About this time Jesus was told that Pilate had murdered some Galileans, as they were offering sacrifices at the Temple. “Do you think those Galileans were worse sinners than all the other people from Galilee?” Jesus asked. “Is that why they suffered? Not at all! And you will perish, too, unless you repent of your sins and turn to God. And what about the eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Were they the worst sinners in Jerusalem? No, and I tell you again that unless you repent, you will perish, too.” Then Jesus told this story: “A man planted a fig tree in his garden and came again and again to see if there was any fruit on it, but he was always disappointed. Finally, he said to his gardener, ‘I’ve waited three years, and there hasn’t been a single fig! Cut it down. It’s just taking up space in the garden.’ “The gardener answered, ‘Sir, give it one more chance. Leave it another year, and I’ll give it special attention and plenty of fertilizer. If we get figs next year, fine. If not, then you can cut it down.’”
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What do we know about fig trees? Not much, probably because we don’t see them a lot. Fig trees are quite common in areas of the world with a Mediterranean climate, which includes the southern US and parts of southern Japan, for example. They can be picked twice, and even three times in a year. Figs have been an important food crop for thousands of years, and are one of the very first plants cultivated by humans. In Gilgal, in the Jordan Valley just north of Jericho, no fewer than nine sub-fossil figs dating to about 9400–9200 BC - the Neolithic age - have been found. This find predates the domestication of wheat, barley, and legumes.
Scripture commonly refers to Israel using the imagery of significant plants, and a metaphor that was used of Israel is the fig tree. The fig tree held great importance for the Jews in several ways. Figs were eaten commonly as a snack or a meal supplement, dried and saved for the winter, or baked into cakes. Even when the fruit was not yet ripe, the trees produced edible buds that common people consumed. The fig cakes were considered gifts of honor, often given to highly respected people. The figs themselves were used medicinally to cure skin problems such as boils. They gave excellent shade, and so were often places of meeting or rest. Sitting under a fig tree was a common metaphor for living in peace with God’s blessing, as in the story of Micah and his fig tree.
So it was a common metaphor for Israel, symbolising the health of the nation both spiritually and physically. The Scriptures provides a complete analogy of Israel and the fig tree, often in the Minor Prophets, such as Micah. So when Jesus talks about fig trees, as he does in various places in the Gospels, he is using a symbol which has been around as long as the Israelite people remember. He isn’t using some rare esoteric plant that hardly anyone would relate to, he is using literally the most common thing which everyone listening to him would be able to understand.
So here we have a scripture in two parts - first, Jesus saying something totally contrary to the accepted religious belief. It was common cultural belief that people suffered because of sin. Some of the Galileans were murdered by Pilate, and the people who come to Jesus intimate that somehow they were responsible for their own deaths at the hands of Pilate. Jesus says that those people were no worse than any other Galileans. Neither were the eighteen who were crushed by the tower of Siloam. ...and, says Jesus, everyone sins. Everyone is less than perfect, and no one is any better than anyone else. You can almost see the eyebrows of the religious leaders going straight up into their hairlines.
Then he goes on to tell one of his stories about the realm of God, and what it is like. The second part of the scripture, the story of the impatient owner of the tree, who buys something, plants it and then leaves it for someone else to look after. Then there is the tree - the roots which need feeding, before the fruit can come.
In our house in Toronto, I have two orchids which have sat proudly for years, putting out lots of nice green and healthy robust leaves; they were very muscular plants, but not a sign of a bloom. I got mad. I stuck them in the front window, fertilised, and told them if they didn’t bloom they were going out into the trash. Miraculously those two orchids suddenly putting forth spikes and, miracle of miracles, bloomed. However, I as the owner have not been there for almost three years, and my husband doesn’t feed or water them often.
So, Jesus uses as his example one of the most common trees and common food sources for his culture, and something which, in the story of Micah, was a place for people to come, sit in the shade, and be fed. Jesus was a master at using ordinary commonplace everyday things as a vehicle for teaching something really important and profound.
It is a tree which has been around longer than anything else; something which represents everything the children of Israel are to be, and yet it puts out leaves and branches year after year - but no fruit.
So he has dismissed out of hand the idea that tragedy and sin are related. These things were not (and are not) God's doing. They are terrible tragedies, and God weeps at the senselessness of the acts. Translate Jesus’ questions into today’s time...Were the people who died in the bombing of the trains in Spain worse than others? Were those who died when sarin was released in the Tokyo subways somehow worse than other people? Were those who died in the World Trade Centre worse than others? No!! They died because of acts of violence perpetrated on them. None of these calamities was God's doing, none of them was a punishment. Jesus wants people to understand that suffering is often random. But Jesus also is saying that we all have a need to return, to repent, and to do something with our lives before we too are gone.
To repent is to get ourselves back on track, to be in right relationship with God. Sin is anything we do which puts us out of right relations with God. To repent is to reconnect with God, to stop doing the things that hurt us and others. God calls us to repent because if we don't, our souls perish. Just as the fig tree is offered a second chance to produce fruit, God offers us a chance to begin again, to live a life of abundance.
The owner of the fig tree wants to cut it down. It's taking up precious land, soil, and time. The gardener says "Give it one more year. I'll dig around it, put manure around it. Now, this makes sense, doesn’t it? Tree roots, like everything else, need oxygen in the soil, they need to breathe. I don't know about you, but I can identify with the fig tree. Every time I turn around, there is a second chance. But there’s the critical part, too. The roots have to be dug around, the soil loosened so the air can get in, good old stinky manure spread around to give nourishment. So it is with people. We have to dig down to our roots, let some air in, take out what we’ve always believed and give it a good second look, and feed those roots. Is this who we are? We have to remember, we aren’t in it alone. God helps us to grow, helping us garden in our lives and bearing our fruit.
My colleague Anna Murdock, whose reflections always offer plenty of food for thought to scripture discussions, tells a story about an elderly man in her church. His back yard was filled with fig trees. They provided shade and green, and they provided fruit because he tended to them with loving care. He and his wife spent the fruitful seasons making jams and cobblers, and bagging up fresh figs. But they didn’t sell their produce, they would go through the town, knocking on doors and giving away the fruits of their overabundance. He not only understood about looking after trees, he understood about the soul, the roots, and how essential healthy roots are in the gardens of our souls.
Sources:
1. Anna Murdock, story on “Midrash”, online text discussion sponsored by Woodlake Books.
2. From the sermon “One More Year”, by Rev. Cynthia Huling Hummel
3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_fig
4. http://expositorswiki.wikispaces.com/Symbolism+of+the+Fig+Tree
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