A reading of the holy Gospel according to Luke 13:1-9
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them– do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not you can cut it down.’”
REFLECTION:
'‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.”
I always loved picking figs every summer and looked forward to enjoying them as a sweet jam in the middle of a homemade biscuit. I never thought of the time and work it takes to produce this delicious fruit. The tree just seemed to always be there, ready to share its fruit each summer. In reality, it generally takes a fig tree three to five years to produce fruit once it has been regularly watered and fertilized. It is a plant that needs full sun and plenty of space to develop a strong root system. It will never produce without these requirements.
There are always worldly people who do not welcome the Word of God or those who try to evangelize them. If they were a fig tree, they would not want the gardener’s attention, nor care to be fed or watered. They would spend their time “exhausting” people around them. As Jesus explains in the gospel parable, these shall be cut down after a time, for God is just.
Jesus, the gardener, tills the soil in us, giving us refreshing water and good food so we can reach a production stage. The fruit we bear should be in our loving actions. It can take years to develop a sound root system of faith, so that when life challenges you, you remain faithful. You can draw on the strength from your foundation, Jesus Christ.
Fig trees symbolize all we expect to get from God, prosperity, health and security. The flower is the most beautiful part of any plant, but you never see the flower of the fig tree. This most delicate and rich fruit has the flower inside the fruit. This fact of nature parallels the beauty of the fruit produced by the fig tree to the fruit produced by those who follow Christ. After all, they have been nurtured by the greatest gardener, Jesus.
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