The prophets of the Old Testament responded to disasters in the life of God's people by issuing stern warnings: the people had turned away from a proper relationship with God and with one another, the relationship sealed in the Covenant with Moses, and had chosen instead the ways of death and injustice. Again and again the prophets called people to repentance.
In today's gospel reading, Luke places Jesus squarely in this prophetic tradition. Jesus talks about some "Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifice". The description of this event is unique to Luke's gospel, but we know that Pilate was a violent ruler. Death was always near - something that is brought home by the fact that Jesus utters these words on the way to Jerusalem, where he will himself be killed. In response to this proximity of death, Jesus calls people to repentance in stark words - "if you do not repent, you will all perish in the same way".
Those are stark words indeed, but they are followed up by words of mercy. The parable of the fig tree stresses that there is still time for repentance. This message echoes our Old Testament reading, "Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near." Those are words we should apply to ourselves this Lent. What do we as individuals and as the Church need to repent of? In which areas of our lives do we need to seek the Lord anew?
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