The Barren Fruit Tree
Preaching
Preaching the Parables
Series II, Cycle C
Object:
1At that very time there were some present who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2He asked them, "Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? 3No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish as they did. 4Or those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them -- do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others living in Jerusalem? 5No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all perish just as they did."
6Then 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. 7So 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?' 8He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not you can cut it down.'"
At first reading it may not be apparent as to why the two parts of the passage from Luke are considered together. A question about the wickedness of persons who suffer from accidents leads into a parable about a barren fig tree. A closer examination will show why the two parts belong together and the important distinction Jesus makes in terms of ethical behavior and its outcome.
Jesus is faced with a question about the link between the results of disasters and wickedness. He does not see a direct connection because the consequences to persons in a sense are arbitrary. They happen to the good and evil alike. The deaths or injuries from such events have no ethical connection to the results. They are just random victims of the natural course of events.
Context
Context of the Season
The parable is chosen for a reading during Lent. It is a time of preparation for the crucifixion and points toward the death of Jesus. His death poses the question as to why such a good man suffered such a cruel death. The church could not conceive that he had done anything so bad that he deserved to be executed.
In light of his teachings and the religious tradition of Judaism, some other explanation was needed. The religious resolution of the question about the meaning of his death led inexorably to the conclusion that he died for the sins of others. Only so great a cause was adequate to satisfy the search for some kind of reasonable answer other than a universe where such an event as his death has no meaning.
Lent is a time to reflect on our own behavior and to ask whether we live in such a way as to deserve the offer Jesus makes to each of us. The profundity of the questions this passage raises about death and suffering is appropriate for this season of the church year. Events happening constantly lead to seemingly meaningless suffering. They raise the same kind of issues for people today.
Some questions are most likely to arise during Lent, or at least it is the time to help people search for their own answers to such questions. What kind of meaning do people find in suffering? Does all suffering result directly from our personal sin? Are the sufferings of people a result of the degree of their wickedness? Does some suffering have more significance than others, especially the suffering of those who seem to be innocent?
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (Isaiah 55:1-9) The prophet offers comfort to the people in the midst of the trials and tribulations of captivity. If they come to God in obedience they may experience the abundant life. Not all the perplexities of life will be fully answered but assurance is given that living in accord with God's will results in a rich life. The prophet points to the mercy and forgiveness of God for those who trust in him to relieve his people of the consequences of past wickedness.
The Second Lesson. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13) Paul is writing to the church at Corinth after he gets a response to an earlier letter. In the previous letter he had rebuked the congregation for its wrong actions. He called for a change of behavior. He now has to defend his methods, for some questioned whether he was more severe when writing from a distance than he would be able to be when present in person. He insists on the integrity between his written words and his words when face to face.
Gospel. (Luke 13:1-9) The reading has two parts. The first speaks to the question of the wickedness of those who died in a slaughter by the Romans and the collapse of a tower. The second is the parable of the barren fig tree that is to be cut down if it produces no fruit.
Psalm. (Psalm 63:1-8) The psalmist is in danger. He looks to God for support. He remembers the power and glory that he felt when he worshiped God in the sanctuary. He rejoices in that memory and finds help in the present situation.
Context of Related Scripture
The fig tree appears in many other accounts in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments.
Genesis 3:7 -- Adam and Eve use fig leaves for a covering.
1 Kings 4:25 -- A sign of security is the ability to sit under one's own fig tree.
2 Kings 20:7 -- King Hezekiah uses a cake of figs to cure his boil.
Song of Solomon 3:13 -- The fig tree's blossoming is a sign of spring.
Isaiah 28:4 -- Isaiah uses the image of the summer fig eaten immediately for the transient nature of the leaders of Ephraim.
Matthew 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-14 -- The curse of the fig tree that promised fruit but had none.
Matthew 24:32-35; Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33 -- Jesus uses the sign of a fig tree putting forth leaves to urge his followers to read more spiritual signs.
John 1:48 -- Nathaniel is called while sitting under a fig tree.
