Holier Than Thou
“Leave it for a year for cultivation and care. If it still does not bear fruit, cut it down.” Luke 13:1-9
3rd Sunday Lent
Sometime before somewhere in the south there was a flash flood that washed away an entire subdivision. The residents there were dragged as far as the sea where everyone eventually drowned. Rumors told that it was because the people there were not catholics that they suffered such tragedy.
Jesus warned against such “holier than thou” attitude. The Jews in today’s gospel episode looked down on the Galileans whose blood Pilate mingled with the blood of their sacrifice. Jesus told the Jews not to think that those foreigners were greater sinners than any of them because of their fatal end. Everyone would suffer the same fate unless he would repent.
How do we know that we are properly contrite? Jesus told the parable of the barren fig tree. If we do not bear fruit of repentance after a given time, we could be punished like the fig tree that remained barren in spite of much care.
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