Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
Jesus said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
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?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”
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,
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?’
He said to him in reply,
‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it;
it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”
Thank you.
Thanks Menagerie, and best wishes for you and all Treepers.
Good morning Treepers!
May your Lent be filled with temptations that you can resist and your Evangelization bear fruit!
Lord Jesus Christ Son of the living God have mercy on me a sinner.
The gardener is Jesus interceding for us before the FATHER. What a Friend! Thank you for the read
I’m with “Leavemygunsalone.” Thanks for posting this. The time has come, after long enough and enough chances to bear fruit, and yet there still is nothing but hardship. Now the useless tree will be felled. Good bye Deep State, and good riddance.
Thank you Lord for sending your Son through whom we have Salvation.
This meditation on today’s Gospel reading comes from The Word Among Us (wau.com) website:
“The people discussing the news with Jesus in today’s Gospel assumed that the disaster victims must have been greater sinners than everyone else. Tragedy, some of them thought, was God’s way of punishing wickedness. But God is not spiteful. He does not wish evil on us when we offend him. It’s our own sin that cuts us off from him and leads to other sins, many of which bring their own disasters. That’s why Jesus warns his hearers about their need for repentance.
But then Jesus tells a reassuring parable for all of us sinners. A landowner wants to cut down his fig tree because it bears no fruit. The gardener asks for mercy—one more year of careful tending might be exactly what the tree needs. God is like that gardener. He sees the ways we’re not fruitful. He sees our sin more clearly than we do. And he shows us mercy. He cares for us, feeds us, protects us, and cultivates our soil. Like the gardener, he offers us another chance to bear good fruit.
Our heavenly Father is a God of second chances! When our sin separates us from him, he wants nothing more than to draw us back, to free us from its effects, and to give us new life. Every day is a chance to be like a healthy, fruitful fig tree and receive the nourishment he offers. We can receive his grace to restore us when we return to him in repentance. We can let him cultivate the soil of our hearts as he teaches us in Scripture or through our life experiences. And we can come to the altar to be fed by Jesus himself.
So don’t think that God is out to get you if you’ve let him down. He loves you and wants to welcome you back to himself. He will give you the strength you need to return.
“Lord, you are doing everything you can to bring each person back to yourself, including me! Help me repent and return to you.””
As one who was an “unfruitful tree” for many years I thank the Lord that I was not cut down but left to be cultivated and eventually bear fruit!
Eph 1:7
And may the God bless you, many times more!
In all of Jesus’s works and ministry on Earth, there is only one man he very specifically promised Heaven. The thief on the cross.
That is what gives all of us sinners hope………..
I can so relate AA
O God, author of every mercy and of all goodness, who in fasting, prayer and almsgiving have shown us a remedy for sin, look graciously on this confession of our lowliness, that we, who are bowed down by our conscience, may always be lifted up by your mercy. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever
Covertly, what a beautiful prayer! Wish I could be so eloquent and get past just the Our Father!
WOW, today I am up against some VERY tough choices and that song was exactly what i needed! Thanks so much, Menagerie.
Magnificent! Thank you! I needed to hear that!