James 3:12 -- A fig tree only produces one kind of fruit. So the character of a person produces only one fruit.
Revelation 6:13 -- The image of a fig tree dropping its winter fruit in a gale is used to describe catastrophic events in end times.
Content
Precis of the Parable
Persons come to Jesus to find out if he thought some Galileans who were killed by Pilate were more wicked than other Galileans. Jesus says they were not and cites another recent instance when eighteen people were killed as the tower of Siloam collapsed on them. He does turn the issue around by warning the people that they will perish if they do not change their behavior. He uses the parable of a barren fig tree to make his point. A man who had planted it wanted to cut it down because it was not productive. His gardener wanted to try to see if he could make it bear fruit by cultivating and fertilizing it. If he was unsuccessful, the tree would be cut down. Jesus says that if people do not repent, they will perish as the fig tree will.
Thesis: Ethical behavior has more meaning for a person's life than accidental suffering.
Theme: Personal decision that leads to a productive life is what determines a person's destiny.
Key Words in the Passage
1. "Galileans Whose Blood Pilate had Mingled." (v. 1) The incident is apparently one where Pilate suspected Galileans of inciting a riot. He feared it would lead to an insurrection and had it brutally suppressed.
2. "Sacrifices." (v. 1) When a large demand was made for sacrifices, the priests sometimes allowed lay persons to assist in the forecourt of the temple. This is why the blood of the Galileans could be mixed with the sacrifices.
3. "Worse Sinners." (v. 2) The Zealots believed in the use of violence to overthrow the Romans. The Pharisees expected God to intervene directly when the people lived in complete obedience to God's law. Therefore they thought that the Galileans must be worse sinners than others because they were identified with the Zealots.
4. "No." (v. 3) Jesus rejected both the Zealots and the Pharisees. They both wanted to bring down the top dog and make the underdog the top dog.
5. "Unless you Repent ... Perish." (v. 3) Jesus called for personal responsibility for change. Unless persons change their character their fate will be to perish.
6. "Tower of Siloam Fell." (v. 4) The Zealots thought those who built the tower of Siloam were collaborators with the Romans. Therefore they must be worse sinners than others. Jesus also rejects that explanation.
7. "A Man had a Fig Tree." (v. 6) The parable has elements of an allegory. God is the owner of the garden. He was the one who had planted his chosen people in Palestine. God expects his people to be fruitful.
8. "For Three Years I have Come." (v. 7) God has worked with the people over a long period of time to look for the results of the planting. The results are disappointing. The chosen people continue to act contrary to God's will.
9. "Cut it Down ... Wasting the Soil." (v. 7) A judgment that the same thing will happen to the Jews in Jesus' day that happened in the disappearance of Israel in the eighth century B.C. and to Judah when taken into captivity.
10. "Dig Around It and Put Manure on It." (v. 8) Jesus has come to make one more attempt to call the people to repentance and to fruitful living in the kingdom of God. He still has hope that the people will respond to his message and that the Jews can be saved from destruction.
11. "If Not, You can Cut It Down." (v. 9) Jesus anticipates the destruction that came to Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It can also apply to individuals as well as to a whole people.
Contemplation
Issues and Insights
1. Jesus and Revolutionaries. The Zealots came from Galilee. They were the revolutionaries who tried to overthrow the Roman occupation by guerrilla warfare. They instigated riots to try to get the people to rise up against the Romans.
The Pharisees also wanted to overthrow the Romans and have the Jews be the government. They, however, expected it to happen by some divine intervention. God would send a Messiah in a display of power and glory similar to that of King David. He would become the anointed ruler whom God would install in office.
Jesus rejected both the methods of the Zealots and hopes of the Pharisees. He announced the coming of the kingdom of God, but it was to come by the change of the people as they acted in accord with the nature of the kingdom. Jesus' method was to call the people to act in a different way. They were to love their enemies, not hate and destroy them. They were to serve the needs of their neighbors, not dominate or rule over them.
