Source: Neo Jeremiah Voice of the Young Prophet Newsletter (February 28, 2016 issue)

Our gospel today can be considered a message of repentance in terms of change of mentality and of course a change of lifestyle in accordance with that new mentality. To understand what I mean by change of mentality, we need to see the historical background of the two incidents in our gospel. The first incident talked about the Galilean people, whom Pilate had mingled with. However, the question is who were the Galileans? You know Galileans were the kind of people quite sensitive. if one of the Galileans was your enemy, they will in return not like your actions and consider them insulting. That is the reason why they immediately complain.

Sometimes in our life, we are like Galileans. We complain a lot about everything around us. Even in society nowadays there are so many people who complain of what’s happening in our society today. You know reality will tell us the truth of what we are going to do in order to find the true meaning of our existence in this world.

In the second incident in our gospel, Jesus used the analogy of the fig tree wherein after three years of caring, the tree did not bear fruit. In this analogy, the fig tree refers to the Israelites and the three years refer to the public ministry of Jesus. Therefore, the message of this analogy is for all of us Christians.

Finally, if we can see the whole message of the gospel in light of the present context, we can learn three things. First, we should not build up our own kingdom in this world, rather let God build and enter in our lives. Second, as a disciple of Jesus, we should bear fruit in our life and bring ourselves to the path of God. Third and final message is God will give you a chance to change our life. This year is the year of mercy and compassion. God gives us a chance for repentance. However, we should always be reminded to live our life by being humble.

~ Dino