Luke 13: 6-9: “Then he told this parable: A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ ‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.'”
Jesus told this parable immediately after some people came to him to discuss a tragic event. They told Jesus about the Galileans whom Pilate had murdered on the temple grounds. Why did they tell Jesus about this event? Perhaps because they wanted to know if He was going to overthrow the Roman government. Perhaps because they wanted Him to confirm that these men had suffered because they were sinners, since they were murdered on the way to offer their sacrifices. Luke does not provide us with the motivation of the speakers. He does not tell us what response they were looking for, but it probably wasn’t the response Jesus gave them.
Jesus answers in verse 2: “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”
It was common in that culture for people to believe that any heinous act, any great tragedy, was an act of God to punish sin. Think about the reaction of Job’s friends to his suffering. They insisted that Job could not be as righteous as he claimed. Instead, they insisted that God was punishing him for unconfessed sin. What was wrong with this line of thinking? It attributed evil motives to God. It distorted the character of God. Yes, God is a righteous judge. Yes, He takes sin very seriously. But God is also merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in love. He isn’t sitting in heaven looking for any and every excuse to punish humanity. In fact, at this point in history Jesus was on the earth as the first step toward God’s ultimate act of love: dying on our behalf!
Jesus pointed out that God wasn’t looking to punish sin like this. He calls them to repentance. He literally told them to change their thinking–their thinking about God, their thinking about suffering–all of it. Perhaps these men were gleeful thinking that God had punished those rotten sinners. How often do we look at tragedy and rejoice that God is punishing the wicked? Jesus response shows that God does not rejoice, even when evil is punished. God mourns the loss of those souls who die without redemption. The Bible makes it clear that God does not desire that any should perish but that all should come to everlasting life (2 Peter 3:9). These men were thinking about God all wrong. They were thinking about the situation all wrong. And if they didn’t change the way they were thinking, they were in danger of missing out on redemption.
In order to reinforce the concept that God is merciful, that He is offering salvation to everyone, and that He doesn’t want anyone to remain in a lost state and be cut off from His presence for eternity, Jesus tells the parable of the fig tree. The Bible often uses the image of a fig tree to represent the nation of Israel. It can also represent an individual person. In the parable, the landowner (God) sees that the fig tree that has been planted in his vineyard is not producing fruit. We know that the Bible refers to fruit as evidence of a changed life or evidence of the Holy Spirit (fruits of the Spirit). Producing fruit shows that God is at work within you. This tree was not producing fruit. It had lots of leaves. It looked healthy, but it had no fruit.
How often do we do lots of good deeds for the wrong reasons? Are we serving at church while hiding sin and judgment in our hearts? Are we volunteering and giving for the acclaim it brings? Do we serve because we want to be seen and acknowledged by man or are we truly serving out of a place of humility and out of our love for God?
The nation of Israel as a whole at this time was full of pious people who were serving and following God for the prestige and acclaim it brought them. They were going through elaborate rituals and ceremonies to prove their devotion to God, but in reality they had no real knowledge of who He is. They had no real devotion and love for Him. Their works were all empty show. They had lots of beautiful, healthy-looking leaves, but they had no fruit.
The landowner sees that even after several years, this tree is not producing fruit. He asks the gardener for a reason not to cut it down. After all, it’s a waste of space if it isn’t producing! The gardener asks for more time. “Give it another year,” he says. “I’ll dig around it. I’ll fertilize it. Then, we’ll see.” The gardener is Jesus. He steps between God’s wrathful judgement and humanity. He offers to provide a way. He’ll dig around it. He’ll break up the hard soil of their hearts. He’ll fertilize it. He’ll give it all the blessings they need to grow and mature spiritually. He’ll provide for the salvation of the “tree.” If the tree does not respond to that personalized attention, then and only then does it deserve to be cut down.
We are often like this tree. We are doing all kinds of outside works, but we are ignoring the sinful rot in our hearts. Jesus’ desire is to do a work in us. He breaks up the hard and rocky soil. He makes sure air gets in there. He removes the weeds and things that inhibit our growth. He fertilizes us. He gives us everything we need to thrive. He atones for our sin, BUT we have to receive it. We have to take that nourishment and provision into our roots. We have to claim that salvation. We have to accept that atoning sacrifice on our behalf before it will do us any good.
Jesus calls us to change our thinking. He calls us to see God as He really is. He calls us to see the work He has done on our behalf, to embrace it, and to grow from it. He calls us to leave our old way of life, our stuck-in-the-mud hard-hearted roots, and become new. When we embrace Jesus’ work on our behalf, we produce good fruit. We produce fruit in keeping with righteousness, like John the Baptist talked about. We avoid the wrath of God.
But if we ignore the call… If we neglect the gift of salvation that Jesus holds out to us…If at the day of judgement we are found to have only shiny leaves and no fruit, God’s wrath will come upon us. And we will deserve every bit of it.
A Beautiful Mess 