Jesus was the true revolutionary. He would not merely change who was on top and who was on the bottom as both the Zealots and the Pharisees intended. He would create a society, a kingdom, where mutuality and support of all persons would be the ruling principle, the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets.
2. Collapsing Civilizations. The world has known about twenty major civilizations in history. Sixteen of them have collapsed. They seem to run a course in which they ascend to power and then decay from within. Then some other power becomes ascendant.
Some people assume that the American civilization will endure forever. Others ask if the signs of decay are already becoming evident. The disparity between the rich and the poor is increasing.
The cynicism of politicians is a sign of a breakdown of democracy. According to some political advisers, presidential candidates have to have a minimum of twenty million dollars to have a chance even to be nominated. A straw vote in Iowa among Republican candidates in the summer of 1995 depended in large part on who could buy enough tickets to give to people who would vote for them. Highly paid lobbyists have a strong influence on who will get tax breaks and government subsidies for special interest groups.
The O. J. Simpson trial shows that the system is subject to corruption when a person has large wealth. The object becomes to win more than to establish truth or justice. Persons can hire enough experts to confuse a lay jury if they have the wealth. A poor person who is innocent or guilty could not put up a defense that can match the resources that a wealthy person can.
The guiding principles of the government are not so much based on justice and righteousness as they are on wealth and power. If we believe that God demands mercy, justice, and righteousness, can a people, a society, a civilization long endure when it no longer seeks to care for the most destitute of its members, for the alien in its midst, for truth and justice in the courts?
3. Is the Universe Mechanistic? The Deists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries assumed that the world ran on mechanistic laws. God was a creator who established the mechanism and let the world operate like a well-built clock. God only intervened when the mechanism got too far out of order. God did so by miracles.
The people who asked the question about the wickedness of the men slaughtered by Pilate assumed that God was directly responsible for every event. If people were sinners, God would cause them to suffer a disaster. If they were bad, God would use some natural event or someone to punish them. Suffering and unusual circumstances of death were directly attributed to God and were proportionate to the grievousness of the sin.
Jesus had a different view of God than either of these. Nature does act impersonally. Suffering and death are not directly related to God's punishment for sin. The world in which we live has an order to it that God allows to act on its own nature.
Human actions are sometimes contributing causes of suffering and death. The tower of Siloam did not collapse because God wanted to punish the men who died. It probably was a lack of human knowledge or judgment that caused the collapse. It is also possible that shoddy work or corrupt officials may have caused it, so that some human sin may have contributed to the fall. Certainly Pilate had to make some decision in the slaughter of the Galileans.
What distinguishes human beings from other living beings is that they have the ability to act by choice. They do not always simply react according to natural laws. They then become responsible for consequences of their acts. Jesus' understanding is that God seeks to relate to persons who make right choices. The parable shows that Jesus thought God was very patient and forgiving. The owner of the garden was willing to wait three years for the tree to become productive. That was plenty of time.
In the same way God waits and expects people to be productive. When the tree does not produce, it perishes. In like manner, the person who does not produce good works and a society that does not produce justice and righteousness are doomed to perish. Neither has any enduring significance in history. But the action is not an arbitrary action of God or nature. It is a consequence inherent in the actions of the people or the society.
4. The Unproductive Person. It is interesting that Jesus does not condemn the action of Pilate or the Zealots. One would think that a prophet would address the evil of one or both of these parties. Instead he only answers the question about the extent of sin of the victims in such events.
Jesus proceeds to address the question of who will perish. It is the unproductive tree that is to be cut down. By inference it is the unproductive person who will perish. It is not just those who do great evil who are subject to punishment. It is also the persons who do not produce good fruit. It is not enough just to abstain from great evil acts. It is necessary to act fruitfully to escape judgment.
Homily Hints
1. When Disaster Strikes. (vv. 1-5) Questions arise when people are victims of disaster. How does the Christian address such events?
A. No Guilt as a Cause. People wonder if the victims or the survivors have guilt that is real.
B. Natural Disasters not Punitive. Are we being punished for our sins by the disasters or what significance do they have for us?
