THE FIG TREE
Luke 13:1-9

Grace, mercy, and peace be to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. Our text for this mornings meditation is recorded in the Gospel of St. Luke, chapter 13, verses 1 through 9 — particularly these words, “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, ‘Cut it down; why should it use up the soil?’  And he answered him, ‘Leave it alone, sir, one more year, and I will dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”  This is our text.

In the name Jesus. (Amen.)  Do you remember our simple definition of a “Parable?” A parable is an earthly story, with a heavenly meaning. A parable was a teaching device which Jesus used very often to get across a point that might not have been very clear being taught any other way. In today’s text, Jesus was answering what appears to be a very simple, theological question — “Does God punish people because of their sins?” And there were two very recent events that were on the people’s minds — raising this question. Some Galileans were killed by soldiers from Pilate. Now that would not have been so unusual, in and of itself, — but what made it unusual was that they were offering their sacrifices to God at the time it happened. Our text told us, “Now some present at that time told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mixed with their sacrifices”. And Jesus added another incident — 18 people had died when a tower in Siloam fell on them. And the question that people were asking was, “Why did God punish these people this way? What did they do? Was there some great crime or sin that they were guilty of which caused them to die in such a harsh way?”  Jesus answered that question very clearly. He said in our text, “I tell you, NO! BUT unless you repent, you too will all perish.”  And then he told the parable to explain his answer.

First of all, God has a right to expect good works and good deeds from all people — and that includes you and me. God is the owner of the vineyard in the parable. He is the one who pays for the land and plants the plants. He is the one who has a right to expect a profit from his investment. When we translate that parable into our lives, it is God who created this world of ours — it belongs to Him. It is God who has given life to each and every human being who inhabits this earth, we all belong to him and to him alone. It is God who gives us nourishment, and strength, and fellowship, and comfort. And because of all that he has given to each one of us—we owe him everything that we have, everything we are, and everything we hope to be. We are the fig tree, which owes fruit to our owner.

But have we produced the fruit which our owner wants us to produce? Have we always put God first in our lives? Have we always loved our neighbors as ourselves? Have we always put the best construction on everything? Have we always been faithful to our God in THOUGHT, WORD, and DEED?? As sinners who fall short of the perfection which God demands—every one of us must answer “NO”. We have not produced the “fruit” our God wanted us to produce. Maybe we have done better than some other people — but that is not our standard. Have we been perfect, like God is perfect?? — That is God’s standard!

And so the judgment of God is clear–“The soul that sins, it shall die.” “The wages of sin is death.” And so the owner in our text tells the keeper of the vineyard “Cut down the tree!” If that was the end of the parable, then it would be possible to say that those Pilate killed, and those on whom the tower fell were indeed being punished because of their sins — and also, that their punishment, their death, was justified and right. And if that were true, then nothing but fear could live in your heart or mine — because we would spend our days waiting for the time when God would choose to get even with us, and to punish us for our sins. There could be no peace — only fear and trembling.

But the parable didn’t end there. For some reason, a reason which Scripture does not share with us, the keeper of the vineyard cares about that fig tree — and so he pleads with the owner to spare it for one more year.

The vineyard keeper is very obviously Jesus Christ; because Christ is the one who intercedes for us before the Father in Heaven. Jesus is the mediator between God and man. Jesus is the one who stands up for you and me, and asks God to spare us — not because of what we have or have not done — but because of what He himself has done. In the parable, he promised to dig around the tree and to give it some fertilizer so that that fig tree might produce fruit. In life, he gave his life — He himself suffered at the hands of the Jews and Pilate and He himself died on the cross of Calvary so that we might have forgiveness of sins. He paid the price of our debt of sin so that we might be forgiven. And then, together with the Father, he sent us the Holy Spirit, so that working through the Means of Grace, through Word and Sacrament, you and I might be brought into Saving Faith in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, so that we might be kept in the faith in Jesus Christ, and so that we might be strengthened in our faith so that it would be possible for us to accomplish the good works that God himself has prepared for us to do — in other words, so that you and I might be “good trees,” “bearing good fruit.”

And if that were the end of the parable, we would all rejoice with exceedingly great joy, because our future in heaven would be absolutely and completely secure without any worry, or care, or response whatsoever on our part! But the parable didn’t end there. There was still a possibility that even after the caretaker did all that he possibly could — that fig tree could still parish.

The last line of our text said, “If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”  Jesus gave the same warning before he told the parable. He assured his listeners that those who died at the hand of Pilate, and who died under the tower were not being punished by God — but then he added a warning, He said, “But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

The theme of Lent is “Repentance of sins”. During Lent we remember our sinful nature. We remember our total inability to please God by our own goodness and our own good works. It is only through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior that we are at all able to come before God.     During Lent, we are reminded to humble ourselves before our gracious and loving God, and to renew our commitment and our dedication to Him and to his will — so that through the Holy Scriptures and through the Sacraments, The Holy Spirit will strengthen our faith, so that we can live our lives to his glory and we can bear the fruit that is fitting for a child of God, redeemed in the Blood of the Lamb. Not in our own strength, but in the Grace of God alone!

No! God does not punish us as we deserve, or else we would all be dead already, both temporally and eternally. But for Jesus sake He forgives us our sins, He creates saving faith within our hearts, and He strengthens our will to follow his holy will. Let us repent of our short comings and let us rejoice in His grace, His love, and his forgiveness. To God alone be the glory, now and always. Amen.

May the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.