Gospel-Homily for Third Sunday of Lent (2025)

Read the Homily

Be a Gardener.

I wanted to plant a garden in our courtyard. So I got a gardening magazine and found a picture of an inner city garden. It was breathtaking to look at. It was a blanket of multiple shades of green with spots of bright orange and purple flowers. I took the picture to a nursery and said, “I want this garden.”  So she said, “Yes, these are all the plants you want for a low-light urban garden. It is exactly what you want if tall buildings surround the garden. So she took me out back, picked out a bunch of plants, and put them on a cart. When we got to the cash register, I looked at the small plants in little pots on the cart and said, “That’s it? This doesn’t look like the picture in the book.”  She said, “You men are all alike.  You think you are going to have an instant garden. The garden in the picture took twenty-five years to look that way.”  She was a good gardener because, unlike me, she was not looking at the present situation. She was looking ahead at the future potential of these small plants.

So, the master in the parable walks over to the fig tree with a big ax. The gardener appears just in time and stops the blood bath. The gardener is not looking at the present situation, which is pretty bleak, but rather at the tree’s future potential and potential greatness.

God is also a wise gardener. He does not consider the present situation but the future potential.  That is why God calls losers and has-beens. 

Before God called Moses, he was tending the flock at Midian. The reason why he is in Midian is because he is a runaway slave with a rap sheet for murder. You cannot get lower on the low-life list. Wouldn’t you think God would want someone up a little higher on the social status scale? Does God not have a card index he could flip through to see better options? Why Moses? Because God is not looking at the present situation, which is miserable. He is looking at future potential.

 When Peter saw that he had caught so many fish, it was reported that he had dropped to his knees and said to Jesus, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” I have no doubt that Peter was telling the truth. Peter was a businessman and a sailor. You would think that Jesus would have taken Peter’s advice. “Yes, you have a point. I am sure I can find someone at the Temple or the synagogue. He picks Peter. Why? Because Jesus is not looking at the present situation, which is rather poor. He is looking to the future potential.

That is the faith lesson for us. We are to be great gardeners. That is, we do not look at the present situation because it is probably awful. Instead, we look to the future potential—the potential for greatness. We say, “I can make a difference in their lives, I can make a difference in my life.” So be a great gardener.