6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ 8 He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” [Luke 13:6-9, NRSV]
The Vine Dresser and the Fig Tree (Le vigneron et le figuier) – James Tissot
Few realities challenge us more than the suffering of those who are not at fault. Liturgical seasons have a way of heightening our consciousness of many things –the injustices and unjust violence around us and the suffering humanity, the call to repentance, and the immensity of grace in God.
From its early inception, the Christian movement had understood and passed on in its Tradition and Scriptures that Jesus of Nazareth was sent by God to liberate humanity that was death-bound due to its sinful condition. Jesus saw that common in human society was this unconscious mental book-keeping best described as “internal ledgers” in which others – always others, never oneself – were terrible sinners who deserved punishment. Unconscious as well was that humans in their rule-based religion, were in effect telling God what to do, who God could love and who God could not. Over time, their rule-based practices grew in details and multiplied in quantity, all men-made, but all cleverly attributed to God to justify their enforcement. Their oppressiveness was easily shrouded under a supposed “will of God”. The first to benefit under such a system were the elites in the community.Jesus wanted to expose and help people get rid of that sinful cover-up.
In a way that was very disturbing to the crowds that listened to him preaching, Jesus told them that those from Galilee whom Pilate killed and those upon whom a tower fell and killed near Jerusalem were no more guilty than anyone else (Luke 13:1-5). Through Luke, Jesus is confirming for us that life is fragile, and tragedies can happen suddenly when we least expect them. Jesus’ sharp critique serves to teach that when tragedies happen, it is wrong to speculate that the victims are sinners who deserve punishment. Such speculations may unwittingly excuse the perpetrators of insane violence and injustices as innocent human beings, for example, while the truly innocent victims get branded as justly-punished sinners. A widely held ‘theological proposition’ that continues to exist today in popular thinking among Christians is that suffering is punishment for sin. This might be a quick remedy to explain illness and death during Jesus’ time, but it was a claim which did not sit well with him.
Jesus himself was a victim of the unjust violence of an oppressive power both in the religious leadership of his time and in the Roman occupiers. He certainly was no sinner, and God was with him as he was being victimized while doing good. The God whom Jesus proclaims is a God who is always on the side of the victims of violence, who suffers with those who suffer unjustly. This is the God who declared to Moses, “I have seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry…; I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians… I will send you” (Exodus 3:7-10). The Old Testament portrays God as a loving parent who is deeply moved by the suffering of His children and who “comes down” to their lives to liberate them from the causes of it. God notices our suffering and responds to it; God sends us, His human agents, to liberate the sufferers. He promises to be with both the victims of suffering and with those whom He sends to support those who suffer.
Under Luke’s pen, Jesus’ message for everyone, the good and the not so good, as well as the bad and the really bad, is the same: repentance is the key to the kingdom of God. Far from messaging in negativities, from John the Baptist to Jesus, the Synoptic Gospels are not in the first place fixing the requirements on moral or behavioural adjustment. Rather, the Gospels stress the call for repentance, which is a change of heart and mind, an about-face, a turn-around – metanoia. In Luke 13, twice Jesus said, “Unless you repent, you will all likewise perish” (vv. 3 & 5). Then, he at once told the parable of the barren fig tree, a very encouraging and grace-filled parable. It points us to repentance and graceful salvation.
- What is surprising is that Jesus connects the call to repentance and this parable of the fig tree. The fig tree doesn’t produce, and so based on the metrics of any farm, it makes sense to cut it down for better fruit production from other trees. But the servant, who maintains hopes in the tree, wishes to dedicate time and attention to it. So he asks for forgiveness which, if given, will allow the time and space for him to try and help the tree produce. This includes watering the tree and fertilizing the soil. Spiritually, this is taking steps to do what are necessary to come back to life.
- Forgiveness in this parable is first about letting go, leaving something alone instead of finalizing a “deserved” punishment on a just judgment. This forgiveness being given in the interest of repentance and radical transformation, implies the willing taking on of the hard work of change – the time and attention signified by “watering and fertilizing”.
- This parable also points us to another way of appreciating grace, not as God being forgiving to us even though we sin; rather, grace is best understood as God being the source of wholeness, which makes up for our failings (per Nadia Bolz-Weber). Then, we see in the parable the grace of God as a loving and nourishing wholeness that gives life by making space for what we need in all seasons – when we are good and when we are bad. The grace of God is the source of wholeness holding back our deserved judgment, and offering us the opportunity to repent of our sinful ways, to turn around. Translated, “watering and fertilizing” the soil would, in the summary-language of prophet Micah, be to act justly, to love kindly, and to walk humbly with God (Micah 6:8).
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, October 2022. All rights reserved.
You are most welcome to respond to this post. Email your comments to jeffangiegoh@gmail.com. You can also be dialogue partners in this Ephphatha Coffee-Corner Ministry by sending us questions for discussion.