Nourish a Broken World

Luke 13:1-9

Father Mark reflects on a moment in the Gospel of Luke when Jesus is told about recent tragedies—the slaughter of Galileans by Pilate and the collapse of a tower in Siloam. Rather than affirming that the victims suffered because they were worse sinners, Jesus emphatically rejects that assumption. Instead, he calls his listeners to repentance—not as a threat of literal destruction, but as an urgent invitation to transformation. Father Mark emphasizes that repentance, or metanoia, is not about guilt or punishment but about an inner change that brings new life and awareness.

Drawing from Rabbi Harold Kushner’s story and other voices like Jared Bias, Father Mark challenges the simplistic “do good, get good; do bad, get bad” theology that many people use to understand suffering. He explains that this kind of thinking, while comforting in its order, distorts our image of God. Instead of viewing God as a punitive enforcer, he invites us to see God as “all-vulnerable”—present with us in pain, not causing it. Jesus often disrupted people’s assumptions about sin and suffering, redirecting their attention not to the sins of others, but to their own need for spiritual transformation.

The fig tree parable at the end of the Gospel illustrates God’s patience and care. The divine gardener, Father Mark says, is not waiting to cut us down, but working hard to nourish us into fruitfulness. Through metaphors of digging, fertilizing, and pruning—often involving humility—we are invited to cooperate with God’s work in our souls. True repentance means opening the gate of our hearts and allowing God to tend the soil of our lives. In doing so, we become vessels through which divine love can nourish a broken world.

Scripture quotations are from New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.