The Barren Tree

Hello everyone.

I haven't written anything in quite a while, but I think that I am ready to resume. Last time I posted anyhting on this blog it was late August. Then, I wrote about Luke 13:1-5 and concluded that a failure to repent leads to destruction, while repentace leads to life, and we have the ability to choose. Today, we will continue in Luke 13, examining verses 6-9. This is my translation:

6 Then he told them this parable. A man had planted a fig tree in his vineyard. He came to the tree searching for fruit, but he didn’t find any. 7 He said to the gardener, ‘Look, for three years, I have come to this tree seeking fruit, but have never found anything. Chop it down.  Why should it use up this ground? 8 The gardener answered him, “Master, let’s leave it alone for another year. I will dig around it and spread fertilizer. 9 Then if it bears fruit next year, great.  If not, we will cut it down.”

Jesus follows two consecutive warnings to repent or perish (Luke 13:3, 5) with a parable about a fruitless tree.  In the parable, a man has a fig tree in his vineyard, and he continues to come to it seeking its fruit, but it never has any. It seems like an obvious comparison here.  The fruitless tree is the nation of Israel.  God searches for their fruit but doesn’t find any. Darrell Bock says, “The fig tree pictures the nation and portrays Israel as not having borne any spiritual produce for some time.” (Bock, 1209.)

In his disappointment, the man ordered that the tree be chopped down, since not only is it fruitless, it takes the nutrients from the soil that could be better used by other plants that are actually bearing fruit. Kenneth Bailey explains that it takes three years for the tree to start producing fruit, and the man has been looking for fruit, with expectation, for three years.  The tree is now six years old.  (Bailey, 82.) The man has a a six year investment, with nothing to show for it.  It is no wonder that he is angry.  The man wants to cut the tree down, but his gardener urges greater patience.  He urges one more year, in which he will dig around it, and fertilize it.  If, after another year, it is still fruitless, then even the patient gardener says tear it down. 

Bock says that the gardener represents God’s merciful side. (Bock, 1209)  This makes a lot of sense.  It reminds us of Hosea 11:8-9, when God is rightly angry with Israel and is ready to punish the nation, yet says, “My heart is changed within; all my compassion is aroused.  I will not carry out my fierce anger.” Here, we see two sides of God: the God of justice, and the God of Mercy.  God is patient, but that patience is not without limit.  Eventually the tree must bear fruit or be chopped down. 

The patience given to the tree brings some special attention to it.  The gardener is going to dig around it and fertilize it and then they will see if this brings fruit.  Bock points out that the tree had done nothing to merit special treatment or the patience that it is being given. It has, in fact, given no reason to offer hope. (Bock, 1209.) Never-the-less, it does receive special treatment. However, if there is no change the tree will be removed. The message: God is patient, but His patience has a limit. 

Jesus uses the word κόπρια (kopria).  While I translated it as fertilizer, the word actually means ‘manure.’ We see God’s merciful nature at work in the digging around and placing of manure around the tree.  Those things don’t seem pleasant.  God’s gardening process may not always be pleasant for us, but they are designed to bring us to repentance.  In this parable, it is Israel is being called to repentance.  John the Baptist had warned that the ax was at the root of the tree. (Luke 3:9) Would this generation repent, or would God remove them.  

Jesus leaves this story unfinished.  Will these actions do any good? Will the tree produce fruit? We aren't told what happened to the tree after the year of special attention.  We can have a pretty good idea what happened in Israel, but concepts of this parable can be applied to us well.  Perhaps, God is digging around us and spreading the 'fertilizer.'  Our story may not yet be finished, so we ask ourselves, "Is God's pruning leading me toward repentance?" 

Tom 

     Kenneth Bailey, Through Peasant Eyes, Grand Rapids, Michigan, William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1980. 

      Darrell Bock, Luke: Volume 2: 9:51-24:53, Gand Rapids, Michigan, Baker Academic, 1996.