GOSPEL PARABLES 4 THE FIG TREE

GOSPEL PARABLES 4 THE FIG TREE
The next parable that Jesus taught while he was still in Galilee is recorded in Luke Chapter twelve and it is about a fig tree that had not borne any fruit for three years and the owner of the vineyard had ordered the vinedresser to have it cut down. 

Luke 13:6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilise it. Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

This parable tells a different fig tree story to the other parables about fig trees that Jesus taught later in Jerusalem which were all about the signs of the times and his returning to the earth at his second coming (Matthew 24:32; Mark 13:28–31; Luke 21:29–33). However, there are certain similarities in the stories because of the fact that fig trees in the Bible are symbolic of God’s people Israel, and one of the major themes of fig tree narratives is about them bearing fruit, and we will look at those similarities at another time.

This parable tells a story about a healthy fig tree that showed potential but was not bearing fruit. In Bible days people would often grow fig trees in and around vineyards because the soil was good for growing vines and other trees. But the owner was also diligent about the use of the limited space that was available in the enclosed vineyard, and he wanted whatever was there to produce fruit otherwise it was a waste of space. There had been inspections with the vinedresser each year for three years and the owner thought that was enough time to make a final decision on whether it could stay or had to go.

There are some interesting peculiarities to this parable. One thing is that it has no real ending and in fact we have to write our own spiritual ending because in the end this parable is about hope and faith winning over despair, but it doesn’t discount the consequences of presumption or carelessness – like presuming that our fig leaves alone look good enough, and also not caring about anyone being blessed by the fruit that the tree is designed to produce. 

The story says that the tree is getting to the point of having to be cut down, but then it graciously gets given an opportunity to become fruitful and to stay fruitful from that time on because there is someone there who wants to save a tree rather than lose a tree. Another peculiar fact is that the outcome will depend on not just the quality of the tree but on how intent the vinedresser is about giving the best to the tree for the tree to give the best of its fruit, and that would also involve what the vinedresser finds when he does some digging up and how nutritious the fertiliser is.
The tree has all the potential and the soil is good, and the leaves are healthy but it needs input and nurture somewhere deep down under the surface that can’t be seen from above the surface.  

This parable can firstly be applied to the prior three years of ministry of Jesus to Israel and their failure to bear any fruit from all his teaching to them in those three years of the goodness of the Father and of his plan for their salvation and of the blessing of his mighty works of healing and provision as he lived amongst them and went about doing good. And at the end of those three years of the training of his twelve disciples plus the many other disciples most of whom we don’t have names for, there were some around him that wrote a wonderful ending to their ownstory as a fruitful tree. But there were some that sadly became offended or failed in their faith or were afraid of being associated with such a controversial person as Jesus. And there was the tragedy of Judas who took his own life rather than letting his old life die in exchange for the new life that Jesus would have given to him.

Jesus was the ultimate compassionate vinedresser who dug around the tree of Israel both corporately and individually and went deep into the soil of the hearts of each one to find wherever he could, a heart like that of King David who said to God ‘Search me, O God, and know my heart, Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting’. 
Jesus came to his people to bend back the resistance of the nature of Adam in each one of them and to invite them into becoming partakers of his divine nature. He finally died on the cross for them and took their feelings of separation from God and their guilt and forsakenness upon himself, finally saying to his Father ‘Father forgive them for they know not what they do’. On that day of his death he was rejected by most of Israel, who can now be likened to the tree that Isaiah prophesied about, that was cut down and left as just a stump in the ground, waiting to be revived again in God’s time (Isaiah 6:13).

And of course, Jesus is also talking about all of us as fig trees in a good vineyard and looking to see if we are bearing fruit. And Jesus remains as the compassionate and dedicated vinedresser, and the vinedresser had lots of work to do back then for Israel, and he has lots to do now for all of us. There is a digging up around the tree of each one of us and there is the lifegiving and fertilising nutrient of his love and truth that brings life into each wounded and dying thing that is hidden deep within our roots. Jesus looks to see what kind of damage may have been done to those roots in the soil of our hearts as we first began attaching ourselves to our world around us.

Jesus looks at our roots now to see if they are grounded in his love, as the Apostle Paul says ‘that you, being rooted and grounded in God’s love, may have the strength to comprehend with all those who believe what is the breadth and length and height and depth of that love, knowing the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.’ (Ephesians 3:17)
The parable said that the tree had to be cut down because it was wasting space, so there are times when the timing for us to accept the vinedresser’s digging and nutrifying activity becomes critical. The space that is being wasted is simply the time we waste in not responding to the gracious compassion and mercy and goodness of our vinedresser, Jesus, and not responding to the plan of our Father God for our fruitful and productive life on earth. The vinedresser’s nutrient lifegiving Word and Spirit transforms in us what is holding us back from growing the kind of fruit that says to starving people ‘taste and see that the Lord is good’. 

Paul encourages us to be renewed in the spirit of our minds, and to welcome home the new and true self which is created after the likeness of God and aligned with his heart and is devoted to him (Ephesians 4:19). Our faith allows us to see our true self the way God sees us and to live our new life as God created it to be lived. Each part of our vulnerable heart that has been wounded can now be healed, and each false image of our self that has covered us with shame can now be divinely remade in all its dignity. Every lie that we have wrongly believed about ourselves is now able to be corrected and brought into line with God’s idea of who we truly are. And whatever other peoples’ negative ideas have done to us to devalue our true worth are being erased by faith and truth, as the Holy Spirit recomposes our heavenly narrative. Our life was written by God for us in eternity by the Father, as David wrote in Psalm 139:16 ‘Every day of my life was recorded in your book.’ Amen… 
So thank you Lord for causing our fig tree to blossom and for doing the digging in our hearts and we know we are not alone in those times but that you are walking around with us in our hearts and holding our hand and bringing new hope and new life and new growth. Amen.