Trees and Fruit

I heard a sermon this week on the parable of the unfruitful fig tree.   But for all my effort I cannot remember where or from whom I heard it.  The message focused on the gardener’s appeal to the master who had told the gardener to cut it down for having borne no fruit in three years.  The gardener asked the master to give the tree one more year, or rather to give him, the gardener, one more year of tending it to produce fruit.

“Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ ”

— Luke 13:6–9,
What is the message of the gardener’s appeal and the parable cliffhanger… will the master give the gardener another year to coax fruit from the fig tree? Who was responsible for the fig tree being there in a vineyard to start with?  The master, the vine dresser, someone else?  Or was it simply a volunteer that arose from an errant seed that landed there unintentionally? Does it matter?
One Jewish view from the “synagogue as fig tree” perspective on the parable is this:
“Cornelius a Lapide, a 16th century Flemish Jesuit Catholic priest offered the synagogue interpretation writing, “…. the fig-tree represents the synagogue of the Jews, which God planted through Moses; to which Christ came by the Incarnation, to cultivate it by His preaching. Christ, therefore, is the keeper of the vine, that is, of the synagogue, to whom God said, “Cut it down, for now for three years in which Thou hast preached to it, I have looked for the fruit of faith and good works, and I find none, from the unbelief, perverseness, and malice of the Jews.” Christ intercedes for it, that the Father would allow Him to tend it by His preaching for one year more, or, at least, for half and one; and then, if it gave no fruit, it might be cut down. So it came to pass: for the Jews, in the fourth year of Christ’s preaching, at the Passover, adding sin to sin, and becoming more and more perverse, crucified Him; so that, a few years after, Titus was sent by God as His avenger, and took Jerusalem, and destroyed all Judæa.”[
Irish Roman Catholic clergyman John McEvilly wrote of the fig tree representing all unrepentant sinners,. “Our Lord had menaced them, that unless they did penance, and produced fruits worthy of penance (3:8), they would all perish. He illustrates their condition, and the punishment that ultimately awaits them, by the parable of the fig-tree. The fig-tree bore no fruit; neither did they perform good works; the owner waited patiently three years; so does God wait for them; the fig-tree having become utterly useless, is cut down; so shall they. “Three years.” If the fig-tree after failing for two years, brings forth no fruit the third year, it never yields….. The illustration applies to all unrepenting sinners, whose final doom is represented by that of the fig-tree in the parableehow I can see Christ having compassion for the Jews and asking for one more year to cultivate the tree better than I can see him .”
Some how I can see Christ having compassion for the Jews and asking His Father for one more year to cultivate the tree for fruit better than I can see him “menacing” people with threats.  However, as one writer has observed, the gardener appears to have planted a fig tree in a grape vineyard.  If the grape vineyard represents Israel and the fig tree represents Gentiles…. an unexpected interloper in the vineyard, taking up otherwise productive space…. That gives an altogether different slant on things…
Here is a Protestant read on the circumstances:

“In this parable, the owner is generally regarded as representing God the Father, who had a fig tree planted in his vineyard and came seeking fruit. The gardener (vinedresser) is Jesus.[3] Fig trees were common trees and would rarely be planted in vineyards because the deep roots and large branches take much ground that would otherwise be used for the vines.[4]

Another resonance is with Exodus 34:6-7 and Deuteronomy 5:9-10, where God proclaims that he is merciful, gracious and longsuffering – extending mercy to 1,000 generations of those that love Him and obey His instructions, by forgiving their iniquity, transgression and sin. However, as a righteous judge, He must eventually visit the unforgiven iniquity (which is a different Hebrew word than transgression and sin -Deuteronomy 24:16 ) to the “third or fourth” generation of those that continue to reject Him. The gardener pleads for mercy in the third year/generation and promises to create the best conditions for the fourth year/generation to bear the fruit of repentance before the full consequences of the iniquity would be realized.”

Or, one more interpretation somewhat to the point of the sermon I heard this week:

“The fig tree was a common symbol for Israel and may also have that meaning here,[3] and the tree in the parable may refer to a Christian who has heard the gospel of Christ by faith unto salvation. In either case, the parable reflects Jesus offering a chance for repentance and forgiveness of sin, showing his grace toward his believers.[4]“These three years” logically refers to the period of Jesus’ ministry, or simply that is the period it took for a fig tree to bear fruit. The fig tree (gentile) was given the opportunity to be in the vineyard where it otherwise should not have been as well as the needed time to bear fruit. The vinedresser, who is Jesus, does not fail and has offered to cultivate it so it will produce fruit.

 

And another convoluted interpretation portrays the vinedresser in a more shrewd and deceptive manner over his master, but nonetheless honorable for keeping the Jewish Law:

“The owner is an absentee landlord, only visiting his vineyard once a year. The law regarding first fruits, Leviticus 19:23-25, forbids eating fruit from a tree in its first three years. The vinedresser has disposed of the fruit, either by plucking it at an early stage or dropping it for compost, to prevent anyone from inadvertently eating the forbidden fruit. The story suggests that the vinedresser is an observant Jew and the owner is a pagan, unfamiliar with the laws of first fruits. Now that the tree is entering its productive period, the vinedresser has saved it from the ax, without letting the master know what happened to the earlier fruit. However, the owner has yet another surprise coming, because in the fourth year, all the fruit is offered to the Lord. Luke may have picked up a Jewish tale of a Jewish laborer outsmarting his pagan master. In the end, the faithful prevail.”

That last interpretation makes Luke’s gospel appear like a mere confabulation of an old “Jews-as-God’s favored-people-who-prevail-over-their-oppressors” storyline from a Jewish cultural supremacy perspective.  That really doesn’t sound much like Luke or Jesus or God to me …. and therefore seems least likely.  But then, I’m a Gentile.

Today I re-watched a series of sermons by UMC elder Adam Hamilton entitled, “Christianity’s Family Tree,” on the history of the institution of the church through the evolving denominational “limbs” …. from apostolic era, through orthodoxy, splitting off of Roman Catholicism, diverging of Lutheran, Anglican, Presbyterian, Baptist, Pentecostal, Methodist, and on and on.
This brief examination of various interpretations of this parable simply points to the fact that the interpretations of any given parable, perhaps, may be as diverse as many readers and that one’s meaning derives from the ways that representations are assigned to the various elements of the story by the hearer.
All of this leads me to want to do an extensive study of all the fig tree references in scripture to gain more breadth of understanding.
In the light of the whole of Scripture, I trust that the meaning intended, the one that reveals the true nature of God, Christ, and mankind is the one that will prevail over time, will be revealed by the Holy Spirit and appeal to the hearts of true believers.