The Parable Of The Fig Tree

From Luke 13: 6-9 today:

The situation: A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard.

The complication: The fig tree did not bear figs when expected.

The resolution: The owner, therefore, orders that it be cut down.

The second chance: The gardener proposes another solution that might correct the problem to save the tree. Yet the fact that readers are left without a resolution to this narrative means that the story, like life itself, remains open.

The fig tree represents Old Covenant Israel (Jeremiah 8:13; Hosea 9:10). God found no fruits of repentance, yet he was patient and gave them an ample three years to accept their Messiah (Romans 2:4; 2 Peter 3:9); many of them never did!

Some questions for this third week of Lent-

Do we continue to make foolish mistakes? What habits are making me fruitful? What habits are making me barren? What sinful practices are hurting my soul, my faith? What in your life seems to impede your ability to draw nutrients and bear fruit? What practical steps can you take to eliminate these impediments?

Who or what in your life nourishes you spiritually? What fruit can you see from that nourishment?

The point of the parable about the fig tree is to have a sense of urgency to bear fruit.

To illustrate: Jerry Flury, who once worked in the insurance industry, said, “I constantly had to deal with people seeking to maintain their policies perpetually in what they referred to as the policy’s grace period. A grace period is defined as the additional period of time a lender or an insurance policy issuer provides for a borrower to make passed due payment on a debt without penalty. I believe that there are a number of Christians living in their spiritual grace period.

Preface III of Lent mentions some fruits—"For you will that our self-denial should give you thanks, humble our sinful pride, contribute to the feeding of the poor, and so help us imitate you in your kindness.”

The gardener intervened and saved the tree (Jesus).

Life’s second chances are what the cross is all about!

The gardener saw possibilities of digging around it and giving it fertilizer. Have you ever had a Christ-like gardener in your life? Perhaps a parent, a boss, or a spouse. In the eyes of someone you may have seemed unredeemable, but someone believed in you.

We can’t waste this opportunity.

The Christian life is like an airplane -- when you stop you drop.

e.g. Luke 13:7 from our Gospel today says, “Why should it [the fig tree without fruit] exhaust the soil?.”

Temporarily absent from home, Captain Webster left Daniel and his brother Zeke with specific instructions as to the work they were to do that day. On his return, he found the task still unperformed, and questioned them about their idleness. "What have you been doing, Ezekiel?" he asked. "Nothing, sir." "Well, Daniel, what have you been doing?” "Helping Zeke, sir.”

St. Augustine, “God has promised forgiveness to your repentance, but He has not promised tomorrow to your procrastination.”

“For one year” the salutary period of grace before the critical showdown is thus limited.

Repentance is a transformation of one's essential being, a turning from evil to God in total obedience. It affects the whole person and claims all of our faculties: thoughts, words, and deeds; repentance is a change of both mind and will, of both disposition and habits; The kingdom demands repentance, and those who do not repent will not enter the kingdom. It’s also on-going—the prefix “re.”

Repentance also means it is one's recognition that another way of life is superior to the one which he has been living and his commitment to the new way.

To escape our inner woundedness once and for all we have to make permanent progress, we have to do our part to change ourselves. E.g. in AA, sobriety has its price and if we try to buy it too cheaply, it may elude us. Hence, two meetings a week, not one. Two rosaries a day. Lectio. Spiritual direction. Phone calls.

In conclusion: The bad things in life can so suddenly awaken us to things that really matter, e.g. The people were telling Jesus about the recent bad headlines about Pilate killing a bunch of Jews from Galilee, and an engineering or construction disaster where a tower fell and killed 18 people.

When Jesus said, if you do not repent you will all perish as they did, means that those who die in a state of alienation from God, and death can come at any time, they will continue in that alienation if they don’t repent.

Do you believe in second chances? Thankfully, God does. We pray for the grace to live our second chances urgently.