Readings
I - Rom. : 8:1-11
II - Lk. 13: 1-9
BECOME SENSITIVE TO THE SIGNAL OF GOD
The Israelites considered destruction, disaster, death and misfortune as consequences of sin. Jesus cites two incidents inviting people for repentance and restoration, defending that the Galileans killed by Pilot and the eighteen due to the fall of the Siloam tower were not worse sinners than those survived. The second part of the Gospel passage is about the parable of the barren fig tree where the gardener pleads for one more year with the master as a time gap for the tree to yield the fruit so that he would dig around manure and make it fruitful - signifying the time gap that Jesus pleads with God for the repentance and return of the people to God. As the Scripture says, “But the more they were called, the more they went away from me” (Hos. 11:2), the people of Israel in their stubbornness of heart failed to adhere to the words of Jesus.
The one who repents will live forever and the one who refuses will have to be doomed forever. Every time we sin against love of God and love of neighbour, God signals for repentance and return back through the Word of God, persons, events and above all through our own conscience. God does not punish or condemn us then and there but gives us time gap to come back to Him with converted and convinced heart of repentance and love. As St. Peter says, let us “think of our Lord’s patience as an opportunity to be saved” (2 Pt. 3:15).
Let us be sensitive to catch up with his signal for it could be this minute or this moment as the bible says, “now is the acceptable time, see, now is the day of salvation” (2 Cor. 6:2). Therefore again as the Bible says, “O that today you would listen to His voice! Do not harden you hearts” (Ps. 95:7). May our heart and mind resonate with the prayer: “Lord Jesus, Have mercy on me”.
