Here we are at the third Sunday of Lent and I really cannot believe that we are at this point in our Lenten journey. During this time there are many recurring themes but the one we hear most about is repentance change and coming back. A few years ago our local Bishop wrote a pastoral letter for Lent called Ashes for change and change is really what we are about during Lent. That change means changing our hearts, our minds and our way of going. In our Gospel reading for this Sunday Jesus urges those who are listening to him to use the time that is available for repentance. In the parable of the fig-tree it is stressed that the time will come for a last chance to bear fruit. This parable is a wakeup call and it tells us that Lent is a good time to make the changes we have been putting off and know we must do in order to make ourselves bear spiritual fruit.
The gardener in the Gospel asked the owner of the vineyard to give the barren fig tree another chance to produce fruit. He promised to dig around it and manure it, to give it one last chance to prove itself.
So it is with us God gives us this annual time of Lent to prove ourselves. We are called to use the 6 weeks of lent well as there are many things in our lives that we need to change. Do we bear good fruit? Do we flower and bring forth good works? It is a time for us to consider our way of living our lives and what it means. It is a time when the work of the Lord will lift us up and encourage us to blossom and bear spiritual fruit.
This Sunday we see that our lives are enriched and by sharing in the work and message of Jesus the beloved Son of God who is our saviour. When we get out there and share our time talents and resources we are sharing in the work of Jesus bringing his kingdom into the lives of those around us. When we die to sin and come to repentance for our sins we identify ourselves in a real and concrete way with the redemptive power of Christ who died on the cross and rose again from the dead for all of us. Our calling, then, is to be strong, giving witness to our faith in the days of Lent as we go forward to Holy Week and Easter so that others will see what we believe in and as a result of our example they might even take up the challenge that Jesus gives to all of us to follow him.
Fullerton T 