do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
In our day we know it is not the case that this who die of the pandemic are necessarily more guilty than anyone else. Yet the pandemic can be a wake up call for us just as much as the people killed by Pilate, or the people on whom the tower at Siloam fell.
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
The circumstances of this world should awaken in us a desire to repent so that we don't perish unprepared. We want to be ready to meet our own end when it comes. This is why every Hail Mary includes 'now and at the hour of our death.' Without the aid of grace, when we hear of war, disease, and natural disaster we tend to become either become overly fearful or overly bold. We become fearful, forgetting that no matter what, this life must eventually give way to the life to come. We go beyond mere prudence and cling to this life as if it is all we have. Fear and prudence may look similar in terms of the actions taken, but only prudence can come from a heart at peace. Or we become overly bold, ignoring even the consequences of our actions here and now because we don't want to come to terms with those, much less their eternal consequences. We need grace both now and at the hour of our death. We need to see how the circumstances, including the great catastrophes, of this world point beyond this world to that which is eternal, and the implications this has for how we act day to day.
In what way were these groups not ready to meet their end? What is Jesus asking of us in our own lives that we might be ready to meet him when the time comes?
‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree
but have found none.
Jesus is asking us to bear fruit worthy of repentance, just as John the Baptist insisted (see Matthew 3:8). We ourselves are the fig tree that has been barren. Yet here, as with those killed by Pilate, and those on whom the tower fell, a warning is meant to be the occasion for repentance, for change, for mercy given by Christ to be received.
‘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.’”
We can only bear good fruit when we are connected to Christ who is the vine. And we can only continue bearing fruit as he takes away every dead brunch and prunes those which are bearing fruit to bear still more (see John 15:1-3). Ultimately, we must be willing to be like the grain of wheat which bears fruit only by falling to the ground and dying (see John 12:23-35). Only by making a gift our own lives, in whatever shape that takes for us, do we fulfill the purpose for which we were made.
The circumstances of the world call us to number our days that we may gain wisdom of heart (see Psalm 90:12). When we have this wisdom we are not content to be barren fig trees. Fig trees are defined by the fruit they bear. Yet barren we remain apart from the assistance of the gardener. Jesus spared no effort on to ensure that the fig tree might flourish. He fertilized the ground with his own blood. He himself descended into the depths of the earth to cultivate the soil. Christ is the one who enables us to bear fruit. He rose on high that he might fill all things with gifts that would empower us to bear fruit in abundance.
And he gave some as Apostles, others as prophets,
others as evangelists, others as pastors and teachers,
to equip the holy ones for the work of ministry,
for building up the Body of Christ,
until we all attain to the unity of faith
and knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood
to the extent of the full stature of Christ,
At first the call to repentance might seem stark and even unsympathetic. But Jesus himself embodied every aspect of the transformation for us. He himself chose to be the fig tree cut down in our place. And in being cut down he himself fertilized the soil of this world. He himself was the grain of wheat that died so that he could bear much fruit in us. He ascended so that we could have a source of life that was not dependent on the passing things of this world, but that could grow no matter the adversity we face.
Rather, living the truth in love,
we should grow in every way into him who is the head, Christ,
from whom the whole Body,
joined and held together by every supporting ligament,
with the proper functioning of each part,
brings about the Body’s growth and builds itself up in love.
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