Jesus Delivers The Parable Of The Barren Fig Tree ~ He said;
“A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.
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?’
He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.
If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:6-9 NRSV
The Barren Fig Tree Parable can be broken down into three parts.
The vineyard owner represents God, who expects to see fruit on the tree he gave space and soil to in his vineyard and decides to destroy it when he sees nothing after three years.
The gardener represents Jesus, who has carefully cared for and nurtured the tree during the last three years and is longing for it to flourish and achieve its full potential.
The Fig Tree represents us – it represents me, it represents you.
The vineyard owner had waited for three long years in the hope of the tree bearing exquisite fruits; he was very disappointed and could not see any point in holding out any longer.
However, the gardener is compassionate and pleads for a little more time to further nurture the tree with water and fertiliser in the hope that it will reach its full potential and produce the exquisite fruit stored deep within its structure.
We are the fig tree and have exquisite spiritual fruits beyond our wildest dreams contained within the spiritual DNA that God assigned to us.
The good Lord of the vineyard responds to the gardener with patience and reprieval, but for a determined time of just one year.
Christ stands at the door of each of our hearts, knocking and asking us to allow him to show himself to us. He is asking us to turn away from the error of our ways, turn to him and reap the full spiritual harvest we are promised.
As the vineyard owner gave another year of life to the tree. So God, in His mercy, grants us another day, another hour, another breath to take the opportunity of turning to him and becoming all that He fused within us to reach our full spiritual potential. But, like the fig tree, a day will come when we will face a time of analysis over what good things we have produced in our lives.
The message of this parable is ~ time is limited. To reap all the beautiful things God planned for us, we need to turn to Christ and away from barren behaviours and reap the spiritual fruits we were endowed with.
If we could somehow catch just a glimpse of God’s wonder and glory in store for those who turn to him in faith, we would be knocking on heaven’s door every day asking to be let in.
The greatest need each of us has is to know, understand, and accept the tremendous hope we all have in Jesus.
We can achieve this by inviting the Holy Spirit to move within us, turn away from barren behaviours, and start learning more about Jesus.
If we could grasp just a fragment of how the power of the Holy Spirit can work deep within us through hope in Jesus, then our lives and futures could be completely transformed.
As the gardener nurtured the fig tree with water and fertiliser, Jesus nurtures his flock with love and the Holy Spirit.
This parable tells us that the short time we have on earth passes by quickly, and we need to turn our faces towards Jesus sooner rather than later if we would like to achieve all that God has planned for us.
Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to shine in our hearts and show us the way.
Father God,
We are very grateful for all your creation and our part in its glory.
We are so grateful to have the power of the internet today to communicate the message of your goodness and the hope we have in Jesus worldwide.
Father God, we understand that we are all sinners born into a sinful world, but we long to draw closer to you through Jesus and the Holy Spirit.
We long to become all you have intended for us to realise the full potential and power you fused deep within us.
We long to accept the loving-kindness offered by Jesus as he tends us with His love and the Holy Spirit helping us to develop and flourish.
We pray that you will open the doors of our hearts, Father God, and allow the Holy Spirit to shine within us, nurturing all our latent fruits to your glory.
In the name of Jesus, Amen.
Jesus is often called the Good Shepherd ~ you can learn why here.
