At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. 2 He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? 3 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! 4 Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them —do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? 5 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
6 And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, 7 he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ 8 He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; 9 it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.
Jesus was very firm in warning sinners to repent before it was too late. Pilate had sacrificed some of the Jews in the temple, and Jesus told the people who were present that it was not because they were sinners. Sometimes it is an act of God that causes tragedy (v. 4). He wanted the disciples to understand that it could happen to anyone at any time so they should repent and always be prepared to stand in judgment before God.
Jesus told a parable about God’s compassion. Luke omits that Jesus cursed the unfruitful fig tree (Mk. 11:20-25) but presents a more compassionate presentation of the same incident. The two evangelists are making different points to different audiences. In the OT (Isaiah 6) fruitless vines was used to describe poor Israelite leadership. The early Christians Mark was addressing would have looked at Jesus’ cursing the fig tree as a symbolic action linking back to Isaiah’s prophesy. In Luke’s version, even though compassion was shown at the moment, the tree is given a year to bear fruit, or it will be cut down (v. 8). Jesus gave the non-believers a short period of time to repent and bear fruit for the Kingdom.
Almighty God, we are very sorry for having offended you and pray that by our sincere repentance you will look upon us with compassion and grant us the grace to persevere, in spite of our failings, until we come to eternal life within your Kingdom. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
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References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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