C. Prepare in Advance. Your decisions before and after are more important than the events themselves. What you do about disasters is more important than what they do to you.
2. Repent or Perish. (v. 5) What does repentance and conversion imply?
A. A Change of Motive. God vs. self-centered orientation.
B. A Change of Attitudes. How do persons feel toward God and neighbors?
C. A Change of Actions. How does the change affect what you do?
3. God is the Gardener. (vv. 6-9)
A. God the Planter. God is the creator.
B. One More Year. God gives his servants the opportunity to make persons and societies productive.
C. The Gardener's Patience Limited. The life that is nonproductive is a waste of the opportunities God provides.
4. God's Economy. (v. 7) God has a purpose for every person and society.
A. Persons to Bear Fruit. What are persons' opportunities in their particular time and place?
B. Societies to Be Fruitful. A society should work for justice and righteousness in its time.
C. Outcome if Not Fruitful. As Gamaliel proposes in Acts 5:39, that which is not of God eventually disappears (perishes).
5. Dig Around It. (v. 8) Jesus calls us to stir up people to awareness of their need to change so that they become productive in God's kingdom.
A. Awareness of Wrongdoing. Sins of commission.
B. Awareness of Not Doing. Sins of omission.
C. Providing Nourishment for Fruitbearing. Resources available from the Holy Spirit, Christian people, scripture, and the church.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. The Revolutionary Impulse. People may be angry about the evils in a society. They may want to change the society or the person whom they hold responsible for the evil. A sense of outrage about particularly heinous crimes or circumstances may make them want to resort to violence.
Jesus could have been outraged at Pilate's actions. He could have joined the Zealots to try to change things. He did not turn to violence to change the Roman government. Neither did he only wait for God to set things right by some dramatic heavenly intervention. Jesus sought to change things by changing people nonviolently.
Persons who are outraged do not have to choose to act violently or do nothing. They can seek to bring people to a transformation which will radically eliminate their evil deeds. Evil is not overcome by evil, but evil is overcome by good according to Jesus.
2. How to Change Society. Persons have several options in seeking to change society in a Christian manner. Some seek to do so by reformation. They try to change the structures of the society from within the system. They seek to make them less violent and more just. Others seek to do it by education. They strive to give people the knowledge, the skills, and the motivation to enable them to improve their and others' conditions. Still others do it by evangelism. They call people to a change of heart and mind. Finally, some are revolutionaries. They enter into the cracks in a system that the reformers, educators, and evangelists bring about. They seek to replace the present structures and systems and bring a new order into being.
Jesus worked at all of these methods. He only rejected evil as a way to do it. He tried to stay within Judaism. He taught people. He called people to repentance and a new life. He sought to replace the corrupt society with the kingdom of God. He only rejected domination and violence as methods he would use.
Persons may be called to work primarily as reformers, as educators, as evangelists, or as true revolutionaries. They can be Christian in so doing if they adopt Jesus' way of doing it, not the ways of Pilate, the Zealots, or the Pharisees.
3. Choice and Decision. All people who come to the age of accountability have choices to make. They can use their perception of self-interest as the basis for their decisions. A recent trend shows that students are no longer entering law school because the field is overcrowded. They have less opportunity in law to earn money. They are opting instead to go into medicine. The opportunities for making money seems better with an aging population who have more medical problems than younger people. The assumption is that the motivation in the change is driven by a desire to make money.
Christians should make their decisions and choices on the basis of God's call to service to others. It is natural to choose on the basis of self-interest. Animals react in that way normally. Christians should not react naturally but should act spiritually. For them the normal decision-making should arise from love of God and neighbor.
Illustrative Materials
1. Major Disasters. A series of disasters in 1995 caused large numbers of deaths and injuries.
January 17, 1995. An earthquake in Kobe, Japan, killed more than 5,000 people.
March 20, 1995. Poison gas was released in five subway cars in Tokyo, Japan. Twelve persons died and 5,500 or more became sick as a result.
