“Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” [Luke 13:8-9]
The Vine Dresser and the Fig Tree, by James Tissot
On request two years ago, we gave a reflection on The Last Judgment to the Bethany Cell Group in Kuching in conjunction with their twentieth anniversary. The priest in attendance also asked that we integrate the Gospel reading for that day, on the parable of the barren fig tree in Luke 13:6-9, into our reflection as well.
The meaning of this fig-tree parable in Luke 13, like most of Jesus’ parables, is pretty clear in context.
- Some people arrived and told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices. Jesus answered, “Do you suppose these Galileans who suffered like that were greater sinners than any other Galileans? They were not, I tell you. No, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or those eighteen on whom the tower at Siloam fell and killed them? Do you suppose that they were more guilty than all the other people living in Jerusalem? They were not, I tell you. No; but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. [Luke 13:1-5]
- Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree, planted 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’ve 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.’” [Luke 13:6-9]
The threefold point is repeated here: Sin and fruitlessness are signs of unbelief; God judges sin and fruitfulness; and God punishes sin and fruitlessness. Thrice, the parable invites the readers to look at themselves.
This parable connects to what precedes it, namely, to Jesus calling the Jews to repentance. Jesus is here illustrating God’s dealings with Israel and their wickedness despite all His kindness. The owner of the vineyard is God, and the vineyard is Israel (Isaiah 5:1-7). The vineyard represents a beneficial enclosure, symbolizing God’s benevolent isolation of His chosen people from other nations and specially privileging them with the light of supernatural revelation through the prophets and all the influences of divine grace. The Israelites, however, did not pay due respect for this blessed condition. The fig tree represents the individual Israelite in this case. The coming of the owner for fruit is God’s desire for His people to produce good works. But the barrenness of the tree signifies the wickedness of the people, who produce nothing of benefit to others (Micah 7:1; Matthew 21:19). The keeper represents Jesus as Intercessor, pleading to God to spare His people. The owner had one purpose when he planted his fig tree in the vineyard: to gather fruit at the appointed time. After all the care, time, and money he had spent on it, he anxiously looked forward to fruit, but he is disappointed. After three years of the same, enough is enough! He orders it cut down, perhaps to plant something in its place.
For the Word to speak to us, we imagine ourselves as the fig tree. For three years, God the Father had desired and waited for us to yield fruits. He goes through His vineyard again today, checking out this lovely tree, hoping to find fruits, and he finds none. We all know what that’s like in life. We understand the feelings, for we know about expectations and the disappointment of unmet expectations. Have we not all wondered, “Enough is enough. This one is a goner. It’s time to let it go. It’s time to walk away”? So we understand when God says, “Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?” Why should it continue to occupy space! Why let it take up so much time and energy? Move on!
And then, lo and behold, someone intercedes for the plant. The man looking after the vineyard pleads on its behalf, promising even more work. Let him tend to it for one more year, digging round it, and fertilizing it a bit, to see if he can get something out of it. After a year, if he still gets nowhere, then let it be cut down. This is the role of Christ, acting for us, mediating between God and humanity, interceding on our behalf, rising from the dead to stand beside the Father and defending us. Sinners deserve to be chopped down and thrown into the fire, but Christ steps in to plead for twelve more months.
How do we integrate this picture with the cursing of the fig tree [Mark 11:14] and Michelangelo’s representation of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25?
Jesus’ words in this fig-parable [Luke 13:6-9] prove that God is willing to give us some respite for true conversion, but God will ultimately judge us with full severity; Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree before his cleansing of the Temple forces us to acknowledge Christ as our judge. It also compels us to examine our conscience against two possible backdrops, one featuring fecund fruit-production, the other sporting nothing but flashy green leaves.
Michelangelo synchronized his presentation with the Gospel account as he captured the moment of Christ effecting the divine judgment. Damned souls below Christ and on His left are being sent down to hell for eternal punishment, His left hand symbolising the gesture of dispatch downwards. Blessed souls below Christ and on His right are being raised up to heaven to join the angels and saints for eternal bliss, His right hand symbolising the gesture of summons upwards.
This is Judgment Day. Humanity has reached a point of no return. Rewards or punishments are now inevitable; it’s all written in the Books. The die has been cast. The Divine Judge is impassioned. Even the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Mother of Jesus, now seated immediately to Christ’s right and under His direct protection, can intercede no more. She turns her head to her right, as she cannot bear to see the suffering of the damned souls below and to Christ’s left. Her two arms folded close to her motherly bosom, her left index finger on her cheek, her body slightly recoiled – all this points to her maternal concern for those who are now eternally lost. The scene below and to the left is one of pandemonium, of despair and hopelessness, of fear of physical and spiritual annihilation, and of horrific screams from the dark pit of hell.
