March 23, 2025
III Sunday of Lent Year C
Lk 13:1-9
The passage from the Gospel for this third Sunday of Lent (Lk 13:1-9) focuses on a fundamental theme of the Lenten journey: conversion.
For Lent is also this, a time that is given to us so that we can convert again.
It is Jesus himself who mentions this in the first part of the passage (Lk 13:1-5) in response to some un-known people who come to Jesus to give him dramatic news: some Galileans who had come to Jerusalem to pray were executed by Pilate as they were offering their sacrifices.
A disturbing fact that allows for a religious interpretation: Violent death was indeed a sign of God’s punish-ment for a sin committed.
Jesus starts from this fact and tells another one in the same tone of voice: eighteen people had died in the col-lapse of the tower of Siloe.
Conventional religious thinking suggested that these people had made themselves particularly hateful to God through some fault, for which they rightly deserved this fate. Therefore, it was equally legitimate to think that those who had not suffered such a fate could consider themselves righteous and pleasing to God. We find this way of thinking elsewhere in the Gospels (cf. “Rabbi, who sinned, he or his parents, that he was born blind?” - John 9:2)
Jesus distances Himself from this way of thinking with two questions, which he answers himself: Were these people more sinful than others? No, says Jesus. They were not more sinful than others. Jesus says that evil dwells in the heart of every human being in the same way and that no one can feel exempt from the need for conversion. Jesus emphasizes that conversion is a necessity, that every person must realign their relationship with God and reorient themselves, convert to God. Without conversion you perish, you die, because only God is the source of the fullness of life (“No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish.” - Lk 13,3).
In the second part of the text (Luke 13:6-9), Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. A man had planted a fig tree in his vineyard, but this fig tree bore no fruit. He therefore asked his vintner to cut it down so that it would not pollute the soil unnecessarily. The vinedresser then stops and promises to do things that are quite unusual for a fig tree, such as hoeing the ground around the tree or fertilizing it (Lk 13:8); the lord of the vineyard is persuaded and agrees to leave the tree standing to see if it bears fruit.
At the center of this parable are two verbs in the imperative: the first “Cut it down!” (Lk 13:7), which the Lord says to the vinedresser; the second “Leave it” (Lk 13:8), which the vinedresser says to the Lord.
The former is in fact an expression of that common religious thinking mentioned in the first part of the pas-sage: if someone does not fulfill his religious duties, the Lord God will intervene and remove the sinner. In fact, we also find this image at the beginning of the Gospel, on the lips of John the Baptist, according to which every tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire when the Messiah comes (Lk. 3:9).
The second verb, “leave it”, is an expression of the heart of Jesus: the heart in which the entire history of sal-vation is a continuous offering of God’s love for his people. God gives people time to convert, shows pa-tience, offers them the opportunity to change their thinking and lives. Man’s response, which is usually al-ways insufficient, does not condition the gift of God, who instead responds with an excess of heart and care, an overabundance in some ways excessive, just as it is excessive to hoe and fertilize the ground around a fig tree.
So on the one hand, this passage challenges us not to think of ourselves as better than others, but to realize that we are all equally sinners and it is an urgent invitation, a call to the urgency of conversion, to all, without
distinction. On the other hand, it shows the patience of God, who always offers time, who exceeds in his mercy.
In both parts of the text, God is waiting: for a change of heart, for a tree that bears fruit. In short, a sincere response to His offer of life.
So this time, Lent, is a time given back to us, in which a fruit is lovingly and patiently awaited.
+ Pierbattista
