The gospel for Saturday of the 29th week in Ordinary Time is taken from Luke 13. Some people told Jesus about the Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means, but I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did. Or those 18 people who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them, do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means.

But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did. And he told them this. There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said 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? He said to him in reply, sir, leave it for this year also, and I will cultivate the ground around it and fertilize may bear fruit in the future.

If not, you can cut it down. The people that ask the question of Jesus reveal a sense that God’s response to sinners is that he wants to destroy them. And Jesus corrects their misunderstanding, saying, God does not will to destroy a sinner, but they change, that they repent, that they face what they’ve done. And then he promises them that they will be given time and a way to nurture, to increase their capacity for goodness, for fruitfulness. Take a moment to reflect upon these images and I will end with a closing prayer. Foreign Closing Prayer Father, the condition of failing is part of the process of growing and changing.

We are called over and over again to face the things that we’ve done that are wrong and to find ways in which to nurture and within ourselves the qualities that our sins have kept us from. And we ask this in Jesus name, Amen.