Sunday 24 March 2019

The Barren Fig Tree

I really like figs - and in season with bacon, wild Bulgarian honey of which we have an ample supply, maybe a hunk of sourdough bread and some black pepper my breakfast dreams are come true. But first, you must catch your fig.

In my last place my neighbour and close friend had  a tree in their garden; it was the most abundant I have seen in this country, planted against a whitewashed garage wall which reflected the heat and light the bush was every year fully laden down with fruit. There was one difficulty which was that my friend’s father who was the gardener was the only person in his family who ate them. I was the beneficiary and I am indebted to him for many breakfasts. When he learnt that I was moving Dennis worked tirelessly to try and take a cutting from his tree to give to me. In vain, for whatever reason they did not take and so in kindness and generosity he bought me a fig tree in a pot. Now I have a problem for his expectations are high and as I have said to some of you already I am a bad gardener. I am worried that under my care  my tree will look like the one in Jesus’ parable.

Fig trees were all over the Palestinian landscape, for natural seedlings grow freely in Mediterranean countries.It is undoubtedly one of the earliest fruit trees cultivated by man and indeed the first identifiable tree mentioned in the Bible. Figs were a principal foodstuff and they were a staple of the poor especially those who worked the land. Jesus used examples in his parables that people would have understood. Most probably the tree in question was mature and expected to produce fruit - quite likely already three years old - and yet for the subsequent years “not a fig.” The master comes looking for for his fruit and exasperated says “cut it down.”

There are two ways, at least, of thinking about this parable. The context in Luke suggests which one we might look at first. We heard just before of a disaster in Jerusalem where Pilate has massacred some Galileans - something which is consistent with Pilate’s reputation and the histories of Josephus. And also of another disaster where a tower has fallen on eighteen people. Jesus reacts by saying “Don’t think these people were worse than you it could happen to you - repent now before it is too late.” 

So the fig tree might represent the Jewish nation (as it often does) or because it is a single tree in a vineyard perhaps an individual soul. The message either way  is clear: if you do not repent (bear fruit) the consequences are pulling up and the fire  - I am coming again and the time is short.

Interestingly though the master is persuaded by the servant to relent. “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it.” The tree has been fruitless for three years - which is a long time - I mean I think it signifies a really long time. The hearers of Jesus’ words, people of the countryside would I suspect have uprooted, cut and burned the thing without hesitation to make room for something more productive.



So another way to interpret the parable is that it is about the ministry of Jesus. Jesus the servant sent by God (echos of Isaiah) to teach and preach and nurture, to bring  a last and supremely valuable chance to renew and repent. We are at the boundary of Old and New Testament times - from the three years and the judgement of God to the coming of Christ and the years given to us to bear fruit.

Here then is a parable that speaks directly to our Lenten practice of self examination, prayer and of reading and meditating on God’s word - in these forty days and forty nights we are digging around the fig tree, nurturing and fertilising and preparing to bear fruit.

Amen

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