A call to repentance
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 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.’”
REFLECTION GREATER SINNERS. People report to Jesus that Galileans were killed while offering sacrifices in the Temple in Jerusalem. Since Galilee was often the area of the Jewish insurrection movement against Rome, Pontius Pilate must have viewed the pilgrims with suspicion and acted brutally when he sensed an insurrection brewing. This Roman procurator of Judea and Samaria from 26 to 36 AD will be the judge in the trial and execution of Jesus.
Were the Galileans guilty? Jesus refuses to see in this disaster (and in another involving 18 men who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them) a punishment for sin, or at least, he does not pronounce himself on the matter. Rather, he directs the people’s attention to something else. The disasters should make them conscious of their own sinfulness. Opportunities to repent are offered, as the parable of the barren fig tree shows. But patience has its limits, and when disaster or judgment comes, the “barren person” has only himself or herself to blame. Do accidents and tragedies remind you of life’s frailty? How do you keep your peace of mind?
SOURCE: “365 Days with the Lord 2018,” ST. PAULS Philippines, 7708 St. Paul Rd., SAV, Makati City (Phils.); Tel.: 895-9701; Fax 895-7328; E-mail: books@stpauls.ph; Website: http://www.stpauls.ph.