Repent!

Homily for the Third Sunday of Lent

In today’s second reading, Paul is clear that we should not be overconfident in ourselves. He cautions against being presumptuous by comparing the Corinthians to the Israelites during the Exodus who, despite their newfound freedom, grumbled against God as soon as things got tough. He wants them to understand that the things that happened to their ancestors await them if they, too, desire evil things.

This warning, however, will be counterbalanced by the assertion that God is faithful, even when we falter. God’s faithfulness is a theme that runs throughout the Scriptures. In fact, it is asserted in the very next verse after today’s reading. It is God’s faithfulness which cultivates hope, the perfect counterbalance to the presumption against which he is preaching.

We see this pattern of warning and reassurance repeated throughout the New Testament and the Gospels. In today’s passage from the Gospel of Saint Luke, Jesus urges the crowd to repent. He warns against hypocrisy, against seeing oneself as less sinful than anyone else. Specifically, Jesus uses the Galileans murdered by Pilate or the eighteen people who were crushed by the falling tower of Siloam. The words of Jesus are not ambivalent: “If you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”

Yet the warning is immediately followed by a parable of the unproductive fig tree. In this story, the gardener lobbies on behalf of the tree, arguing that if he cultivates and fertilizes the ground surrounding the tree, the tree might still bear fruit. In short, the gardener urges patience. Just as the Lord is patient with us, we need to be patient with ourselves.

We must remember that God created us as good! And no matter how far we may stray from this goodness, the potential for goodness with in each of us remains. God, the master gardener, placed it within us at the moment of our unique creation. No sin, no amount of bad fruit or barrenness, can render that goodness obsolete. The gardener always lobbies on our behalf. This is the role of Jesus in the Gospel of Saint Luke. He is portrayed as the one who eats with sinners and prostitutes, even as the Pharisees challenge him for this particular behavior.

Amidst our own barrenness, we need to better cultivate the soil we rest in – our culture, our habits, the things that influence us. Pruning our ground of weeds and fertilizing it with nutrients allows the good that is within us to take root and grow.

At the end of the day, our confidence rests not in ourselves but in our God who is faithful. This God has indeed come down to rescue us, as was foretold when Moses met God in the burning bush. This is why we return to the Eucharistic table each week, perhaps even daily, to be reminded of this truth; namely, God wants us to be saved and goes to extremes to make it possible for us to repent. On this table, God shows up and stands strong among us, no matter how weak or unstable we ourselves may feel. We cling to Christ, present in the consecrated bread and wine, confident in God’s faithfulness.

Our Holy Father, Pope Francis, has dedicated this holy year to the virtue of hope. He has named us “pilgrims of hope.” Hope is born of our faith in God’s faithfulness.