April 19, 1995, at 9:05 a.m. The federal building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a bomb. One hundred and sixty- eight people died, among which were nineteen children.
May 29, 1995. An earthquake on the Russian island of Sakhalin left 2,000-3,000 dead.
June 29, 1995. The Sampoung Department store in Seoul, Korea, caved in; 410 died, and 270 were missing though one report stated that 900 were injured.
In all of these, human actions either were a primary factor, as in the Oklahoma City bombing and the Tokyo poison gas attack, or were a factor contributing to higher injuries and death. Shoddy construction to save money was a direct or contributing cause of the injuries and death in several instances. The innocent suffered and the guilty generally escaped the direct consequences of their acts.
2. Worse Sinners. On August 6, 1945, at least 66,000 died directly because of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In Nagasaki at least 39,000 died from another bomb three days later. In Tokyo earlier at least 83,893, and possibly as many as 197,000, died from firestorms caused by more conventional obliteration bombing. Were the people of Tokyo worse sinners than Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Were the Japanese persons who died worse sinners than other Japanese or other people elsewhere?
3. Manure. The gardener dug around the roots and put manure on them to try to make the tree productive. Someone has observed that Christians are like manure. They tend to stink when all piled together. They fertilize when spread around properly.
4. Wasted Gifts. In the summer of 1995 two gifted persons died, partially because of abuse of their bodies. Mickey Mantle, the great Yankee baseball player, died shortly after acknowledging that he wasted the gifts given to him as an athlete. He did so by the excessive use of alcohol. He admonished people not to consider him as a role model.
Jerry Garcia, leader of the popular musical group The Grateful Dead, died relatively young. A major factor in his death was his years of drug abuse that wasted his talents.
5. Wasted Soil. Thousands of cubic feet of topsoil wash down rivers and streams annually because of poor farming methods. State of the World: 1993 (Lester R. Brown et al, eds. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1993, p. 12) reported that farmers around the world are losing about 24 billion tons of topsoil annually.
Acres of farmland are taken out of production each year as they are covered by asphalt and concrete in urban sprawl. At the same time inner-city buildings stand empty and life there deteriorates.
What is the connection between ethical concerns and ecology?
6Then 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. 7So 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?' 8He replied, 'Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. 9If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not you can cut it down.'"
At first reading it may not be apparent as to why the two parts of the passage from Luke are considered together. A question about the wickedness of persons who suffer from accidents leads into a parable about a barren fig tree. A closer examination will show why the two parts belong together and the important distinction Jesus makes in terms of ethical behavior and its outcome.
Jesus is faced with a question about the link between the results of disasters and wickedness. He does not see a direct connection because the consequences to persons in a sense are arbitrary. They happen to the good and evil alike. The deaths or injuries from such events have no ethical connection to the results. They are just random victims of the natural course of events.
Context
Context of the Season
The parable is chosen for a reading during Lent. It is a time of preparation for the crucifixion and points toward the death of Jesus. His death poses the question as to why such a good man suffered such a cruel death. The church could not conceive that he had done anything so bad that he deserved to be executed.
In light of his teachings and the religious tradition of Judaism, some other explanation was needed. The religious resolution of the question about the meaning of his death led inexorably to the conclusion that he died for the sins of others. Only so great a cause was adequate to satisfy the search for some kind of reasonable answer other than a universe where such an event as his death has no meaning.
Lent is a time to reflect on our own behavior and to ask whether we live in such a way as to deserve the offer Jesus makes to each of us. The profundity of the questions this passage raises about death and suffering is appropriate for this season of the church year. Events happening constantly lead to seemingly meaningless suffering. They raise the same kind of issues for people today.
Some questions are most likely to arise during Lent, or at least it is the time to help people search for their own answers to such questions. What kind of meaning do people find in suffering? Does all suffering result directly from our personal sin? Are the sufferings of people a result of the degree of their wickedness? Does some suffering have more significance than others, especially the suffering of those who seem to be innocent?
