I was at Mazzuchelli the other day talking to an eighth grade class and a young lady asked me this question, “do bad things happen to people as a punishment for their sins?” It was an insightful question, but because we were running out of time, I gave the simple answer. I told her and the rest of the class no, we do not believe bad things happen as a punishment, as tempting as it may be to think that.
This is the same still relevant question that Jesus is addressing in today’s Gospel, about a tragedy that occurred through human sinfulness. We are told that Pilate had killed some Galileans. The historical facts surrounding this tragedy are not known but the religious theory of Jesus’ time was that disasters were always punishment for sin.
This belief is known as the principle of direct retribution and was based on a misunderstanding of God’s justice by which the good are rewarded in this life and the bad are punished in this life. Thus, if bad things happen to people then the presumption was that they were bad people, aka sinners.
Jesus teaches the crowd that their understanding is mistaken. Sometimes bad things happen because of human free will and the evil actions of individuals such as Pilate. The greater tragedy, however, isn’t when someone suffers at the hands of another person, but when an individual has not used the gift of time and the opportunities for repentance prior to a tragedy.
Jesus then provides another example of a tragedy that is the sole result of natural disaster rather than involving any human sinfulness: the collapse of the Tower of Siloam. In this second example, the people suffered from an accident, a natural disaster.
Again, Jesus points out that such things are not an indication of the victim’s sinfulness, rather they are a reality of life. The greater tragedy occurs when people fail to make good use of the gift of time and opportunities for repentance prior to such a tragedy.
Finally, Jesus gives the parable of a fig tree that does not bear fruit and of how it, too, will be destroyed. In this final example, however, the destruction will be the specific result of not bearing fruit.
Jesus goes on to describe how the tree will be given time and encouragement to bear that fruit. In the example, Jesus is teaching us that the greatest tragedy is that which we bring on ourselves by our failure to repent and change our lives especially when we are given time and encouragement to do so.
This is a powerful lesson for us as disciples. When we see tragedies occurring around us, like the war in Ukraine for example, then it should motivate us to evaluate our own lives and encourage us to make the needed changes so that we can be in right relationship with God and others.
We do not know when our time will come… but we can choose now to be spiritually prepared and in right relationship with God and others.
Jesus then goes on to describe the various efforts that will be undertaken in order to motivate the fig tree to bear fruit.
Other scripture gives concrete examples of the fruits of repentance such as generosity for those in need, integrity in one’s professional life, and justice in the face of hardship.
Repentance, then, is not only an interior feeling but also involves a real change of mind that brings about a corresponding change of behavior in every day actions.
Repentance means to take on the mind of Christ and to act according to the values of the Gospel as a disciple of Jesus. The salvation of the fig tree depends upon its ability to actually bear such fruit.
This parable is telling us that in God’s mercy He gives us both time and encouragement to experience that repentance which bears fruit. God’s patience allows us the gift of time so that we can cooperate with His grace.
The problem is that we often fail to make good use of the time and opportunities we have for repentance, for this change in behavior. Perhaps it is a habit of procrastination that leads us to postpone the challenging correction of our shortcomings and our decision for deeper discipleship.
Procrastination is a dangerous risk in our spiritual life; sometimes tomorrow never comes, whether it is a matter of another person’s sinfulness, or an accidental disaster, but some day the gardener won’t have another chance to help us bear fruit, so it would be our own failure to respond to God’s grace that brings about our spiritual and even physical destruction.
In an effort to stimulate the tree to produce fruit, Jesus tells us that the gardener puts fertilizer around it and tills the soil. Our translation says fertilizer, but the actual word in Greek is “manure”. That’s a very important image and the term “manure” is a significant one. Being from Iowa we don’t need to sugar coat it, we know what that smell on the farm really is and how helpful it is too.
The purpose of manure is to stimulate growth in order to produce the good fruit of repentance. Sometimes God has to put manure in our lives to wake us up to our need to repent. The reality is that, much like Forrest Gump once said, “Manure Happens.”
It’s not a sign of God’s punishment but of God’s mercy calling us to greater repentance. Manure is meant to be a fertilizer for our growth in faith that stimulates a change in life. When things go well, we rarely feel a need to turn towards God. More often than not, it’s when tragedy strikes in our lives or in the lives of others that we turn to God.
At the Men’s Conference in CR today, the keynote speaker, Mark Hartfiel, made this point, especially referring to Ukraine, that God does not “will” bad things to happen, but He does allow them to happen, and can bring about a greater good.
We see an example of this search for meaning in the midst of tragedy happening when the crowd posed the question to Jesus about the death of the Galileans by Pilate. So often when we find ourselves dealing with difficult or painful situations, we can experience self-pity and grumble, “Why me?”
However, with an attitude of right faith, we can also find ourselves in prayer asking that same question “Why me?” - not out of self-pity - but out of a sincere desire to know how our lives are meant to be changed by God’s grace and our spiritual growth stimulated by that manure, it’s fertilizer for our faith.
Lent is a good time to look at some of the manure that is been dumped around each of our lives and to bring it before God so that He can till the soil of our hearts and allow it to give growth to deeper faith rather than remain on the surface and be a (smelly) cause of self-pity.
Lent is a time of repentance in which we are called to turn away from sin and grow closer to the Lord in all areas of our lives. The parable of the fig tree is given to us in the middle of our Lenten Time to motivate us to use the remaining weeks wisely and not to miss opportunities for additional growth in faith.
Just a reminder about a great opportunity this Lent, this week we have our Parish Lenten Retreat, on Friday night and Saturday morning.
This retreat will really focus on having a deeper relationship with God. We know God loves us and He is with us, so our speaker John Edwards will share his story and teach us how we can respond to that love of God.
We need to take the opportunities while we can to grow in this relationship. It’s something that I talk about quite often, having a personal relationship with God, and if you don’t know what I am talking about, this is a great time to learn.
Much like God calling Moses in the burning bush, God is calling us to learn, to grow in our faith, to change our lives in order that we draw closer to Him. Mark Hartfiel made the point that if we spend the majority of our lives taking in the things of the world, listening to the news, watching all the movies and sports, we will be just like the world. We need more than just one hour a week here at Mass to be more like God, to develop a relationship with Him and a heart like His.
Our time here is a gift. The good news is that we do have time to grow, to change, to repent; the challenge of this gift is that we are responsible for using it wisely and productively so as to bear the fruit God wants from each of us.