Fig Tree and the Gardener

This Sunday we heard the parable of the barren fig tree as our Gospel reading. 

Okay, here is what I know about figs and fig trees. I know that Fig Newtons are a favorite cookie of mine and I know that cheap knock - offs of this tasty Nabisco treat feature more seeds than fruit.  Other than that I remember as a kid being kind of surprised that they grew on trees just as I was surprised about mustard growing on trees as well.  I could just imagine plastic containers of mustard raining down on some poor sod who was taking shelter under a mustard tree during a storm. But, lets return to the fig.

Back in the day of Jesus the one thing that the people of Israel had plenty of was figs. The Romans complained that at times during the year they would have to walk instep deep in fig juice. I am sure that is somewhat of an exaggeration. But figs were a staple food product and in our story we see a man going into his vineyard, fig trees often were planted in vineyards. The master of the house had a hankering for a nice juicy fig fresh from the tree. He walked over to the tree that he had lovingly planted three years ago and alas, no figs! 

He called his chief gardener over and told him to cut down the tree.  It had been nurtured for three years and was sapping the nutrients from the soil and giving nothing back. As a good businessman the boss saw no reason for this tree to remain.  The gardener interceded for the tree. He was not a businessman but he felt in his heart that he could coax fruit out of the stubborn tree. He thought that all it would take was a bit of tender loving care. You cam almost hear the conversation, the boss reasoning with the gardener and the gardener reasoning with the boss. In this case the gardener won. He would carefully tend the tree, work the soil around it, fertilize it and perhaps next season it would bear much fruit.  The boss walked away entrusting the fig tree to the care of the gardener. 

This story is often interpreted as God the Father getting upset that Israel had produced so little fruit in the time that Jesus had been teaching. The gardener is Jesus who is asking for more time to tend to Israel, fertilizing it with the Word of God, teaching it through example. And God the Father entrusted Israel to God the Son. 

I think we can bring it down a notch. Jesus works in our life through Word and Sacrament and is looking for us to bear fruit. There is a time limit we have, the time between birth and death, to do the work and bear the fruit that is expected of us. Each of us has a job to help bring the kingdom of God into fruition. The job is always something we have the talent, time, and treasure to complete. We may in fact need the help of Jesus the gardener at times and He will always be there lovingly tending to us and our needs.  It is the will of God that we succeed in our mission and it is only our timid nature, our fear that we will fail, that keeps us from success. Also, we cannot see with the eyes of eternity. Sometimes what appears to us as an abject failure is a success in disguise. The effects of our work for the kingdom are most often unseen. This is okay because we need to trust the gardener to do His job. The figs that later appear are none of our concern. He will distribute them as they are needed. 

Our job, therefore, is to be open to the graces that God provides. To not be timid or afraid at the job we are tasked with.  The work will be hard, we may not see results in our lifetime but in the end we will hear those words all of us long to hear; "Well done good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of your Master. " 

May the light of Christ guide you this week and may you be led ever closer to the Gardener and his garden.