“The Parable of the Fig Tree - I Have QUESTIONS!”
Luke 13:6-9
When I was a child, we often travelled from our home near Sacramento to visit my grandparents, who lived in an old Victorian house built by my great-grandfather in 1860. It was a wonderful place to visit, as my grandparents decorated for all the major holidays, and my Grandma Rosie was a fantastic cook. The yard surrounding the old homestead was also quite something. The garden around the house was an old Victorian garden with ancient trees and bushes dating back decades. One of the old plants was a Calimyrna fig tree. My Grandpa once told us it was over 100 years old. It still regularly produced figs, and I remember eating the green colored fruit during our visits. The tree grew immensely over the decades, and by the time I came on the scene in the 1960s, it shaded about a third of my grandparents’ backyard. When some fruit fell to the ground, the backyard smelled like figs.
By the time I entered my teens, my Dad began to notice that the fig tree had stopped producing many figs and that some of the branches were rotting. He was concerned that the branches might fall and hurt someone. So he spoke to my grandfather, Archie, who gave him permission to take a chainsaw and cut it down. Eventually, that big old fig tree was no more. The tree needed to be cut down for safety reasons.
It just so happens that this morning’s parable is also about a fig tree and a landowner who wanted the tree cut down, but for reasons other than safety.
This parable in Luke’s gospel appears to have been reworked from two other versions. The first one chronologically is from Mark’s Gospel, written around 65 AD. So, in the original version of Jesus’ teaching, Mark 11:12-14, a “hangry” Jesus comes upon a fruit tree, sees it has no fruit, and curses it, saying, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” Most interpretations of this strange act believe it signifies the Roman army's eventual destruction of the temple in Jerusalem in 70 AD. In the version found in Matthew (Matthew 21:18-20), a similarly hungry and angry Jesus once again curses a fig tree because it has no fruit. The tree withers at once, and the disciples are perplexed. They ask, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” Jesus uses his actions to illustrate the power of faith, moving mountains and killing fig trees instantly.
Luke’s gospel is difficult to date. It may have been written around the same time as Matthew, 10-15 years earlier, or even five or more years after Matthew. The parable has been reworked from its original moorings in Mark. This time, the parable is connected to the fragility of life and the need for repentance.
In this morning’s passage, verses 6-9 are connected to the beginning of the chapter. In verses 1-5, the passage refers to two events that were probably familiar to ancient audiences. The details, however, have been lost to time, for Luke is our only source of information about these tragedies. Jesus seizes on two calamities that may have been subjects of recent conversation around the local watering hole–one an instance of state-sanctioned terror, one a random accident. Both saw people snuffed out with little warning and for no apparent reason.
The grisly mention of Pilate’s mingling the blood of Galileans with their sacrifices appears to refer to a massacre of a group of Galilean pilgrims in Jerusalem. The narrative does not reveal why Pilate slaughtered these people, but the deed nevertheless corresponds with what other historical writings tell about Pilate’s penchant for brutality. The verse offers an ominous characterization of the Roman governor before his appearance in Jesus’ trial (see the Gospel text for Passion/Palm Sunday, Luke 22:14, 23:56).
Then Jesus refers to a tower in the wall around Jerusalem known as the “Tower of Siloam” collapsing and killing 18 people. A structure collapsed without warning and crushed these hapless Jerusalemites. These two tragedies were likely stories shared around that ancient question we still ask today, “Why do bad things happen?” Does sin cause suffering and tragedy? That was a belief back in the first century, and it has its underpinnings in Hebrew scripture. Exodus 20:5 states that God places sin upon the 3rd and 4th generation of those who have sinned and hate God. So, if my Great Grandfather Darius A. Mobley did something terrible in the 1860s, I might end up paying for it. Hence, the reason these tragedies occur is that generational sin causes tragedy. Jesus refutes this concept, saying they were no worse sinners than any others. Tragedies happen in life. People die, and those deaths aren’t connected to sin.
Jesus speaks to the crowds about the fragility of life. I was reading my newsfeed on my phone yesterday and learned of George Foreman’s death at the age of 76. I liked George back in the day. He was my favorite heavyweight boxer in the 1970s over Joe Frazier, Ken Norton or Muhammad Ali. I remember we even had a George Foreman Grill and used it for many years. I was saddened to read of his death. Then my feed was suddenly filled with the news of other deaths, including a Formula One race car owner, and two musicians, including singer Jesse Colin Young, lead singer of the Youngbloods, famous for the song, “Get Together.” “C’mon, people, smile on your brother. Everybody get together try and love one another right now.” I found myself suddenly overwhelmed by the fragility of life, contemplating a famous quote by another 60s rock legend, Jim Morrison, who said, “ No one here gets out alive.” I then found myself thinking about death and the end of my own life. It was an uncomfortable moment. I felt a bit like Woody Allen, who said, “I am not afraid of death. I just don’t want to be there when it happens.”
