Christ the Cornerstone

As sinners, let us repent and be renewed during Lent

The Gospel reading for the Third Sunday of Lent (Lk 13:1-9) speaks of our need for repentance. The selection begins with a bit of gossip—even slander. “Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices” (Lk 13:1). Who are these people? And what do they hope to accomplish by telling Jesus what these scandalous Galileans have done?

We can tell by our Lord’s reaction that he wants no part of this kind of “trash talk,” gossip that denigrates a group of people just for the sake of feeling superior to them. “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?” Jesus replies. “By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Lk 13:2-3)

By looking down on others, and by gossiping about them, we act like we ourselves are sinless. We fail to acknowledge that we are sinners also, and we abuse our sisters and brothers by treating them as if they are somehow less than we are in the eyes of God. This is the kind of hypocrisy that always makes Jesus angry. Why? Because he knows exactly who we are, and he will not tolerate people who puff themselves up with pride and pretend they are better than everyone else.

In his autobiography Hope, Pope Francis speaks to this very human condition. He writes:

I am a sinner. This is the fairest definition. And it is not just an expression, a dialectical contrivance, a literary genre, a theatrical pose. …

We are all sinners. If I were to tell myself that I am not, then I would be the most corrupt person. In our prayer to Mary, we say that she is mother of “us sinners,” and so it is. But not of corrupt people. For people who are corrupt sell their mothers, they sell their membership to their family or to their people. They make a choice that is self-serving. I’d say satanical: They lock the door from the inside. They lock the door and double-lock it.

The difference between sinners and corrupt people is that sinners can repent and be converted. In the language of this Sunday’s Gospel, they can repent and once again begin to “bear fruit” (Lk 13:9).

Corrupt people refuse to acknowledge their sinfulness. They act as if they are they are not to blame for the negative consequences of their actions. “The inability to feel personal blame is a serious and widespread sickness,” Pope Francis says. But even great sinners can be saved if they have the humility to admit their wrongs and let God’s grace enter into their lives.

In the Responsorial Psalm for the Third Sunday of Lent (Ps 103), we will sing:

The Lord pardons all your iniquities, heals all your ills. He redeems your life from destruction, crowns you with kindness and compassion.

Merciful and gracious is the Lord, slow to anger and abounding in kindness.

For as the heavens are high above the Earth, so surpassing is his kindness toward those who fear him.

Jesus Christ is gracious and merciful. He knows that we are all sinners. He doesn’t make comparisons or engage in gossip. He is slow to anger and overflowing with kindness. He invites everyone—no matter who we are or what we have done—to turn to him and ask for forgiveness.

In the second part of Sunday’s Gospel, Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. He describes a man who owned an orchard with a fig tree that for the past three years has born no fruit. Understandably, the man wants to cut it down, but the gardener begs for mercy for the fig tree. He promises to cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it in the hopes that it will once again bear fruit.

Second chances are always available to us, but they require hard work and “a firm purpose of amendment.” We have to want to change, and we have to be willing to do whatever is required to turn our lives around and make things right.

“I have a dogmatic certainty,” Pope Francis says. “God is in the life of every person. … Even if a person’s life has been a disaster, if that person has been wracked by vices, by drugs, by whatever else, God is in that life.”

During this Lenten season, let’s see ourselves not as better than anyone else, but as fellow sinners who are eager to repent and be renewed—physically, emotionally and spiritually. Let us work to cultivate and fertilize the soil we are grounded in so that we can once again bear much fruit. †