Third Sunday of Lent
It can be very tempting to cut and run when the going gets tough, particularly in a society that increasingly emphasizes disposability. It is not difficult to identify with the person in the Gospel who expresses frustration with the fig tree that has borne no fruit. Let’s just cut it down and move on, they say. Why spend time and resources on a seemingly lost cause? It takes a deep kind of strength to stay in difficult places where we have perhaps not been successful. It can be incredibly difficult to remain faithful to our commitments when we cannot see any hope of the payoff we were perhaps initially hoping for.
And yet consider the way that God deals with each one of us. How many times have we failed to produce good fruit in our own lives? How many times have we stumbled and struggled and squandered the gifts we have been given? Despite all the struggles experienced throughout human history, God stays with us in even the most difficult places of our lives. He says, “Let’s maybe prune these couple of leaves that are giving you problems and open up some new avenues for new life and goodness. Let’s re-till the soil of your soul and provide the nourishment you need to flourish.” When we have fig trees in our own lives that are difficult, barren, challenging, or discouraging, let us bring them to the Master and allow Him to till the soil for us.