3rd Sunday of Lent 2025 (C) - Burning Bush and the Fig Tree

 

Each Sunday of Lent, our first readings lead us to consider the different stages of salvation history. Last week, remember we read from the book of Genesis of God making a covenant with Abraham. And God foretold how Abraham’s descendants would go down to Egypt, and there they would become numerous, until God led them out of Egypt into the Land of Canaan, the promised land.

This week’s first reading takes places about 400-450 years later, and it has come to pass jut as God said it would: Abraham’s decedents had indeed become very numerous in Egypt, so much so that Pharoah begins killing off the little boys. Under the tyranny of Pharoah God’s people cried out for deliverance. And so, our first reading today describes Moses receiving this task from God to lead the descendants of Abraham out of slavery.

Now Moses, wasn’t a political leader or a soldier, rather he had occupation of a shepherd, an occupation so despised by the Egyptians that Egyptians would not even eat with such men. In the midst of Moses’ lowly existence, God reveals himself to Moses and gives Moses this monumental task.

And, initially, as you might expect, Moses is reluctant and hesitant. He doesn’t speak well, he’s just a shepherd, he has the respect of neither Egyptian or Israelite. But what fills Moses with confidence is when God reveals his name. From the burning bush, God reveals himself to Moses: “I am who am” in other words, “I am the One truly existent One.” The one true God is with you Moses, don’t be afraid of Egypt, don’t be afraid of your own limitations. I AM with you.

Have any of you ever had a burning bush moment? Where either at mass, or in quiet prayer, or at a retreat, or at a festival of praise, you have an undeniable experience of God’s presence. You know you are in the presence of the Great I AM. And that fills you with confidence? I know many priests who received such a grace, and they became secure in their vocation—confident in their calling—upon experiencing an extraordinary encounter with God.

To be honest, I’m not sure everyone gets those. Yes, all of us are able to encounter God in the sacraments. Jesus Christ is truly present in the Eucharist. He’s present in the proclamation of the Word. But God’s presence, in the sacraments is veiled. We know he is present through faith, but, again, I’m not sure every gets burning bush experiences in this life time. Many of us simply need to walk by faith, not by sight.

But if you have received some sort of Burning Bush experience of God, know that you like Moses have a task to fulfill. That experience isn’t just for you. You have a task to help those who haven’t to believe and to walk in the ways of the Lord. To bear fruit that will last.

So God reveals himself to Moses at the burning bush. Fast forward about 1500 years to our Gospel this weekend. And Jesus tells a parable about a very different type of plant, not a burning bush, but a fig tree.

In the parable, a landowner has planted a fig tree in his orchard, expecting fruit. After three years of disappointment, the landowner decides it should be cut down. Yet, the gardener steps in with compassion and hope, pleading for patience: “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.”

This parable was being directed to the religious leaders of the day who claimed to be spokesmen of God. Jesus was critical of them because they were not bearing fruit. They were not helping God’s people strive for authentic holiness and they certainly weren’t helping people believe that God was in their midst in the person of Jesus. So the Lord foretells how they will be cut down, like a barren fig tree, if they don’t start bearing fruit for the kingdom of God.

But, the parable is not only directed to the religious leaders of Jesus’ day of course, the parable is also directed at all of us. We were all made by God to bear spiritual fruit. St. Paul, in his Letter to the Galatians, clearly identifies these fruits as love, joy, peace, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, faithfulness, and self-control. The fruits of our faith hope and love are to be seen in our lives.

But, we don’t always bear the fruit we are supposed to, do we? Our struggle with sin, our laziness, causes us to bear less fruit, or no fruit. Many people, even some baptized Christians are essentially fruitless because they walk the way of the world rather than the way of Christ. Prayer has been replaced with entertainment, fasting has been replaced with indulgence and decadence. Almsgiving has been replaced with seeking happiness in material things. Repentance has been replaced with convincing themselves that they don’t need God or the Church to be good people or go to heaven.

Now, the image of the gardener in the parable reminds us that God is very patient with us. In his mercy, God gives us many opportunities to repent and believe in the Gospel.

However, The message of the parable is clear: the fig tree is not given infinite time. The patient gardner says, “we’re going to try to cultivate the ground, fertilize the tree, but if it doesn’t bear fruit, you can cut it down.”

There is a practical limit to the time that we have been given on this earth to repent and bear fruit, a window of grace. There is an urgency to Jesus’ message. It is not enough simply to go through life with an essentially dead and faithless relationship with Jesus. We are to cooperate with the gardener as best we can—to cultivate our souls—so that we can bear the fruit God desires us to bear.

So again, here is the Lenten call to get serious about prayer, fasting, almsgiving and repentance from sin. This is the cultivation God wants for us in this season.

Like Moses, we are called to move from hesitation to boldness, from complacency to action, trusting that God will help us in the path he has set before us for the glory of God and the salvation of souls.