Interpretation of the Gospel Reading 3rd Sunday Lent

[Christophorus]

Recently I was attending Mass and heard a questionable intrepretation of this Sunday’s Gospel reading during the 3rd Sunday of Lent:

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.’”

Although I felt this to be a wonderful opportunity to offer catechesis on the need to avoid sin and bear fruit the Deacon offered an interpretation of this passage which I had a very difficult time accepting.

He said that the owner of the fig tree represents worldly men who seek to pass judgement on their peers and that the gardener was God asking to give the tree another year to bear fruit.

Is there any interpretations offer at your parishes which offered a more patristic view?

Thank you.

 

[otjm]

It could jsut as easily be a discussion betwen God the Father and the Son, as to an individual, wthich Christ pleading for mercy.

 

[Deacon2006]

I happened to preach last weekend. I found no commenatry that says the gardener is sinful men. An ordered reading of the passage is that the tree is the Catholic who is filled with pride and sin and as such unfruitful and God rightly seeks His justice the removal of the tree for it is a waste of space and yet the Son intercedes and secures another chance for us to convert from sin and bear fruit.

God Bless

 

[gvogt4]

This is the footnote for verses 6-9 in the NAB.

4 [6-9] Following on the call to repentance in Luke 13:1-5, the parable of the barren fig tree presents a story about the continuing patience of God with those who have not yet given evidence of their repentance (see Luke 3:8). The parable may also be alluding to the delay of the end time, when punishment will be meted out, and the importance of preparing for the end of the age because the delay will not be permanent (Luke 13:8-9).

Also, remember that the laity respond to the homily in the Profession of Faith. If the homilists is in error, we don’t walk out. We don’t challenge him. (He’s human and capable of making a mistake.) We don’t get mad and go to our favorite restaurant gossiping about him (what a witness). (Please understand I am not accusing you of any such thing, nor did your comment present itself to me in a negative light. I am responding (without being asked) to that which I have been an unfortunate witness to.) We simply stand and say “WE BELIEVE IN…”

1154 The liturgy of the Word is an integral part of sacramental celebrations. To nourish the faith of believers, the signs which accompany the Word of God should be emphasized: the book of the Word (a lectionary or a book of the Gospels), its veneration (procession, incense, candles), the place of its proclamation (lectern or ambo), its audible and intelligible reading, the minister’s homily which extends its proclamation, and the **responses of the assembly **(acclamations, meditation psalms, litanies, and profession of faith).