The Jesus in Luke’s version of the parable of the fig tree tells the crowds that life is fragile, bad things happen, and people die tragically and unexpectedly. We are not in control of our destinies. But then the parable takes a strange turn. He turns towards the need for repentance, saying after each tragic story, “unless you repent, you will all perish.” Why does he speak of this, and what does it have to do with death? This word is often focused upon during the season of Lent. What does it mean? The Greek word for repent Metaneo -metaneo, means; to think differently or afterwards, i.e. reconsider morally. Repentance and “turning around” are often associated with one another during Lent. And it is true that when we repent, we turn to God and away from sin. But the Greek word μετανοέω in this passage does not carry any connotations of turning around. The implications of this Greek term are more mental, about what goes on in the person's mind. So the actual meaning of this Greek word is to have a change of mind – that is, to see through the eyes of faith in God, and be led in particular as Jesus states in three of the four gospels (Mark 12:28-31; Matthew 22:34-40, Luke 10:25-28) to love God with your whole being and to love your neighbor as you love yourself. So to repent is to change one’s focus and direction in life. This is Jesus’ primary concern initiallyin chapter 13, which he further illustrates in the Parable of the Fig Tree.
Let’s look deeply into this passage to see what we can glean for today. Every parable Jesus taught has characters or places that represent something else. For example, in classic theology of this passage, the landowner who plants the tree is God. The gardener is Jesus. We are the fig tree. The vineyard is Israel. The fertilizer or manure represents the prophets, who “spread” God’s call for justice (not the greatest analogy, but there it is.) The gardener asking for more time for the tree to produce fruit represents grace.
Other later interpretations suggest that God is both the landowner and the gardener, representing two sides of God—the landowner's call to live a righteous life and the gardener's offering of grace or mercy. The fig tree represents the temple in Jerusalem, which, in time, will be cut down by Roman forces in 70 AD. The three years the owner has waited for fruit represent Jesus’ three-year earthly ministry.
The deeper I look into this version of Jesus’ parable, the more questions I have.
1)If the landowner had a gardener, why did HE plant the tree instead?
2) If it is a grape vineyard, why is there a fig tree in the middle of it all?
3) If God is supposed to be the landowner, why is God so negligent in planting a tree in the middle of a vineyard, where it doesn’t belong? Furthermore, why is God so impatient with the tree? If God is the landowner, why doesn’t God, the Creator of all things, know that it takes years for a fig tree to produce fruit? According to Fruit Tree Hub.com, “Fig trees typically start bearing fruit 3-5 years after planting, depending on the variety. The growth process includes distinct stages: establishment (1-2 years), vegetative growth (1-3 years), flowering, and fruit development. Patience is Key: It is essential to allow trees time to mature;” Why is God the landowner so impatient and unknowledgeable about the tree? After all, the Psalmist reminds us that “God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and plentiful in mercy.” (Psalm 103:8)
4) If Jesus is the gardener, why is he negligent in tending the tree so that it bears fruit? It appears the fruit tree was ignored for three years. Again, Fruit Tree.com tells us, “Consistent care, including watering, pruning, and fertilizing, enhances fruit production and tree vitality.” Has the gardener not been paying attention to the fig tree, possibly because he hadn’t planted it in the first place? He then asks the owner for a delay to dig around the tree and get some nutrients by fertilizing it. Why did he ignore the fig tree until the owner pointed it out? Is this some weird example of Jesus’ negligence in caring for others?
5) The whole concept of turn or burn theology is repugnant to me. Trying to scare someone into any faith is nothing short of manipulative.
It’s all enough to make my head spin. NO wonder I have not taught a class on this parable nor preached upon it in almost 46 years of ministry!
Theologian Matt Skinner says the following about this parable. “Allegorical interpretations of this parable are unnecessary. Identifying the vineyard owner as God, the gardener as Jesus, and the tree as whoever it is we wish would hurry up and repent–this strips the parable of its force and produces theological confusion.” I agree wholeheartedly, Matt. So then what does this parable teach?
To me, the parable’s teachings are as follows:
- How do you choose to live the life you have been blessed with? God transforms us through grace, a grace that helps us change our minds and enables us to grow in faith. That grace can transform us to be generous toward those still trapped under the weight of poverty and oppression and to care for those facing devastation of one kind or another.
- Life is fragile. We need to live our lives in whatever time we have left with changed minds, centered upon bearing fruit by doing justice, loving mercy, and walking humbly in faith with God. This saying, attributed to 18th century theologian John Wesley (1703-91) sums it up. “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can.”
May God be with us, as we seek to repent with changed minds, doing what we can for God’s glory each and every day of our earthly lives. Amen.
