Daily Gospel Reflection

Repent or Perish

Welcome back to Radical and Relevant, where each day we take a few moments together to explore the genius of the gospels. We look for a word, a phrase, or an idea that the Holy Spirit uses to capture our attention. We use that to anchor our day. Today's reading is from the Gospel of Luke 13:1-9. There were some present at that very time who told him of the Galileans whose blood pilot had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, "Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered thus? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen upon whom the tower in Salem fell and killed them. Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who'd wanted Jerusalem? I tell you no, but unless you repent, you will likewise perish." And Jesus told them this parable. A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit, and he found none. And he said to the vine dresser, "Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?" And he answered him, "Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down."

What jumps out at you today? There's a lot going on here. So Jesus starts talking about these Galileans whose blood plot is mingled with their sacrifices, and people's, obviously, temptation was to think, well, these people were bad people, and we're better than them, and they're worse than us, and we're not like them. And Jesus is saying, that isn't true. You might be like them, and in fact, you might be worse than them. And what does he say? He says, "Repent or perish. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish." So there's a lot right there, right? All. So it's not saying one or two of you might perish. All, likewise, perish. Repent or perish. And repenting is a lifelong journey, right? Repenting is to turn back to God. We turn away from Him in little ways, like by little degrees. And then we realize, "Oh, I've turned away from God again." And maybe it happens in a day, maybe it happens in a week, maybe it happens in a year. But how are you being called to repent at this moment in your life? And how are you already perishing? Because that's the thing about sin. It's not like, oh, we do the sin now, and then the perishing is all saved up for the afterlife. No. We start to perish now.

Sin destroys our lives in very real ways. It complicates our lives beyond belief. Somebody was asking me about something recently. And my answer to them was like, "Okay, but all of the theology aside, why would you want to complicate your life with that sin? Because it is going to complicate your life. It is going to make your life messy. It is going to cause you to perish in lots of ways." And so there's a relationship between sin and perishing in the middle is repenting. How we be called to repent today. Not somebody else, but ourselves. And of course, Jesus is talking about comparing gear, right? So what do we got going on here? We've got this comparison. People thinking, well, I'm different to them. I'm better than them. They're worse than me. And this comparison is constantly, it's in our human nature. It's very dangerous. It's insidious. It's like a cancer. And so Jesus says, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. And then just in case we were confused, he comes back. He tells another example and he says exactly the same thing. Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.

And so to look today at like, in what ways are you perishing? And what behavior does that relate to? And how can we repent of that behavior? And then the second part of the reading is really another whole reading. And Jesus is telling the parable of the fig tree. The fig tree is doing nothing. This part just sounds so hard-hearted to me. I mean, so cold-hearted. All right? What does it say? It says, "Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?" Wow. That just seems just very harsh, right? Cut it down. I guess one thing to say cut it down. But then, why should it use up the ground? It's just so hard-hearted. It's just so cold. It's brutal. It's brutal. And then the gardener comes along, right? And he's like calms things down. It's like, "Okay, I'll give the fig tree another year. Let me dig around it and put some manure there and you know see if we can bring it to life." And another year, if you come back, there's no fruit, well, and then you cut it down, and maybe this is our year, right? Maybe we haven't been producing the fruit we should. Maybe we've been distracted. Maybe we've been selfish. Maybe many things. But maybe this is our year. And God wants to dig and till the soil around you and put the manure on there. And manure, it's not pleasant, right?

Well, if we're going to let God work with us, there's going to be some unpleasant parts of that. You can't grow and develop a great discipline and great character and great virtue without having some challenges, some difficult parts. So there are going to be some difficult parts, but that's what brings forth the fruit, right? It's the digging around of the soil. It's the fertilizing of the soil that brings the tree to life and bears the fruit. So what is the digging around that you need to do? What is the fertilizing in your own life that you need to do or you need to ask and invite God to do so that you can bear fruit and not be the recipient of cut it down, why should he use up the ground? Wow, it's powerful, right? Radical and relevant. That's the conversation we're having. Every day for a few minutes, radical and relevant. Life-changing. Have a great day. And remember, Be Bold, Be Catholic.