October 22, 2022 – Luke 13:1-9
Disasters or accidents in which some people lose their lives constantly force one to ask, why them? or why me? Why do innocent children die? As Jesus is speaking, someone brings him up to date with the shocking news: a group of Galileans, probably Zealot revolutionaries, were slaughtered by Pilate while they were performing the sacrifice. Another misfortune is still alive in everyone’s memory: eighteen laborers working for the temple had been buried under the collapse of a tower. People reasoned thus: if God chastised them, it means that they were sinners. But this is not the way for Jesus to interpret events. Those men,” he points out, “were no worse than others. God’s judgment is not for some, but for all; it is not for others, but for each of us Jesus ends his discourse with a strong appeal for conversion: ‘I say to you, but if you do not convert,
Luke, in addition to stressing the importance of conversion, wants to make us aware that God’s judgment is impending and general as shown in the parable of the barren fig tree (13:6-9). This parable, despite its brevity, is rich in motifs. There is the motif of Israel’s barrenness and its obstinacy to sin, there is – in contrast – the motif of God’s patience and mercy, and there is also a third motif, which would seem to contradict the previous one: urgency. But it is an urgency to be understood in the right way. The observation that time is prolonged leads many to think that God’s judgment is nonexistent. Actually,” Luke says, “this time that is prolonged is a sign of mercy, not of the absence of judgment. Time is prolonged to allow us to take advantage of it, not to justify procrastination or indifference. And still God’s patience has a limit. This lengthening time is a decisive time and requires, throughout its duration, commitment and vigilance.
To become good workers… CONVERT!
The verb “to convert” is repeated twice in the pericope. Luke thus speaks to us of the necessity of conversion, its urgency, the looming judgment of God.
But what does it mean to convert? The Hebrew Bible’s favored verb for conversion is to change course, to turn back. The New Testament wanted to be more precise, using “epistrefein” to indicate outward change, change in behavior, and “metanoein” to indicate inward mutation, change of mind. The term Luke uses in our text is “metanoein”: he thus insists on inner change, on a new and different way of evaluating things. (B. Maggioni).
P Joby Kavungal RCJ
San Lorenzo Parish, TREZZANO SUL NAVIGLIO – MILAN.