Jesus' comment about the people who had died tragically in the incident with Pilate's soldiers and in the collapse of the tower would have surprised his listeners.
Popular opinion at that time drew a direct line of causality from people's sufferings back to their personal sins.
- By this logic, the Galileans who were killed by Pilate's soldiers must have deserved it because of some particularly heinous sins.
- [Scholars are not in agreement about the incident being referred to. Many think, however, that it was Pilate's violent suppression of a demonstration in Jerusalem. Demonstrators had gathered in the Temple area to protest Pilate's use of Temple money to construct new aqueducts. Pilate then sent armed soldiers among them in disguise. At a signal, the soldiers dispersed the mob with clubs, killing many more than Pilate had anticipated.]
- Likewise, those who were killed in the construction accident in Siloam [some scholars think the tower being constructed was a part of those same aqueducts], so it was thought, were paying the penalty for their sins.
But Jesus takes a different angle.
- He emphasizes that everyone who refuses to repent (the barren fig tree symbolizes someone who lacks the fruits of repentance) will stay separated from God.
- And if they die in such a state of alienation (and death can come at any time), they will continue in it for all eternity: "If you do not repent, you will all perish."
Even if the consequences of our actions do not always make themselves completely felt in this life, they will do so eventually - both for good, and for ill; earthly tragedies like the ones mentioned in this Gospel passage should remind us of the passing nature of earthly life.
This is an uncomfortable truth, but one that the Church wants us to consider deeply, especially during the penitential season of Lent.
We need to repent from our sins. God is always ready to forgive us, if we ask. We need to live each moment of our lives in communion with God. The end can come at any time.