THE FIG TREE -
GETTING THE AXE
INTRODUCTION
The title of my homily for this Third Sunday in Lent C, is,
“The Fig Tree - Getting the Axe!”
Today’s gospel has two parts. Let me begin with Part 2
PART TWO: THE FIG
TREE
Part Two of today’s gospel from Luke 13: 1-9 has the parable
of the fig tree. [Cf. verses 6-9]
In the gospels we hear about the fig tree three
times. I like Luke’s version far better than Matthew
and Mark’s telling of the story. [Cf. Matthew
21:19 and Mark 11:13]
In Matthew and Mark the fig tree gets the axe. It
disappears. There is no second chance. It’s not producing figs. Get rid of it. In
Matthew and Mark, it’s not a parable.
It’s an incident that happened in the life of Jesus - that made it into print -
for some profound and mysterious reason. It must have had impact on those who
experienced Jesus cursing and making a singular fig tree just dry up.
In Luke the story has become a
parable. In Luke the fig tree gets
another year. It gets a second chance to
produce fruit - figs - otherwise - then - it will get the axe.
The owner of the fig tree says to the gardener, “For three
years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none.
[So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?”
Did you hear the word “exhaust” as in “exhaust the
soil”? What a neat translation of the
Greek word “katargei”. Other translations into English use the word “waste”
or “use up”.
I was trying to get a handle on this - how we think and talk
about this same experience.
Wouldn’t we hate to overhear someone describing us behind our back with one of
these comments:
·
“He’s just taking up space”?
·
Or “What a waste!”
·
Or, “She’s so lazy, she exhausts me!”
·
Or, “He’s a couch potato! A lump! He doesn’t do anything around here”?
Why do people get the axe?
Why do people get the boot? Why do people lose their job? Why do some
marriages fall apart?
Sometimes - and I’m underlining sometimes - sometimes
it’s because people are lazy. They
are just taking up space. They are taking up all the oxygen as someone put it.
And sometimes people get the axe - get fired - get dumped - get dropped - and it’s not their fault.
Sometimes life is fair; sometimes life isn’t fair; sometimes
life is all mystery - to be figured out at a later date - sometimes.
So all this is an, “It all depends!”
PART ONE: THE
OTHER TWO EXAMPLES IN TODAY’S GOSPEL
In Part 1 of today’s gospel we have two examples of
tragedies that happen. Unlike the lazy fig
tree that should be getting the axe, Jesus says what happened to some
folks was not their fault.
We better not let the
two incidents in today’s gospel - that of the Galileans who were slaughtered by Pilate and that of those who
died when a tower collapsed on them in Siloam - we better not let these two
incidents slip through the cracks of our consciousness. They are worth
pondering.
Lots of people think God zaps people - and then think it’s
because of their sins. Jesus says those Galileans whom Pilate wiped out - were no greater sinners that the rest of the
people in Galilee. Then Jesus adds, “Or those
eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them - do you
think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means!”
But Jesus does add, “But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”
There’s the possible message coming out of tragedies. They
can be wake up calls - for necessary changes in our lives.
Listen to people and their take on why people die in plane
crashes or why people are blown up in a bus in Bagdad - or people who die in natural disasters - or why people get
cancer and so and so doesn’t - or why someone loses a job or a spouse or a kid for what seems no reason whatsoever?
Sometimes we don’t know why tragedy crushes certain people. Sometimes it seems people just happen to be in the wrong place at the wrong time.
Sometimes a body goes
berserk - breaks down - and someone dies - before the time we’d expect them to
die. And some people go crazy with guns and some people go crazy with power -
and the little people get hurt or killed. Bummer.
As we know from life and from Forest Gump and bumper
stickers, “It happens!”
WAKE UP CALLS
So a message is that tragedies can be wake up calls. Sometimes
it’s our fault. Sometimes it isn’t.
Having read today’s gospel and today’s readings a bunch of times these past few days, I sense “Wake Up!” is a key and a basic call from
today’s Gospel as well as today’s other readings.
Today’s second reading from 1st Corinthians says just that in various ways. Paul
says things like: “I don’t want you to be unaware.” “Do not grumble. Death
happens.” “Whoever thinks he is standing
secure should take care not to fall.” [Cf. 1 Corinthians 10:1-6, 10-12]
Today’s first reading from Exodus has the example of Moses. He has married Jethro’s daughter. He has
become a shepherd. He’s leading a flock across the desert. He comes to a
mountain. He has a God experience. Surprise. He’s sees a bush on fire. He
discovers he’s on Holy Ground. He experiences a God call. He discovers who God is. God simply says, “I
Am Who Am”.[Cf. Exodus 3:1-8a, 13-15]
Moses hears the most basic explanation of who a person is:
“I Am Who Am!”
I am not my stuff. I’m not my titles. I’m not my look. “I Am
Who Am!”
I’m sure all of us somewhere have had a Moses like God
experience: seeing a burning sunrise or sunset - autumn leaves bursting with
color - the birth of a child - the love of one’s life - being at the death of a
parent with the family all around - being together for a family wedding or 25th
or 50th anniversary - being at Mass or a baptism or a wedding. When
we realize the simplicity of life, when we realize God has created and redeemed
us all - when we realize we are who we are and God is the great, “I Am Who Am”
- when we realize these things we realize we’re made in the image and likeness of
God!
CONCLUSION
God experiences can’t be planned. We have them at times - if
we’re awake and aware. The test that
it’s real and not all feeling is when we hear in the moment, in the experience,
a call from God. It’s the most basic vocation in life: to be God - to become
God - in this life - and not just in the next.
Surprise - Christmas can happen any day now - for us. Christ chooses smelly
stables and dark caves - to be born in - again and again and again.
We come to Mass - because we know down deep - we want deeper
communion with God - and Jesus came to bring us into the Trinity.
But we don’t just stand there - on the holy ground of a God experience.
We don’t just glow in the middle of that burning flaming
moment - nope - the call is not to just be me - a fig tree - but we’re called
to be a fig tree - that gives fruit - gifts to others.
When we do that we’re more and more like God - being creative and feeders -
redeemers - helpers to others - especially the stuck.
When we do that we have become a person who is like God -
and people meeting us can have a God Experience - because we’re using the gifts we’ve been given to create a better
world in loving and feeding one another.
Otherwise we’re just taking up space. Otherwise get the axe.
