This is the second time that the name of Pilate has occurred in Luke’s narrative. This Roman official had a reputation for ruthlessly dealing with anyone he saw as a troublemaker, so as we are in Lent, and following Jesus on his journey to Jerusalem, we have a hint of what is to come.
The common attitude of the time was that misfortune was the result of sin, which Jesus seems to accept. But his teaching is that the tragic fate of these people of Galilee does not indicate that they were particularly guilty of any offence more serious than anyone else. Nor were those crushed under a toppling building in Jerusalem. Rather, Jesus is emphasising just how precarious human life can be; his listeners should not take life and health for granted, nor put off being converted and living a decent life under the word of God. A sudden death may not be due to divine punishment, but it may happen all the same.
The second section of our Gospel reading concentrates on the fig tree which fails to produce fruit. A fruitful tree is a sign of God’s blessing, and we find examples of the fig, the olive, the grape-bearing vine as positive proof of God’s care for the people. We note that the person in charge of the garden argues, politely, with the landowner, to give the plant another and final chance. This echoes the message of the first passage, that no one can put off indefinitely the effort to reorder and reorient their lives.
Previous Sunday Messages
REFLECT
Recent times have shown us how precarious human life actually is. The forces of nature – wind, storm, flood and fire – have wreaked havoc on our human societies and cities, and on our understanding of ourselves and our place in the world. Perhaps it might help our understanding and attitude if we thought of nature as a living force. Then the events which have caused so much suffering to so many people would be not so much due to unpredictable disasters as to human beings upsetting the balance between ourselves and what we call the “natural world”.
If we consider the two examples which Jesus gives in the first part of our Gospel today, we find that the calamities he mentions may well be interpreted, according to the official doctrine of retribution (fidelity is rewarded, disloyalty is punished), as the judgement of God. But if we consider the two cases, we could say that the first is due to the cruel and cynical decision of the Roman governor; the second may well be attributed to shoddy building workmanship.
One of the unfortunate effects of the Jewish and Christian view of what we call “salvation history” has been the separation of God’s intervening in history – in the Exodus event, in the person of Jesus – and the world of nature. If we were to see nature as a living force,
protesting violently against human abuse of the environment, perhaps we could better respond accordingly.
learn
- Pontius Pilate was finally removed from office for cruelty and exiled to Gaul, part of present-day France.
- Personal disaster, such as illness, poverty or other misfortune, was often seen in biblical terms as the result of sin in the person’s life.
- A good harvest of wheat, figs, grapes, olives was seen as a blessing from God; sterility in a woman, lack of fruit in crops was regarded as God’s withholding of blessing.
do
When you see reports of the next natural disaster, ask yourself what you can do to address climate change.