March 23, 2025 Third Sunday of Lent
At St. Raymond Parish, on the 3rd, 4th, and 5th weeks of Lent when the Scrutenies are held, readings from Cycle A are used in place of the normal Cycle C readings. The readings here are from Cycle A. Following these readings are the normal readings and commentary for cycle C.”
CYCLE A READINGS:
On this, the Third Sunday of Lent, the readings call us to think about our thirst for eternal life and how it can be quenched only by the life-giving water of the Holy Spirit that comes to us through Jesus. We, like the Israelites, in the first reading are called to recognize God in our lives and to trust in His care for us. Paul reminds us that in spite of our sinfulness, and in the midst of our woundedness, God has justified us in Christ and poured forth His love into our hearts in the gift of the Holy Spirit. The Gospel gives us a model of conversion as Jesus goes to Samaria and reclaims a people who had strayed.
First Reading: Exodus 17: 3-7 (cycle A)
3 Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why did you ever make us leave Egypt? Was it just to have us die here of thirst with our children and our livestock?” 4 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” 5 The LORD answered Moses, “Go over there in front of the people, along with some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the river. 6 I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.” This Moses did, in the presence of the elders of Israel. 7 The place was called Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD in our midst or not?”
NOTES on First Reading:
* 17:3-7 The issue is not thirst but the rejection of the value of the Exodus. This is a rejection of the Divine plan. The people do not believe that God can care for them. There is no Divine rebuke, simply a command to take the elders as witnesses and to strike the rock and water will spring forth.
* 17:6 In Horeb is a reference to Exodus 3:1-5 where Moses had met God. The rock is used as an image of Christ in 1 Cor 10:4.
* 17:7 Massah and Meribah are Hebrew words meaning respectively, “the (place of the) test,” and, “the (place of the) quarreling.”
Second Reading: Romans 5:1-2, 5-8 (cycle A)
1 Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, 2 through whom we have gained access (by faith) to this grace in which we stand, and we boast in hope of the glory of God. 3 Not only that, but we even boast of our afflictions, knowing that affliction produces endurance, 4 and endurance, proven character, and proven character, hope, 5 and hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out into our hearts through the holy Spirit that has been given to us. 6 For Christ, while we were still helpless, yet died at the appointed time for the ungodly. 7 Indeed, only with difficulty does one die for a just person, though perhaps for a good person one might even find courage to die. 8 But God proves his love for us in that while we were still sinners Christ died for us.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* 5:1-11 Popular thinking frequently construed reverses and troubles as punishment for sin as in John 9:2. Paul assures believers that God’s justifying action in Jesus Christ is an act of peace. The crucifixion of Jesus Christ displays God’s initiative in giving humanity unimpeded access into the Divine presence.
* 5:1 Reconciliation is God’s gift of pardon to the entire human race. Paul’s term, justification, means to benefit personally from this pardon through faith. God desires to liberate believers from the pre-Christian self as described in Romans 1-3. Because this liberation will first find completion in the believer’s resurrection, salvation is described as future in Romans 5:10. For this reason it is called the Christian hope. Paul’s Greek term for hope does not, however, suggest any note of uncertainty. Rather, God’s promise in the gospel fills believers with expectation and anticipation for the climactic gift of complete commitment in the Holy Spirit to the performance of the will of God. The persecutions that attend Christian commitment teach believers patience and strengthen this hope, which will not disappoint them because the Holy Spirit dwells in their hearts and imbues them with God’s love (Romans 5:5).
* 5:3-4 These two verses are included here for completeness but are left out of the Lectionary reading.
* 5:7 In Paul’s time a “just” person would have been one who was known to be generous with others.
Gospel Reading: John 4: 5-42 or 4: 5-15,19b-26, 39a,40-42 (for short form) (cycle A)
5 So he came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of land that Jacob had given to his son Joseph. 6 Jacob’s well was there. Jesus, tired from his journey, sat down there at the well. It was about noon.
7 A woman of Samaria came to draw water. Jesus said to her, “Give me a drink.” 8 His disciples had gone into the town to buy food. 9 The Samaritan woman said to him, “How can you, a Jew, ask me, a Samaritan woman, for a drink?” (For Jews use nothing in common with Samaritans.) 10 Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God and who is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him and he would have given you living water.” 11 (The woman) said to him, “Sir, you do not even have a bucket and the cistern is deep; where then can you get this living water? 12 Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us this cistern and drank from it himself with his children and his flocks?” 13 Jesus answered and said to her, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again; 14 but whoever drinks the water I shall give will never thirst; the water I shall give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.” 15 The woman said to him, “Sir, give me this water, so that I may not be thirsty or have to keep coming here to draw water.”
