Third Lent

Luke 13: 9

The gardener said, “Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilise, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.”

A while back, in an exclusive Chicago suburb made up of many gated communities, a person went on a shooting rampage and killed a number of people. The entire community went into shock. Television and newspaper reporters swarmed over the area searching for the best interview. One stunned person was shown staring blankly into the T.V. camera and asking, “How could this happen here, in our community?”

The implications of that question are staggering. Is murder acceptable in the poor, violent cities? Did the people in this suburb feel protected by some kind of economic or educational moat that kept them from such tragedy? Were those in the city guilty or deserving of violence while they were not?

Pain, hurt, and suffering happen to all people everywhere. Some of it is caused by the randomness of nature and is no one’s fault no matter the immensity of the tragedy. Other times we bring on the suffering in our world through our own sinfulness and our response to it in others.

We cannot let this reality lead us to an existential nihilism, or despair, or a sense of hopelessness. Lent reminds us that people can and do change. Like the fig tree in the gospel story, we, with a little work, can be changed and made fruitful. We should not give up on ourselves. God does not give up on us. The psalmist today sings: “The Lord is kind and merciful.” It is a good Lenten message for us to hear.