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Reflection for the 3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time 2021

Good, but for time.

I tell you, brothers and sisters, the time is running out.

Last week we encountered the first disciples and Jesus’ call to come follow Him. We heard Nathaniel wonder, like we may from time to time, if anything good could come from him and Jesus’ answer to all of us.

Jesus saw something in the disciples that surprised them. Instead of seeing rotten, no good sinners, people out of whom nothing good could come, Jesus saw people He loved and with a great future. Jesus knows the good that can come from people who follow Him and invites us.

Reassured that we are loved, and with expectations of greatness set for us by Jesus, what stops us from following Jesus more closely, from being that disciple who proclaims the closeness of the kingdom, of giving others the opportunity to repent and know that they are loved and also have a great future?

The common response, Good can come from me, but for time. Good can come from me, Jesus says so, but for time…

The answer is not to ‘make time.’ It is not that easy. We are pulled in many directions with varied responsibilities, so trite statements about making time are unhelpful. We could call in a time management consultant, but who has time to do that?

The answer to the time problem is exactly the lack of time. It is the urgency of the current moment. When something becomes pressing, urgent, we automatically reprioritize what we are doing. In life threatening moments we stop worrying about the laundry, making dinner, browsing Twitter or Snap Chat, or Facebook.

What we may be failing to recognize is that this is a life-threatening moment. Each moment is life threatening for those who fail to repent, to turn back to God and for those who fail to call them to repentance. 

We saw it with Jonah. Jonah didn’t have the time to go and do God’s work, he ran away, he was unpersuaded by God’s urgency and if God had not persuaded him otherwise, the people of Nineveh might have been destroyed in their sin. Yet they were saved due to Jonah’s call, their repentance, and God’s mercy.

As Paul tells the Corinthians, time is running out. We need to take that seriously and understand how dependent others access to eternal life in heaven is on us. Yes, Jesus loves us and confirms us in goodness, the good that can come from us, but we have to get up and proclaim that powerful message: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.”

Yes, we have a time problem. There is a lack of time and the moment is urgent. Now is the time for goodness to flow from our following Jesus.

Christian Witness, Homilies, , ,

Reflection for the Third Sunday of Lent

10339

Cut it off!
Give it a bit.

“‘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.’”

We have all felt like the orchard owner. We try at things and put a lot of effort into them. It seems some are an uphill battle; we don’t seem to be getting anywhere for our effort. We’d like to cut that failure out of our lives and start over; put it behind us.

This experience can happen on lots of levels. Perhaps it is that plant that just won’t flourish on our windowsill, perhaps it is bigger things: our job, friendships, education, or our marriage.

Today’s first lesson is about perseverance. Jesus tells us the story of the orchard owner who has invested a lot to get this tree to grow, and it has failed him every year. He’s ready to cut it off, cut it down, get that failure out of his life, start over, or just put it behind him. The gardener tells the orchard owner and us that we need to give it more time.

Imagine that you’ve had a couple tough years in a marriage, or at work. You’re ready for that divorce or to quit. Then this parable comes to mind and you relent, you give it another year. A year later you look back and…

Hopefully you look back at your marriage and find that it has settled down, flourished, and produced fruit – love, a deeper relationship, and respect. You look back at your job and find good productivity, a promotion and success.

Our Lenten message is that that we cannot just leave the fix to itself for a year. The gardener didn’t just tell the orchard owner and us to give it more time. He understood that the owner needed to “cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it.” In other words, time alone is not enough – we have to put the work in.

That marriage, job, education, friendship, plant on the windowsill all need work and commitment to flourish. Our investment in our faith in Jesus, our love for Him and His Church take commitment and work. Our sinfulness doesn’t end by itself. Things don’t fix themselves.

Thankfully, we don’t work at any of this alone. The gardener by our side is Jesus. He offers us those graces of forgiveness, fellowship in faith, communion with Him and each other. He cultivates and fertilizes our work with His grace that heals perfectly. The next time we’re ready to cut it off, don’t. Turn instead to Him and get to work.

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