Context of the Lectionary
The First Lesson. (Isaiah 55:1-9) The prophet offers comfort to the people in the midst of the trials and tribulations of captivity. If they come to God in obedience they may experience the abundant life. Not all the perplexities of life will be fully answered but assurance is given that living in accord with God's will results in a rich life. The prophet points to the mercy and forgiveness of God for those who trust in him to relieve his people of the consequences of past wickedness.
The Second Lesson. (1 Corinthians 10:1-13) Paul is writing to the church at Corinth after he gets a response to an earlier letter. In the previous letter he had rebuked the congregation for its wrong actions. He called for a change of behavior. He now has to defend his methods, for some questioned whether he was more severe when writing from a distance than he would be able to be when present in person. He insists on the integrity between his written words and his words when face to face.
Gospel. (Luke 13:1-9) The reading has two parts. The first speaks to the question of the wickedness of those who died in a slaughter by the Romans and the collapse of a tower. The second is the parable of the barren fig tree that is to be cut down if it produces no fruit.
Psalm. (Psalm 63:1-8) The psalmist is in danger. He looks to God for support. He remembers the power and glory that he felt when he worshiped God in the sanctuary. He rejoices in that memory and finds help in the present situation.
Context of Related Scripture
The fig tree appears in many other accounts in Scripture, both in the Old and New Testaments.
Genesis 3:7 -- Adam and Eve use fig leaves for a covering.
1 Kings 4:25 -- A sign of security is the ability to sit under one's own fig tree.
2 Kings 20:7 -- King Hezekiah uses a cake of figs to cure his boil.
Song of Solomon 3:13 -- The fig tree's blossoming is a sign of spring.
Isaiah 28:4 -- Isaiah uses the image of the summer fig eaten immediately for the transient nature of the leaders of Ephraim.
Matthew 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-14 -- The curse of the fig tree that promised fruit but had none.
Matthew 24:32-35; Mark 13:28-31; Luke 21:29-33 -- Jesus uses the sign of a fig tree putting forth leaves to urge his followers to read more spiritual signs.
John 1:48 -- Nathaniel is called while sitting under a fig tree.
James 3:12 -- A fig tree only produces one kind of fruit. So the character of a person produces only one fruit.
Revelation 6:13 -- The image of a fig tree dropping its winter fruit in a gale is used to describe catastrophic events in end times.
Content
Precis of the Parable
Persons come to Jesus to find out if he thought some Galileans who were killed by Pilate were more wicked than other Galileans. Jesus says they were not and cites another recent instance when eighteen people were killed as the tower of Siloam collapsed on them. He does turn the issue around by warning the people that they will perish if they do not change their behavior. He uses the parable of a barren fig tree to make his point. A man who had planted it wanted to cut it down because it was not productive. His gardener wanted to try to see if he could make it bear fruit by cultivating and fertilizing it. If he was unsuccessful, the tree would be cut down. Jesus says that if people do not repent, they will perish as the fig tree will.
Thesis: Ethical behavior has more meaning for a person's life than accidental suffering.
Theme: Personal decision that leads to a productive life is what determines a person's destiny.
Key Words in the Passage
1. "Galileans Whose Blood Pilate had Mingled." (v. 1) The incident is apparently one where Pilate suspected Galileans of inciting a riot. He feared it would lead to an insurrection and had it brutally suppressed.
2. "Sacrifices." (v. 1) When a large demand was made for sacrifices, the priests sometimes allowed lay persons to assist in the forecourt of the temple. This is why the blood of the Galileans could be mixed with the sacrifices.
3. "Worse Sinners." (v. 2) The Zealots believed in the use of violence to overthrow the Romans. The Pharisees expected God to intervene directly when the people lived in complete obedience to God's law. Therefore they thought that the Galileans must be worse sinners than others because they were identified with the Zealots.
4. "No." (v. 3) Jesus rejected both the Zealots and the Pharisees. They both wanted to bring down the top dog and make the underdog the top dog.
5. "Unless you Repent ... Perish." (v. 3) Jesus called for personal responsibility for change. Unless persons change their character their fate will be to perish.
