Homily: 3rd Sunday of Lent

March 23, 2025

My dear brothers and sisters, on this third Sunday of Lent, the gospel reading presents to us the parable of the barren fig tree, this parable invites us to reflect on the opportunities and graces that God gives to us. The goodness of God to us are gratuitous gifts, God showers us with His love and kindness so that we may bear fruit in abundance. The grace of God is not meant to be wasted, it is given so that we can grow, change and transform to good. This passage is not the only place where Jesus gave a profound teaching with the fig tree. For instance, in Mark 11: 12-25, Jesus cursed a fig tree for unproductivity and the fig tree withered to its roots. Some have asked why Jesus cursed the fig tree since the scriptural narrative tells us that wasn’t the season of fruit bearing.

Brothers and sisters, the lessons therein in these teachings with the fig tree are not for mere fig trees in the bush, the lessons are for us Christians. In our relationship with God, unproductivity should not exist, we should not have two seasons, season one for fruit bearing and another season for dormancy. Some say that in Canada we have two seasons: winter and construction. During winter, no work goes on and after winter work continues. In our relationship with God, we do not have two seasons of winter and construction, we should bear fruit in season and out of season.

The first and second reading of today all help to give us a clearer understanding of this message of bearing fruit in God. These two readings recount the story of God’s call of the people of Israel. God began the history of salvation of humanity with them. His love for them knew no bounds. In the first reading, we saw how God called Moses to go and rescue them from the land of Egypt. With iron hands on Pharoah, God liberated them from the Egyptians and set them on motion towards the Promised Land. However, as St Paul pointed out in the second reading, most of them took God’s goodness as an entitlement, they wasted God’s love, and the result was that they perished in the wilderness. They never entered the Promised Land.

As we continue our spiritual journey in this season of Lent, all these readings together remind us that we will be judged according to the opportunities we have had. Like the Israelites of old, it is appalling that sometimes we do not even see these blessings and goodness of God on us, or they have become so normal that we see them as our entitlement. Just as the gospel reading made mention of those who were murdered in cold blood by Pilate and those who were killed by the collapsed tower of Siloam, in our time many persons continue to become unfortunate victims of different calamities. We remember for instance normal citizens like you and I in the war-torn zones of Ukraine, the Middle East, Sudan. There are some who are not very sure of the source of their next meal. There are some in the hospitals who have to pay heavily for oxygen which we breathe freely or for weekly dialysis which our kidneys do for us free of charge.

When God makes things work for us well, we take them as our entitlement and sometimes multiply evil upon evil. Brothers and sisters, God’s goodness and patience should not be a license for us to remain unproductive, instead we should see them as opportunities to bear abundant fruit for God in the world. Jesus warns us through this parable of the barren fig tree that uselessness invites disaster. We remember the French biologist Jean-Baptiste Lamarck, in his evolution theory popularly called Lamarckism, he propounded the theory of use and disuse. He proposed that organs that are used frequently become stronger and larger, while those that are not used become weaker and would eventually disappear. This theory is no less true in our spiritual lives.

What has ever become better with abandonment. Flying an airplane abandoned for years is purposely flying a weapon of mass destruction. Similarly, when we disconnect from God and stop bearing fruit, we head to doom. This parable of the barren fig tree reminds us that God continues to give us chance after chance, however, the parable calls our attention too that one day the last chance will come. May we not shut ourselves out on that D-day by our deliberate choices today.