Gospel Reflection on Lk 13:1-9

March 23, 2025

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. Jesus 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 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 I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” And he told them this parable:

“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 shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”

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It seems today that we're bombarded with negative headlines similar to those we hear Jesus describe, cruelty of the Romans, tragedy of the tower. These stories are not just news to be processed. Jesus is telling us he wants to see fruit from us. We must stop acting like we're detached spectators in the world. Spectators look on these scenes without their hearts ever being moved.

Some ways, this is how Moses approached the burning bush with curiosity. But the Lord tells him to take off his shoes for the suffering of his people is sacred ground. We too are asked not to remain at the level of curiosity. It's wrong to look on tragedies such as we hear every day around the world in a detached way. When we do that, we're giving into the world's temptation to believe that nothing has meaning, that it's not worth taking care of anything or anyone.

This is not what the heart of God looks like. God has one and only one motivation behind all of God's actions. And we hear it expressed when Jesus sees the hungry, restless crowds. The gospels tell us that he had compassion. He could not remain indifferent because love does not tolerate indifference.

Love has compassion. Indeed, faced with the indifference of the apostles toward the hungry crowd and their suggestion to send the people away to find food for themselves, Jesus criticizes them. You give them something to eat. The apostles were not mean. They were indifferent.

They did not know what love is. They did not know what compassion is. The Lord tells Moses that he has seen the oppression and the suffering of his people, and he intends to liberate them. The tragedies in our news cycles are a call to conversion. Just like those victims in the news, our time is coming soon.

And we too will be asked to give an account of ourselves. Did we bear fruit? The news is not a commodity for recreation. We shouldn't just be surfing the net looking for interesting stories. These encounters are a call to conversion, to truth, to fraternity, and to service.