|
Morning Meditation
October 27, 2026
Reading: Luke 13:6-6
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 round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.” ’
Meditation by Rebecca Northington
The fig tree is mentioned over 40 times in the Bible. It often represents Israel, and its health and prosperity is directly linked time and again to the spiritual health of its people. "Sitting under your own vine and fig tree" is an Old Testament sign of security, peace, and personal freedom; a condition to be ushered in by a Messiah.
In this parable of the Barren Fig Tree, Israel is once again the fig tree (or perhaps we all are), God is the vineyard owner, and Jesus is the gardener hoping to cultivate a tree worthy of the vineyard owner's grace and mercy. Just as the parable says, for three years John the Baptist and Jesus have been urging the Jews to repent and to turn back towards God. And yet they/we resist. Jesus asks for more time, but knows that his time is limited and his hour is near.
Much of Luke 13 focuses on this theme of repentance and the ultimate accountability we all face. An accountability that is not ours to dole out, but God’s. Implicit in that message is an urgency for us all to be attentive to Christ’s intercessions on our behalf. What do his stories represent? What does Christ ask of us?
Teaching the confirmation class about Exodus this last Sunday included drawing the parallel between Moses the liberator, and Christ the savior. They both offer freedom to their people. Moses liberated the Israelites from slavery and Jesus delivered freedom from a far more complicated master: our own jealous egos, our own inescapable appetites, our own inability to sit peacefully under the fig tree. Jesus offers us, and asks of us, Metanoia (μετάνοια). Often translated as repentance, metanoia literally means a fundamental change of mind, outlook, or shift of consciousness. A shift towards God, and away from that which hurts us and our neighbors: jealousy, envy, hate, disdain, grudge or greed, to name a few.
Many of us would prefer a Moses figure who we could mindlessly follow to freedom (though we know how that story turned out). Many of us want laws and doctrine so that we know how to follow the rules; but then of course we break them. Jesus doesn’t offer doctrine, though he does offer a new perspective. Jesus doesn’t ask us to do the accounting work of God. Jesus asks us to liberate ourselves by choosing God. When we choose God, when we choose love, our fig tree is healthy and bears fruit.
| 
