Gospel for Sunday, March 23: III Sunday of Lent Year C – Luke 13:1-9
1 At that same time some came and reported to him about those Galileans, whose blood Pilate had mixed with that of their sacrifices. 2 Taking the word, Jesus answered, “Do you think those Galileans were more sinful than all Galileans, for having suffered such a fate? 3 No, I tell you, but unless you are converted, you will all perish in the same way. 4 Or those eighteen, over whom he ruined the tower of Siloe and killed them, do you think they were more guilty than all the inhabitants of Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you, but unless you are converted, you will all perish in the same way.”
6 He also told this parable, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came to look for fruit on it, but he found none. 7 Then he said to the vinedresser, Behold, I have been coming for three years to look for fruit on this fig tree, but I find none. Cut it down. Why must he exploit the soil? 8 But he answered, Master, leave it again this year until I hoe around it and put manure on it 9 and we will see if it bears fruit for the future; if not, you will cut it down.”Lk 13:1-9
Dear sisters and brothers of Misericordia, I am Carlo Miglietta, a doctor, biblical scholar, layman, husband, father and grandfather (www.buonabibbiaatutti.it). Also today I share with you a short thought meditation on the Gospel, with special reference to the theme of mercy.
WHY THE PAIN?
The Jewish and later Roman ethico-legal mentality have often presented the incarnation of the Son as a necessary moment so that he could sacrifice himself, dying on the cross, and thus give, the Son being infinite, adequate satisfaction to the infinite offense given by man to God through sin. But this idea of an irate and vengeful Father who demands total satisfaction of the offense, and who is appeased only by the immolation of the Son, cannot fail to pose us a problem.
But Christ’s death was not “the necessity of the will of a God eager for reparation for his offended majesty…The misunderstanding of this theology, which indiscriminately projects pain and the cross in the sense of God himself, consists in accepting the Father as the murderer of Jesus. Divine wrath is not satiated with vengeance on the sons, Jesus’ brothers: it extends to the only-begotten Son. Thus patricide takes on a sacred and theological dimension. To such a macabre vision we must reject all Christian legitimacy, because it destroys all the novelty of the Gospel… Such a representation… has very little to do with the God-Father of Christ… God takes on the features of the cruel and bloodthirsty judge, ready to demand every last penny for debts that relate to justice… But is this the God we have come to love and turn to, based on the experience of Christ? Is he still the God of the Prodigal Son, who knows how to forgive? The God of the lost sheep, who leaves the ninety-nine in the fold and goes to the meadows to find the one lost?”(L. Boff).
The model of understanding elaborated instead according to the Greek mentality seems more in keeping with Jesus’ revelation around the Father and the New Testament texts that emphasize Christ’s role already in creation. Such a conception starts from this reflection: God created man out of love: but being, according to Greek metaphysics, infinite, unlimited, eternal, in order to create someone who could be a partner to him in love and thus be other than himself he had to create him finite, limited, mortal. Pain, sickness, death, are therefore not a “punishment,” but part of the biological order, of our being creatures and therefore “not-God,” and therefore deprived of his perfection.
In fact well before the appearance of man, throughout the history of the earth and evolution, millions of living individuals have experienced death, millions of species have become extinct, including the famous dinosaurs. This reflection, which I sometimes call… “Jurassic Theology,” or ‘dinosaur theology,’ leads us to affirm that man’s sin could not have been the cause of physical death: aging, suffering, and death are an integral part of biological nature, they are characteristics of the creatures’ way of being (Catechism Catholic Church, nos. 302,310).
But God is deeply moved by the condition of the beloved, and at the very moment He creates him finite, limited, mortal He thinks up for him the way to make him a partaker of His infinite, unlimited, immortal life: for this reason, at the very moment He creates, God plans the incarnation of His Son, by which He Himself will make Himself finite, will subsume the limitation of man and creation unto death, and, by the mystery of His resurrection, will bring human finitude into the eternity and immensity of His divine life, making us His children and heirs (Rom. 8:17). As St. Athanasius says, “God became man so that man might become God” (De incarnation Verbi, no. 54).
Thus, the incarnation of the Son is not an “accident of the road” due to man’s sin, but is a creationist gesture, the fulfillment of God’s creative activity, the realization of his plan of love for man, who becomes at the same time in Christ capable of personal relationship with God and a sharer in his own life and bliss (Jn. 1:1-3; Col. 1:16-17).
BEARING FRUIT
For salvation, Jesus does not only require formal adherence to him. Following the Master involves concrete works of righteousness and love. As John will exhort, “Little children, let us not love in word or tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Jesus’ message in this regard is crystal clear.
Outward, merely cultic religiosity is not enough. Jesus “passed through towns and villages, teaching, as he walked toward Jerusalem. A man asked him, “Lord, are there few who are saved?” He answered, “Strive to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I tell you, will try to enter it, but they will not succeed. When the master of the house rises and closes the door, remaining outside, you will begin to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us. But he will answer you: I do not know you, I do not know where you are from. Then you will begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in your presence, and you have taught in our squares. But he will declare: I tell you that I do not know where you are from. Depart from me all ye doers of iniquity! There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth there, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God and you cast out’” (Luke 13:22-30).
Nor is it enough to perform miracles or prophesy in the name of Christ: it is necessary to do to others what you would have them do to you: “All that you would have men do to you, do ye also to them: for this is the Law and the Prophets. Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate and spacious is the way that leads to perdition, and many are those who enter by it; but how narrow is the gate and narrow the way that leads to life, and how few are those who find it…! Thus every good tree produces good fruit and every bad tree produces bad fruit; a good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor a bad tree produce good fruit. Every tree that does not produce good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. By their fruits therefore you will be able to recognize them. Not everyone who says to me, “Lord, Lord,” will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name?” But I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you doers of iniquity’” (Mt. 7:12-23).
And bearing good fruit and working righteousness mean concrete and factual concern for the needy. James will say in this regard, “Of course, if you fulfill the most important of the commandments according to Scripture, ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself,’ you do well; but if you make a distinction of persons, you commit a sin and are charged by the law as transgressors… Judgment will be without mercy against those who have not used mercy; instead, mercy always prevails in judgment. What good is it, my brethren, if one says he has faith but does not have works? Perhaps that faith can save him? If a brother or sister is unclothed and without daily food and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and satiated,” but you do not give them the necessities for the body, what good is that? So also faith: if it does not have works, it is dead in itself. Conversely, one might say, “You have faith and I have works”; show me your faith without works, and I with my works will show you my faith. Do you believe that there is only one God? You do well; even the demons believe it and tremble!But do you want to know, O foolish one, how faith without works is without heat? Was not Abraham, our father, justified by works when he offered Isaac, his son, on the altar? You see that faith cooperated with his works, and that by works that faith became perfect and the Scripture was fulfilled that says, “And Abraham had faith in God and was credited to him in righteousness,” and was called the friend of God. You see that man is justified on the basis of works and not only on the basis of faith. So also was not Rahab, the harlot, justified on the basis of works for giving hospitality to the scouts and sending them back by another way? For just as the body without the spirit is dead, so also faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:8-26).
Happy Mercy to all!
Anyone who would like to read a more complete exegesis of the text, or some insights, please ask me at migliettacarlo@gmail.com.