16 Jesus said to her, “Go call your husband and come back.” 17 The woman answered and said to him, “I do not have a husband.” Jesus answered her, “You are right in saying, ‘I do not have a husband.’ 18 For you have had five husbands, and the one you have now is not your husband. What you have said is true.” 19 The woman said to him, “Sir, I can see that you are a prophet. 20 Our ancestors worshiped on this mountain; but you people say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.” 21 Jesus said to her, “Believe me, woman, the hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You people worship what you do not understand; we worship what we understand, because salvation is from the Jews. 23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when true worshipers will worship the Father in Spirit and truth; and indeed the Father seeks such people to worship him. 24 God is Spirit, and those who worship him must worship in Spirit and truth.” 25 The woman said to him, “I know that the Messiah is coming, the one called the Anointed; when he comes, he will tell us everything.” 26 Jesus said to her, “I am he, the one who is speaking with you.”
27 At that moment his disciples returned, and were amazed that he was talking with a woman, but still no one said, “What are you looking for?” or “Why are you talking with her?” 28 The woman left her water jar and went into the town and said to the people, 29 “Come see a man who told me everything I have done. Could he possibly be the Messiah?” 30 They went out of the town and came to him. 31 Meanwhile, the disciples urged him, “Rabbi, eat.” 32 But he said to them, “I have food to eat of which you do not know.” 33 So the disciples said to one another, “Could someone have brought him something to eat?” 34 Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of the one who sent me and to finish his work. 35 Do you not say, ‘In four months the harvest will be here’? I tell you, look up and see the fields ripe for the harvest. 36 The reaper is already receiving his payment and gathering crops for eternal life, so that the sower and reaper can rejoice together. 37 For here the saying is verified that ‘One sows and another reaps.’ 38 I sent you to reap what you have not worked for; others have done the work, and you are sharing the fruits of their work.”
39 Many of the Samaritans of that town began to believe in him because of the word of the woman who testified, “He told me everything I have done.” 40 When the Samaritans came to him, they invited him to stay with them; and he stayed there two days. 41 Many more began to believe in him because of his word, 42 and they said to the woman, “We no longer believe because of your word; for we have heard for ourselves, and we know that this is truly the savior of the world.”
NOTES on Gospel Reading:
* 4:5 The Old Testament is full of meetings at wells. They form a very important part of the Patriarchal narratives; see Gen 25:10; Gen 29:1; Ex 2:15. Here John uses a meeting of Jesus and a Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well to show us the basic elements of conversion. She at first resists His questions and tries to change the subject. Jesus refuses to play along with her and she is empowered by His presence to face her past and begin a new life. At the end of the story she is described by John in the same words he uses in Ch.17 to describe the missionary work of the apostles. So she changes from an outcast sinner into a missionary for Christ.
* 4:6 The hour was counted from dawn so the sixth hour is about noon. Water in such a place is drawn at the end of the day or in the early morning but not in the noontime heat. She may have been trying to avoid the other women who would be found at the well during the more usual times for drawing water.
* 4:9 Jews would consider themselves to be ritually unclean if they drank from a cup that had been handled by a Samaritan woman. This is why the woman is surprised by His request.
* 4:10 The term “living water” meant a spring or a river or any water body that had the water in motion rather than stagnant. Water from such a moving source was considered much more desirable than water that had been sitting in a well. Jesus uses it in a symbolic sense as the Holy Spirit. Living water has been used often as a symbol of the Holy Spirit and for the life that stems from Him. John often used such verbal misunderstandings as a literary device to provide the opportunity to inject a further explanation. See 3:3.
* 4:11 John uses the misunderstanding as a springboard for Jesus to reach out to her and help her face the stumbling blocks from her past that had alienated her from God and from her neighbors. The woman addresses Jesus as “kyrios” which is translated as “Sir” here. This is the same word, usually translated as LORD, that was used in the Septuagint (Greek text of the Old Testament) for the Hebrew word “Adonai” as a substitute for the Hebrew Name of God, “YHWH”, also called the tetragrammaton.
* 4:14 Jesus is speaking of the Holy Spirit whose presence will infuse the believer with eternal life.
* 4:15 The woman does not understand and is still thinking of “drinking water.”
* 4:17 Jesus confronts the woman with her past and she tries to change the subject.
* 4:18 The reference to five husbands may be interpreted in at least two ways. As a personal scandal: The accepted standard was that a woman could be divorced 2 times, and a few more radical teachers would allow three times but a woman who had been divorced five times would be considered a scandal. This may have been what made the woman an outcast among the people. As a symbolic scandal: There were five waves of gentile invasions that swept through Samaria. The Samaritans accepted them and intermarried with them and accepted some of their cultural artifacts. This made them unclean in the sight of the Jews.