Critics are right in suggesting that the artist aimed to frighten and in that he evidently succeeded brilliantly down through the ages. But, that is only half the picture. The artist aimed to encourage as well, and his message is unmistakable: while bad deeds will not go unpunished, good deeds will not go unrewarded. God is just. There will be ultimate justice! God will see to it.
In the mean time, to those who are living, this message synchronises well with the Gospel stories about Jesus cursing the fruitless fig tree and telling the fig-parable. Jesus Christ is the Divine Judge on the Last Judgment. He will be severe; but He will be just, according to the good deeds and the bad deeds recorded in the Books [Revelation 20:11-12].
Matthew 25 calls us to be prepared to render an account to Christ on Judgment Day of how we have lived our lives. We will not be judged by how many times we say, “Lord, Lord” (Matt 7:21), how fully we subscribe to orthodox doctrines, or how many Masses we attended, but how we have responded to God’s superabundant love and mercy. Imagining themselves having fallen short, especially on emerging from a two-hour seminar on The Last Judgment, people wonder if they have missed their chance to appear favourably before the Judgment Seat. That’s when we refer them to the parable of the barren fig tree in Luke 13:6-9.
For three years running, the Master of the vineyard had found the fig tree fruitless. He wanted to have that non-productive tree cut down so that the space it stood on could be used for something else. Upon request from the caretaker, he agreed to wait one more year. During that time, the caretaker promised to do some serious work on it – dig round it, manure it – to see if it bore fruit the following year. If it did not, it would definitely be cut down.
We may summarise the teaching this parable yields in two points:
- First, we are given a second chance. We are always given a second chance; our being alive testifies to that.
So we can think of the twelve-month reprieve as a metaphor for grace. So long as we are still breathing, we live in the “twelve-month grace” – to be understood metaphorically and not in the linear time of 365 days. While the point of the fig-parable is about judgment and punishment, Jesus also points to two options – repent or die. God hates sins and fruitless trees, and He wants to get rid of them. “If this plant doesn’t bear fruit, then cut it down.” We are familiar with friends and relatives chopping down fruitless trees with disgust, are we not? So God’s patience could be exhausted too, as with Pharaoh, with the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, with those Galileans, and with Ananias and Sapphira. However, so long as we are still alive and kicking, we are living in a grace-filled season of second chances during which time we need to do some serious work on our faith life. But, of the day when He shall come again, we simply do not know. So today is the time to do it, and to do it well.
- Second, talents un-used or mis-used can be taken back and given to others. This is speaking directly to Christian churches today and to individuals with special privileges and favours within the faith communities.
Christian churches suffer from severe amnesia if all that they triumphantly remember is their alleged taking over of the role of God’s Chosen and God’s Elect, replacing Israel. The least that Christian communities anywhere ought to remember, and remember well, is that just as the ancient “Israel had lost it” because of their infidelity, so too, we today can “lose it” for our infidelity. And that applies as vehemently to the churches as to the privileged individuals within them.
“Thus says Yahweh: Have a care for justice, act with integrity, for soon my salvation will come and my integrity be manifest” (Isaiah 56:1). And as St Paul has written to the Corinthians, we are each immensely gifted to do work in God’s kingdom-advancement. How do we know? First, we could think in terms of the possessions we are each blessed with – our time, our talents, and our treasures. Second, our personal preference is to think in terms of God’s gift in creation – everyone of us in our respective stations in life are given the conditions of possibility to do immense good. God looks forward to enjoying marvelous fruits from us. Third, in the light of the Last Judgment and this fig-tree parable, we are once again reminded that for every day that we are living and breathing, we are enjoying a second-chance to do good, exhausting our very own twelve-month grace to produce fruit.
In the end, a simple question seems most powerful for us: If we take a deep look at the soil in which we are planted, are we just taking up space? In the light of Matthew 25 and Luke 13:6-9, Dr Martin Luther King, Jr. makes good sense: “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you doing for others?” Put it another way: What “rent” are we paying God for the space we are occupying?
Copyright © Dr. Jeffrey & Angie Goh, December 2012. All rights reserved.
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