We share in God’s time of salvation

You will not find much of the ‘news of the day’ in the Bible. Yes, it’s full of the great events and stories of salvation, especially in the Old Testament, but the day-to-day news stories of what was happening are not much mentioned. Today’s Gospel, therefore, is a bit of a rarity – it sounds more like the morning news on the radio: local tyrant massacres group of believers; workplace accident kills several passers-by. The only thing missing is the sport and weather.

It does sound a little strange to our ears to be hearing of some localised bits of news in the amidst our Gospel stories. But we shouldn’t really be surprised – people everywhere, and at every time, have always talked about the news of their day. We do it with our work colleagues or on social media; the ancients did it in public squares or at the neighbour’s front door. But it’s the same thing. News is news, and we’re all into it.

Clearly, from today’s Gospel, we also know that Jesus was just as engaged with the local news as any of us. He knew what was happening, and I’m sure this would have been quite normal. What is important about this is how Jesus engages with it. The disciples seemed to have been occupied more with the ‘gory details’ but could not see anything of a deeper meaning or purpose. Not so with Jesus.

The news of the day was – and is – the news of salvation. Everything is caught up in the mystery of God’s plans and actions in the world, and our personal place in it.

In these two stories we’ve heard about – both tragedies for innocent people – the disciples were worried about their untimely deaths and whether they were suitably prepared. For his part, Jesus sees the question of our reconciliation in God, and God’s time to enable this to happen. Yes, says Jesus, we are all sinners, and all of us need to attend to this. So, take up the way of repentance; do not be caught out unrepentant.

But at the same time, says Jesus in the parable part of his comment on the news, also know that God will give us the time and opportunity to do something about it. The vineyard owner is God the Father in the story. Jesus is the one tending the fig tree. “Give it another year,” says Jesus to his Father; meaning, give us time. The way of Jesus for us is the way of mercy and conversion.

I am reminded here of the words said to us as the ash is smudged on us on Ash Wednesday: “Turn away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” Or the words from the Prophet Isaiah, “Cease to do evil; learn to do good.” God wants to give us time, but it is a special timeframe in which he is operating – the time it took for his Son’s saving death on the cross. That’s the ‘digging around and manure-ing’ that Jesus came to do in each of our lives. The time to repent – the time of forgiveness – is not chronologically determined, but is ever-present for us. We share in God’s time of salvation.