‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard …’ (Luke 13: 6) … a surviving fig tree beside a former small vineyard that has been cleared near the beach in Platanias east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Patrick Comerford
We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar, and tomorrow is the Last Sunday after Trinity. Today, the calendar of the Church of England in
Common Worship remembers Saint Crispin and Saint Crispinian, Martyrs at Rome,
ca 287.
I hope to spend much of today waiting for a declaration after the Presidential election in Ireland. In my prayers this morning I am giving thanks for the benefits of democracy, and for the strong social witness of President Michael D Higgins during his 14 years in office. I am also praying for family members who are attending a family funeral in Kuching today.
This is the last weekend of October, and the storms over the last few days have been a reminder, if we ever needed it, that summer is truly over. The clocks go back an hour later tonight, early tomorrow morning, at 2 am, oand time in the UK and Ireland switches back from Daylight Saving Time (DST) or British Summer Time (BST) to Standard Time or Greenwich Mean Time. Before today begins, meanwhile, before having breakfast, I am taking some quiet time early this morning to give thanks, and for reflection, prayer and reading in these ways:
1, today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
The Friary Clock Tower in Lichfield … why were the workers killed accidentally in the Tower of Siloam? (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Luke 13: 1-9 (NRSVA):
1 At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 He asked them, ‘Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4 Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them – do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did.’
6 Then he told this parable: ‘A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?” 8 He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down”.’
A lost vineyard in Platanias near Rethymnon in Crete … fig trees at either end helped to protect the vines against winds from the sea and mountain and to hold the soil and water (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Reflection:
Some years ago, in an address at the Pontifical University in Saint Patrick’s College, Maynooth, Bishop John Kirby spoke of the way many people ask why we are relatively prosperous while so many people live in poverty. But, he said, we need to realise instead that we are relatively prosperous in rich countries in the northern hemisphere precisely because so many people live in poverty and hunger and thirst in the two-thirds world.
In the middle of the economic crisis in Greece some years ago, the Greek Prime Minister accused other European leaders of failing to put compassion into action, and warned of the danger of Greece becoming ‘a warehouse of souls.’
Emphasising the spiritual without understanding the world we live in leads to us being irrelevant. On the other hand, actively doing good, without any deep and truly spiritual foundations, leads to burn-out and disillusion. Of course, we are called to hunger and thirst for righteousness (Matthew 5: 6). But wishing is not enough. Christ reminds us in today’s Gospel reading that we are called to bear fruit too … and he is patient in waiting for faith to produce fruit.
These thoughts are interesting preludes to today’s Gospel reading (Luke 13: 1-9), when we hear of the chilling and horrific deaths of two groups of people that made headline news at the time.
We all know that people often ask why God allows bad things to happen to good people. In this reading there are two examples. In the first case, it was Galileans at prayer in the Temple who were slaughtered in their innocence, and who then, sacrilegiously, had their blood mixed with the Temple sacrifices. In the second case, innocent building workers, working on the Tower of Siloam near the Temple, died when the work collapsed on top of them.
In those days, it was a common belief that pain and premature death were signs of God’s adverse judgment. We think like that today: how often do people think those who are sick, suffer infirmities, have injuries, die because they cannot afford health care? They do not die because they cannot afford healthcare – they die because governments prefer to spend money on weapons and wars or in giving tax breaks to the rich, rather than spending money on health care for those who need it.
The first group in this Gospel reading, a group of Galileans, from Christ’s own home province, believed they were doing God’s will as they worshipped in the Temple. But they were killed intentionally as they sacrificed to God in the Temple. Even in death, they were degraded further when, on Pilate’s orders, their blood was mixed with the blood of the Temple sacrifices.
Think of the horror we feel when people are murdered at worship in attacks on churches, synagogues or mosques, or Oscar Romero saying Mass 45 years ago in San Salvador (24 March 1980).
The second group in the Gospel reading, numbering 18 in all, were building workers who were killed accidentally as they were building the Tower of Siloam.
Think of our horror today at people who die randomly or accidentally, not because of their own mistakes or sinfulness: people who die sleeping in their own homes at night during Russian attacks on Ukrainian cities; children who die in attacks on hospitals or schools in Gaza; people who die daily of hunger and poverty; children born to die because they are HIV +, because their parents live in poverty, or other circumstances not of their choosing such as Trump’s capricious cancellation of US financial support; the children who die in treacherous sea crossings in the English Channel or in the Mediterranean …
How easy it is to talk about ‘innocent victims’ – of wars, of AIDS, of gangland killings – as though some people are ‘guilty victims’ who deserve to die like that anyway.