* 4:24 Protestants tend to interpret this as: Jesus is speaking about interior worship of the Father in the Spirit. Catholics tend to interpret this as: Jesus is talking about worship of the Father by the power of the Spirit which is found in the church. The text and grammar allow both interpretations although the Catholic view is much older. Either way, taken with verse 21 it seems that Jesus is saying that both the Temple worship of Jerusalem and the worship of the Samaritans will soon be replaced by “true worship in Spirit and truth.”
* 4:25 Apparently the Samaritans were not expecting a Messiah who would be a king but one who would be a prophet like Moses (Deut 18:15).
* 4:26 Jesus uses a term that can also be translated as “I am”, the same name that God used when He met Moses and which became identified as God’s self-revelation to His people (Exod 3:14; Isa 41:4-10, 43:3). This link will be made explicit when Jesus is shown to be greater than Abraham (8:24,28). Confession of Jesus as prophet, Messiah, Savior of the world, and equal to God will become the basis for true worship in John’s community.
* 4:27 A Jewish Rabbi would not speak to a woman in public. Jesus seems to disregard this social requirement.
* 4:28 The woman abandons the very reason that she went to the well in the first place and leaving the water behind she goes back to town to tell others about Jesus. Her actions follow the pattern of the discipleship stories presented in 1:40-49.
* 4:31-34 The disciples misunderstand Jesus’ words about “food” just as the woman misunderstood His words about “water”. Jewish tradition often described the Torah as food (Prov 9:5, Sir 24:21). Jesus makes doing God’s will His “food.” This expression is common in Jesus’ ministry (5:30.36;6:38,17:4).
* 4:35-38 John has placed a series of proverbial sayings here that parallel the agricultural imagery of the Synoptic Gospels. Jesus uses them to aim the disciples toward their task of harvesting those who come close to Jesus.
* 4:37-38 Jesus uses the saying from Mic 6:15 with the pessimistic overtones removed. He has sower and reaper rejoicing together which was taken as a sign of a new age (Lev 26:5 implies an overlap of sowing and reaping).
* 4:39-42 The woman is presented as a missionary in virtually the same words as the disciples are in Jesus’ prayer in John 17:20. The Samaritans first believe because of the words of the woman. They must have seen something vastly different in her in order to get past their previous opinion of her and actually listen. Later their belief is based upon their own experience of Jesus and His Word.
CYCLE C READINGS:
The liturgical season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday and runs until Holy Thursday night. Lent has a two fold character. It serves as a time for the immediate preparation of the catechumens and candidates who will be fully initiated into the church at the Easter Vigil when they celebrate the sacraments of initiation (Baptism, Confirmation, and Holy Eucharist). It also serves as a time for the rest of us to prepare ourselves, by penance, alms-giving and prayer to celebrate the Paschal Mystery and the renewal of our own baptismal promises at Easter. This double character actually speaks of two ways to describe the same journey. All of us, whether new catechumen or long time believer, are constantly being called to more complete conversion. God always calls us to approach Him more closely. During this time, the church invites us to spend time with Jesus, John the Baptist and the ancient prophets of Israel in the wilderness, listening to this call from God and reflecting on the mystery of redemption through the cross and resurrection of Jesus and on what it means for each of us today.
On this third Sunday of Lent the readings call upon us to undergo continuing conversion. They ask us to turn more and more toward God and less and less toward our own wants and desires.
First Reading: Exodus 3: 1-8a, 13-15 (cycle C)
1 Meanwhile Moses was tending the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. Leading the flock across the desert, he came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There an angel of the LORD appeared to him in fire flaming out of a bush. As he looked on, he was surprised to see that the bush, though on fire, was not consumed. 3 So Moses decided, “I must go over to look at this remarkable sight, and see why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the LORD saw him coming over to look at it more closely, God called out to him from the bush, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Here I am.” 5 God said, “Come no nearer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground. 6 I am the God of your father,” he continued, “the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. 7 But the LORD said, “I have witnessed the affliction of my people in Egypt and have heard their cry of complaint against their slave drivers, so I know well what they are suffering. 8 Therefore I have come down to rescue them from the hands of the Egyptians and lead them out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey, [the country of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 So indeed the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have truly noted that the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 Come, now! I will send you to Pharaoh to lead my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He answered, “I will be with you; and this shall be your proof that it is I who have sent you: when you bring my people out of Egypt, you will worship God on this very mountain.”] 13 “But,” said Moses to God, “when I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ if they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what am I to tell them?” 14 God replied, “I am who am.” Then he added, “This is what you shall tell the Israelites: I AM sent me to you.” 15 God spoke further to Moses, “Thus shall you say to the Israelites: The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, has sent me to you. “This is my name forever; this is my title for all generations.