6. "Tower of Siloam Fell." (v. 4) The Zealots thought those who built the tower of Siloam were collaborators with the Romans. Therefore they must be worse sinners than others. Jesus also rejects that explanation.
7. "A Man had a Fig Tree." (v. 6) The parable has elements of an allegory. God is the owner of the garden. He was the one who had planted his chosen people in Palestine. God expects his people to be fruitful.
8. "For Three Years I have Come." (v. 7) God has worked with the people over a long period of time to look for the results of the planting. The results are disappointing. The chosen people continue to act contrary to God's will.
9. "Cut it Down ... Wasting the Soil." (v. 7) A judgment that the same thing will happen to the Jews in Jesus' day that happened in the disappearance of Israel in the eighth century B.C. and to Judah when taken into captivity.
10. "Dig Around It and Put Manure on It." (v. 8) Jesus has come to make one more attempt to call the people to repentance and to fruitful living in the kingdom of God. He still has hope that the people will respond to his message and that the Jews can be saved from destruction.
11. "If Not, You can Cut It Down." (v. 9) Jesus anticipates the destruction that came to Jerusalem in 70 A.D. It can also apply to individuals as well as to a whole people.
Contemplation
Issues and Insights
1. Jesus and Revolutionaries. The Zealots came from Galilee. They were the revolutionaries who tried to overthrow the Roman occupation by guerrilla warfare. They instigated riots to try to get the people to rise up against the Romans.
The Pharisees also wanted to overthrow the Romans and have the Jews be the government. They, however, expected it to happen by some divine intervention. God would send a Messiah in a display of power and glory similar to that of King David. He would become the anointed ruler whom God would install in office.
Jesus rejected both the methods of the Zealots and hopes of the Pharisees. He announced the coming of the kingdom of God, but it was to come by the change of the people as they acted in accord with the nature of the kingdom. Jesus' method was to call the people to act in a different way. They were to love their enemies, not hate and destroy them. They were to serve the needs of their neighbors, not dominate or rule over them.
Jesus was the true revolutionary. He would not merely change who was on top and who was on the bottom as both the Zealots and the Pharisees intended. He would create a society, a kingdom, where mutuality and support of all persons would be the ruling principle, the fulfillment of all the law and the prophets.
2. Collapsing Civilizations. The world has known about twenty major civilizations in history. Sixteen of them have collapsed. They seem to run a course in which they ascend to power and then decay from within. Then some other power becomes ascendant.
Some people assume that the American civilization will endure forever. Others ask if the signs of decay are already becoming evident. The disparity between the rich and the poor is increasing.
The cynicism of politicians is a sign of a breakdown of democracy. According to some political advisers, presidential candidates have to have a minimum of twenty million dollars to have a chance even to be nominated. A straw vote in Iowa among Republican candidates in the summer of 1995 depended in large part on who could buy enough tickets to give to people who would vote for them. Highly paid lobbyists have a strong influence on who will get tax breaks and government subsidies for special interest groups.
The O. J. Simpson trial shows that the system is subject to corruption when a person has large wealth. The object becomes to win more than to establish truth or justice. Persons can hire enough experts to confuse a lay jury if they have the wealth. A poor person who is innocent or guilty could not put up a defense that can match the resources that a wealthy person can.
The guiding principles of the government are not so much based on justice and righteousness as they are on wealth and power. If we believe that God demands mercy, justice, and righteousness, can a people, a society, a civilization long endure when it no longer seeks to care for the most destitute of its members, for the alien in its midst, for truth and justice in the courts?
3. Is the Universe Mechanistic? The Deists of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries assumed that the world ran on mechanistic laws. God was a creator who established the mechanism and let the world operate like a well-built clock. God only intervened when the mechanism got too far out of order. God did so by miracles.
The people who asked the question about the wickedness of the men slaughtered by Pilate assumed that God was directly responsible for every event. If people were sinners, God would cause them to suffer a disaster. If they were bad, God would use some natural event or someone to punish them. Suffering and unusual circumstances of death were directly attributed to God and were proportionate to the grievousness of the sin.