But in both cases in our Gospel reading – in all these cases – Christ says no, there is no link between an early and an unjust death and the sins of the past or the sins of past generations.
In both stories, we could explain away what we might otherwise see as the inexplicable way God allows other people to suffer and die by saying they brought it on themselves by their sins, or the sins of their ancestors … or, in today’s language, by saying they cannot afford to pay for health care, or they bring it upon themselves by their lifestyle, or they need to pull themselves up by their bootstraps, or they ought to stay in their own countries.
My compassion is the victim of my hidden values, and so others become the victims.
Many may have expected Christ to say that their deaths were in punishment for their rebellious behaviour, in the case of the Galilean rebels, or collaborative behaviour, in the case of the workers who were building a water supply system for the Roman occupiers.
Is Christ indifferent to political and environmental disasters?
Instead of meeting those expectations, Christ teaches that death comes to everyone, regardless of how sinful I am, regardless of my birth, politics or social background, or – even more certainly – my smug sense of religious pride and righteousness. And he goes on to teach how we each need to repent – even when, in the eyes of others, we do not appear to need repentance.
Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near …
It is so tempting to excuse or dismiss the sufferings of others. To say they brought it on themselves offers us an opt-out: we can claim to have compassion, but need not respond to it, nor need to do anything to challenge the injustices that are the underlying causes of this suffering.
Yet, in the parable of the fig tree, we are called on to wait, we are urged not to be too hasty in our judgment on those who seem in our eyes to do nothing to improve their lot.
It makes logical, economic and financial sense for the owner to want to chop down the fig tree – after all, not only is it taking up space, but it also costs in terms of time, tending, feeding, caring and nurturing. The owner knows what it is to make a quick profit, and if the quick profit is not coming soon enough he wants to cut his losses.
It takes much tender care and many years – at least three years – for a fig tree to bear fruit. And even then, in a vineyard, the figs are not a profit – they are a bonus.
Even if a fig tree bears early fruit, the Mosaic Law said it could not be harvested for three years, and the fruit gathered in the fourth year was going to offered as the first fruits. Only in the fifth year, then, could the fruit be eaten.
So, if this tree was chopped down, and another put its place, it would take longer still to get fruit that could be eaten or sold. In his quest for a quick profit, the owner of the vineyard shows little knowledge about the reality of economics.
The gardener, who has nothing at stake, turns out to be the one who not only has compassion, but has deep-seated wisdom too. The gardener, who is never going to benefit from the owner’s profits, can see the tree’s potential, is willing to let be and wait, knowing what the fig tree is today and what it can do in the future.
But we can decide where we place our trust – in the values that I think serve me but serve the rich, the powerful and the oppressor, or in the God who sees our plight, who hears our cry, and who comes in Christ to deliver us.
Seek the Lord while he may be found,
call upon him while he is near …
Figs ripening on a fig tree near the beach at Platanias, east of Rethymnon in Crete (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)
Today’s Prayers (Saturday 25 October 2025):
The theme this week (19 to 25 October) in
Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), has been ‘Advancing Theological Education for Young Women in Africa’ (pp 48-49). This theme was introduced last Sunday with reflections from Esmeralda (Essie) Pato, Chair of the Communion-Wide Advisory Group for USPG; she is based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
The USPG Prayer Diary today (Friday 24 October 2025, United Nations Day) invites us to pray:
Lord, bless Essie in her leadership of the Communion-Wide Advisory Group for USPG. Grant her wisdom and strength as she guides the mission, inspiring others to serve faithfully.
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
increase in us your gift of faith
that, forsaking what lies behind
and reaching out to that which is before,
we may run the way of your commandments
and win the crown of everlasting joy;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post Communion Prayer:
We praise and thank you, O Christ, for this sacred feast:
for here we receive you,
here the memory of your passion is renewed,
here our minds are filled with grace,
and here a pledge of future glory is given,
when we shall feast at that table where you reign
with all your saints for ever.
Additional Collect:
God, our judge and saviour,
teach us to be open to your truth
and to trust in your love,
that we may live each day
with confidence in the salvation which is given
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect on the Eve of Last Sunday after Trinity:
Blessed Lord,
who caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning:
help us so to hear them,
to read, mark, learn and inwardly digest them
that, through patience, and the comfort of your holy word,
we may embrace and for ever hold fast
the hope of everlasting life,
which you have given us in our Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Yesterday’s Reflections
Continued Tomorrow
Vines in a small abandoned vineyard near the bus top in Platanias, east of Rethymnon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
Scripture quotations are from the
New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
http://nrsvbibles.org
The bell tower beside the Cathedral in Rethymnon, with a clock dating from 1899 … the clocks go back an hour tonight (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)
