This week we are almost half-way through our Lenten journey, and in our trek across the desert we encounter in today’s Liturgy not just one but two bushes. For the parable in today’s Gospel needs to be juxtaposed with our First Reading, which is the well-known story of Moses and the burning bush. In the Patristic tradition, the burning bush came to be seen as a symbol of the Virgin Mary, who was consumed by the fire of the Holy Spirit but whose virginity remained untouched. By God’s grace, Our Lady was most fruitful and she bore the most wonderful fruit of all: Jesus Christ himself. In contrast, the parable presents a bush which is barren; for three years it has produced no fruit at all. As such, it is fit only to be cut down and burnt up.
This unfruitful bush, I think, stands for us and it is a reflection on our sorry state, for we, that is to say, all human beings, are sinners. Thus, we are all equally in need of God’s mercy and forgiveness. But although God is ever-ready to rescue us, we can only avail of his goodness if we acknowledge that we are sinners, repent, and open ourselves to his grace. If we don’t, and if we rely on ourselves, then we shall remain unfruitful and ultimately perish. As St Paul warns in our Second Reading: “let any one who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor 10:12). Jesus uses two striking incidents, presumably taken from contemporary events of his time, to illustrate this. In our day, one might think of those killed in the recent tragedies in Haiti, or Chile. Were they greater sinners than us so that they deserved to die in this way? Jesus quite unequivocally says: ‘No’. The point, then, is not that misfortune or suffering afflicts those who are greater sinners; those people who have tried to say this about Haiti are thus contradicting the Gospel. Rather, Our Lord’s stark reminder is that, unlike the dead, we who are alive still have time in which to take heed, to repent, and to be fruitful. And how are we to be fruitful? By calling on God alone - as Moses’ people did - and relying on his grace to rescue us from the slavery of sin.
Therefore, in the parable, the gardener asks for a year’s reprieve for the fig tree. His plan is that the barren bush would become a burning bush, bearing the most beautiful bounty. For the gardener is the divine Vinedresser, God himself, and the year which he gives us is our very lifetime. As such, each day of our lives is God’s grace-filled time, in which he patiently cares for us and coaxes fruit from our barren, sinful state. The means, of course, is the grace of the Holy Spirit, who inflames us with charity but does not consume us. For God’s grace does not destroy our human nature but perfects and elevates it. And if we grow in grace and flower in virtue, then we too, like Our Lady, will bear that most wonderful fruit, Jesus Christ. For grace divinizes us so that we are transformed and become Christ-like, partakers in the beauty and being of Christ.The season of Lent thus focuses our minds on this perennial task, on God’s plan for all human beings, which takes not just forty days but the entire ‘year’ of our lives, a lifespan. The question is, are we using this time well, living life to the full by allowing ourselves to be cultivated by the grace of God?
Br. Lawrence you preach like a painter! And you paint very beautiful pictures! Thanks.
ReplyDeleteHow many times have I heard or read this parable? I missed the point every time. Thankyou so much for your reflections which has enabled me to see it for the first time.
ReplyDeleteLawrence, you preach like a painter! And, the pictures you paint are beautiful. Thank you.
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