year is given by grace. The time is not earned. It is freely given as a gift. Our purpose here is to Love and to be in union with God. As mentioned earlier that is our innermost desire. The gardener, Jesus, is going to cultivate, fertilize, water and work with our cooperation to become Intentional Disciples. We, just like the fig tree, are given that time by grace. God is looking toward the fig tree waiting for it to produce the fruit. With the Help of God’s grace, we too shall produce good fruit. The love that we show to Christ Jesus, in all the ways which he shows himself, is that fruit. Let us all make the most of our fourth year.