March 20, 2022, Third Sunday of Lent (Year C)
Today’s readings stress one of the most important parts of Lent. It is the aspect of repentance. In them we see that no one is immune from the need to seek God’s forgiveness, but that God, in His mercy and compassion, is slow to judge and patient in waiting for sinners to repent.
In the Gospel from Luke (Lk. 13:1-9) it comes to us in the form of a parable told by Jesus. With this parable Jesus tells the story of a person who has planted a fig tree in his orchard, but when he comes in search of fruit, he finds none. So, he tells the gardener that he has been waiting for three years for this tree to produce figs, but to no avail and he instructs the gardener to cut it down. But the gardener asks the landowner to give him one year to carefully tend to the tree. And that maybe with care the tree will bear fruit, if not then he will cut it down.
This is the meaning of the parable. The landowner represents God who clearly watches for sinners, represented by the fig tree, to repent of their sins. When God envisions the lack of repentance, like the nonexistence of fruit from the tree, God ushers in His judgment. While the gardener representing Christ, intercedes for the sinner, and so gives the sinner time to reconsider and repent. From the other portions of the readings for today we can see that even the most righteous of God’s people, at one time or another, have transgressed, but have been given the chance to repent and earn God’s pardon and acceptance.
In the First Reading from Exodus (Exod. 3:1-8a, 13-15) we hear the story of Moses who encounters God in the burning bush while tending the sheep. God tells Moses that he has seen the suffering of the Israelites in Egypt and that Moses should go to release his people from their bondage. But Moses wonders what he should say to the people in order to lend credibility to his vision. So, God tells Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. This is my name forever; thus am I to be remembered through all generations.” (Exod. 3:15).
With this the people will know that Moses has been sent by the one, true God of Israel based on the fact that He is the God of some of the most notable forefathers of the Israelites, the patriarchs – Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Interestingly enough, these men memorialized by God as part of a holy succession of ancestors of Moses, had all committed deeds at some point in their lives where repentance was needed.
For example, there was the time when Abraham, who God had promised would be the father of His holy nation, became impatient along with his elderly wife Sarah waiting for her to bear Abraham a son. So instead of waiting for God to act they took control on their own and had Abraham conceive a child with Sarah’s maid servant Hagar (Genesis 16). As a part of his repentance Abraham acquiesced to God’s covenant of circumcision (Genesis 17). Thus, despite his sin, God forgave Abraham and enabled Sarah to bear a son, Isaac, who then carried on God’s promise of descendants for the nation of Israel.
Isaac, in turn, committed his own sin against God by mistrusting God to protect him and his wife, Rebekah. Once when there was a famine in the land of Canaan, God instructed Isaac to travel to the land of Gerar and stay among the Philistines (Genesis 26). Since Rebekah was very beautiful, Isaac was afraid that the men of Gerar would kill him to take his wife, so he lied and claimed that she was his sister. When Abimelech, king of the Philistines learned of his deception he became angry with Isaac, knowing that if any of the men had taken Rebekah the God of Israel would have surely punished them. So, Abimelech announced a warning of death to any who would touch Rebekah. Isaac then had to depart from the land of Gerar and when he arrived in Beer-sheba, he “built an altar there and invoked the LORD by name” (Gen. 26:25). For this God kept his promise to bless Isaac and multiply his descendants as He had with Abraham.
Isaac went on to father twin sons, Esau, and Jacob. As the older of the two Esau was entitled to inherit the position of leadership of the family from his father. But Jacob, along with his mother, Rebekah, concocted a scheme in which he managed to steal the birthright of Esau as Isaac lay on his deathbed (Genesis 27). Because of his deception Jacob was subjected to the trickery of his uncle Laban in the process of obtaining Laban’s daughter, Rachel to be his wife (Genesis 29). Yet, when Jacob wrestled with and was wounded by a divine being in the midst of a dream, God renewed his commitment giving Jacob another blessing and the promise of a new name, “one who struggles,” or Israel, as the representative of God’s chosen nation (Genesis 32).
After these ordeals Jacob eventually had twelve sons who went on to become the twelve tribes of Israel. It is their descendants who God speaks to Moses about in the First Reading today. It is no surprise judging from the nature of their ancestors that they ended up in Egypt through the process of deceit. This happened when ten of the brothers sold their young brother, Joseph into slavery because of their jealousy over him. Later, their repentance saved them from starvation during a famine in their land. Despite their inclination toward sin and deception, because of their remorse, these people remained God’s chosen nation. This is because their God was compassionate and merciful, forgiving the sin of each generation who in turn repented.
In the first part of the Gospel Jesus reveals the need for all people to repent. He says that the people of Galilee were no less guilty than those who had their sacrifices contaminated with the blood of idols. And the people of Jerusalem were no less guilty than those of Siloam who were killed when a tower fell on them. Jesus warns them: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
This was a harsh message for the people of Jesus’ day, and it is a harsh message for us today. Yet this is the reason why we celebrate the season of Lent each year. We are given forty days for our various efforts – fasting, abstinence, self-denial, almsgiving, charitable activities, and most of all the Sacrament of Reconciliation. With all of these efforts we are guaranteed the joy of Easter, a share in the Resurrection which only comes through the sacrifice of Jesus. He is the one man who was without sin and had no need for repentance his entire life, yet who carried our transgressions to the cross so that we might be saved.