NOTES on First Reading:
* The portion of the text in brackets, {} is left out of the reading.
* 3:1 This account (from a combination of the Yahwist or “J” tradition and the Elohist or “E” tradition) of the call of Moses follows the Pattern of prophetic vocation and is placed at the mountain of God, that is Sinai/Horeb. The mountain is called Sinai in J and in the Priestly or “P” traditions and Horeb in E and in the Original Deuteronomic or “D” tradition.. Another account (from P) of the call is described in Ex 6:2-13 and 6:28-7:7. The name of Moses father-in-law is given as Jethro here instead of Raguel or Reuel as in verse 18. The differences here and in Numbers are due to different traditions woven together and it is pointless to try to reconcile them. The historically correct name is probably Jethro as given in Ex 3:1, 4:18, 18:1. Other variations are found in Num 10:29, and Jdgs 1:16, 4:11. An attempt to reconcile the traditions appears to be present in Numbers 10:29 The designation, “mountain of God” was probably used because of the divine apparitions which took place there, such as on this occasion and when the Israelites were there after the departure from Egypt. Horeb is the name for the Sinai Range in the historical context of the Deuteronomist and in the Deuteronimic editing of the Book of Kings. Here it is a gloss as in Ex 17:6.
* 3:2 The account begins with an appearance of the “Angel of the Lord” in verse 2 and is identified with the Lord himself in verses 4 and 7. The term, “An angel of the LORD” is often used as the visual form under which God appeared and spoke to men. It is referred to indifferently in some Old Testament texts either as God’s angel or as God himself. See Genesis 16:7, 13; Exodus 14:19,24,25; Numbers 22:22-35; Jdgs 6,11-18.
* 3:4 The bush called seneh in Hebrew is a word play on Sinai.
* 3:6 The appearance of God caused fear of death, since it was believed that no one could see God and live; See Genesis 32:30. This verse is cited by Christ in proof of the resurrection since the patriarchs, long dead, live on in God who is the God of the living. See Matthew 22:32; Mark 12:26; Luke 20:37.
* 3:7 Verses 7-8 are from the J source and are duplicated from the E source in verses 9-10.
* 3:8 “I have come down” is a figure of speech signifying an extraordinary divine intervention in human affairs. See Genesis 11:5, 7. “Flowing with milk and honey” is an expression denoting agricultural prosperity, which seems to have been proverbial in its application to Palestine. See 13:5; Numbers 13:27; Joshua 5:6; Jer 11:5; 32:22; Ezekiel 20:6, 15.
* 3:8b-12 These verses are left out of the reading.
* 3:11 Moses shrinks from such a tremendous undertaking, but he also realized that, as a fugitive from Pharaoh, he could hardly hope to carry out a mission to him. Perhaps he also recalled that on one occasion even his own kinsmen questioned his authority. See Exodus 2:14.
* 3:12 Of all the prophets of the Old Testament Moses is unique in that the sign of his commission comes after the fact rather than before he accomplished his task. Compare Judges 6:36-40.
* 3:14 The divine name manifests God to the worshiper; the old name is not adequate for the new age. “I AM WHO I AM” is the name Yahweh transposed into the first person. In the perspective of E, God revealed himself as Yahweh for the first time to Moses. For J however, the people had always called upon the name of Yahweh (Gen 4:26). The etymology of the name Yahweh is disputed. It is surely a form of the verb, “to be” or “haya” and probably the causative form, “cause to be, create”. It is commonly explained in reference to God as the absolute and necessary Being. It may be understood of God as the Source of all created beings. “Yahweh” became accepted as the proper personal name of the God of Israel. Out of reverence for this name, the term Adonai, “my Lord,” was later used as a substitute when speaking so that the name of God would not be pronounced. The word, LORD (all upper case) which has traditionally been used in English language translations represents this traditional usage. The translation, “Jehovah”, was based on a faulty understanding of the preserved Hebrew text which combined the consonant letters for Yahweh with the (later) vowel sound markings for Adonai. The full answer given in v 14 is “ehyeh ‘asher ‘ehyeh.” Some have interpreted God’s answer to the question as a refusal to answer the question. God will be known not by a name but by what He does. Yahweh may also have been the name of the tribal god that Jethro served as priest.
Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 10: 1-6, 10-12 (cycle C)
1 I do not want you to be unaware, brothers, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea, 2 and all of them were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. 3 All ate the same spiritual food, 4 and all drank the same spiritual drink, for they drank from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was the Christ. 5 Yet God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert. 6 These things happened as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil things, as they did. [ 7 And do not become idolaters, as some of them did, as it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to revel.” 8 Let us not indulge in immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell within a single day. 9 Let us not test Christ as some of them did, and suffered death by serpents. ] 10 Do not grumble as some of them did, and suffered death by the destroyer. 11 These things happened to them as an example, and they have been written down as a warning to us, upon whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore, whoever thinks he is standing secure should take care not to fall.
NOTES on Second Reading:
* The portion of the text in brackets, {} is left out of the reading.
* 10:1-5 Paul’s survey of the events of the Exodus period indicate that the privileges of Israel in the wilderness are described in terms that apply strictly only to the realities of the new covenant (“baptism,” “spiritual food and drink”). This interpretation has them point forward to the Christian experience (1 Cor 10:1-4). Even so those privileges did not guarantee God’s permanent pleasure (1 Cor 10:5).
* 10:4 The Torah speaks only about a rock from which water issued. However, rabbinic legend amplified this into a spring that followed the Israelites throughout their migration in the desert. Paul uses this legend as a literary type, making the rock itself accompany the Israelites, and he gives it a spiritual sense. Thus the rock becomes a type of Christ. In the Old Testament, Yahweh is the Rock of his people (See Deut 32, Moses’ song to Yahweh the Rock). Paul applies this image to the Christ, the source of the living water, the true Rock that accompanied Israel, guiding their experiences in the desert.
* 10:6-13 This section draws more heavily on the typological method of interpretation and specifies the typological value of these Old Testament events so that the desert experiences of the Israelites are examples, meant as warnings, to deter us from similar sins (idolatry, immorality, etc.) and from a similar fate.
* 10:7-9 These verses are left out of the reading.
* 10:9 Some manuscripts read “the Lord” in order to avoid Paul’s concept of Christ being present in the wilderness events.
* 10:11 It is our period in time toward which all of the past events and ages have been moving and in which they arrive at their goal.
* 10:12-13 Here Paul whole reason for the comparison with Israel was to caution against overconfidence, an improper’ sense of complete security (1 Cor 10:12). This warning is immediately balanced by a reassurance, based, however, on God, rather than ourselves (1 Cor 10:13).
Gospel Reading: Luke 13: 1-9 (cycle C)
1 At that time some people who were present there told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. 2 He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? 3 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! 4 Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them –do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? 5 By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” 6 And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, 7 he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. (So) cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ 8 He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; 9 it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.'”
NOTES on Gospel:
* 13:1-5 The death of the Galileans at the hands of Pilate (Luke 13:1) and the accidental death of those on whom the tower fell (Luke 13:4) are presented by the Lucan Jesus as timely reminders of the need for all to repent, for the victims of these tragedies should not be considered outstanding sinners who were singled out for punishment.
* 13:1 Although the slaughter of the Galileans by Pilate is unknown outside Luke, it seems to be in keeping with the character of Pilate from what is known about him from the Jewish historian Josephus. Josephus reports that Pilate had disrupted a religious gathering of the Samaritans on Mt. Gerizim with a slaughter of the participants (Antiquities 18, 4, 1 86-87), and that on another occasion he had killed many Jews who had opposed him when he appropriated money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct in Jerusalem (Jewish War 2, 9, 4 175-77; Antiquities 18, 3, 2 60-62).
* 13:4 Like the incident mentioned in Luke 13:1 nothing of this accident in Jerusalem is known outside Luke and the New Testament.
* 13:6-9 Following on the call to repentance in Luke 13:1-5, the parable of the barren fig tree presents a story about the continuing patience of God with those who have not yet given evidence of their repentance (see Luke 3:8). This should give comfort to the disciple who stumbles on the path of Jesus. The parable may also be alluding to the delay of the end time, when punishment will be meted out, and the importance of preparing for the end of the age because the delay will not be permanent (Luke 13:8-9). Procrastinators and unproductive disciples are warned that the end will come. On another level the fig tree was often a symbol of Israel. Here is presented the situation of Israel in the Old Testament where God was constantly providing one opportunity after another for Israel itself to produce the abundant harvest for which He searched. He constantly sent his servants the prophets out to cultivate the tree but now at the end (Jesus’ arrival) the tree will fail to produce the fruit for which God waited.
Scripture text: New American Bible with revised New Testament copyright © 1986,1970, Confraternity of Christian Doctrine.
Commentary Sources:
Vince Del Greco
The New Jerome Biblical Commentary (1990) (Eds. Brown, Fitzmyer & Murphy)