Jesus had a different view of God than either of these. Nature does act impersonally. Suffering and death are not directly related to God's punishment for sin. The world in which we live has an order to it that God allows to act on its own nature.
Human actions are sometimes contributing causes of suffering and death. The tower of Siloam did not collapse because God wanted to punish the men who died. It probably was a lack of human knowledge or judgment that caused the collapse. It is also possible that shoddy work or corrupt officials may have caused it, so that some human sin may have contributed to the fall. Certainly Pilate had to make some decision in the slaughter of the Galileans.
What distinguishes human beings from other living beings is that they have the ability to act by choice. They do not always simply react according to natural laws. They then become responsible for consequences of their acts. Jesus' understanding is that God seeks to relate to persons who make right choices. The parable shows that Jesus thought God was very patient and forgiving. The owner of the garden was willing to wait three years for the tree to become productive. That was plenty of time.
In the same way God waits and expects people to be productive. When the tree does not produce, it perishes. In like manner, the person who does not produce good works and a society that does not produce justice and righteousness are doomed to perish. Neither has any enduring significance in history. But the action is not an arbitrary action of God or nature. It is a consequence inherent in the actions of the people or the society.
4. The Unproductive Person. It is interesting that Jesus does not condemn the action of Pilate or the Zealots. One would think that a prophet would address the evil of one or both of these parties. Instead he only answers the question about the extent of sin of the victims in such events.
Jesus proceeds to address the question of who will perish. It is the unproductive tree that is to be cut down. By inference it is the unproductive person who will perish. It is not just those who do great evil who are subject to punishment. It is also the persons who do not produce good fruit. It is not enough just to abstain from great evil acts. It is necessary to act fruitfully to escape judgment.
Homily Hints
1. When Disaster Strikes. (vv. 1-5) Questions arise when people are victims of disaster. How does the Christian address such events?
A. No Guilt as a Cause. People wonder if the victims or the survivors have guilt that is real.
B. Natural Disasters not Punitive. Are we being punished for our sins by the disasters or what significance do they have for us?
C. Prepare in Advance. Your decisions before and after are more important than the events themselves. What you do about disasters is more important than what they do to you.
2. Repent or Perish. (v. 5) What does repentance and conversion imply?
A. A Change of Motive. God vs. self-centered orientation.
B. A Change of Attitudes. How do persons feel toward God and neighbors?
C. A Change of Actions. How does the change affect what you do?
3. God is the Gardener. (vv. 6-9)
A. God the Planter. God is the creator.
B. One More Year. God gives his servants the opportunity to make persons and societies productive.
C. The Gardener's Patience Limited. The life that is nonproductive is a waste of the opportunities God provides.
4. God's Economy. (v. 7) God has a purpose for every person and society.
A. Persons to Bear Fruit. What are persons' opportunities in their particular time and place?
B. Societies to Be Fruitful. A society should work for justice and righteousness in its time.
C. Outcome if Not Fruitful. As Gamaliel proposes in Acts 5:39, that which is not of God eventually disappears (perishes).
5. Dig Around It. (v. 8) Jesus calls us to stir up people to awareness of their need to change so that they become productive in God's kingdom.
A. Awareness of Wrongdoing. Sins of commission.
B. Awareness of Not Doing. Sins of omission.
C. Providing Nourishment for Fruitbearing. Resources available from the Holy Spirit, Christian people, scripture, and the church.
Contact
Points of Contact
1. The Revolutionary Impulse. People may be angry about the evils in a society. They may want to change the society or the person whom they hold responsible for the evil. A sense of outrage about particularly heinous crimes or circumstances may make them want to resort to violence.
Jesus could have been outraged at Pilate's actions. He could have joined the Zealots to try to change things. He did not turn to violence to change the Roman government. Neither did he only wait for God to set things right by some dramatic heavenly intervention. Jesus sought to change things by changing people nonviolently.
Persons who are outraged do not have to choose to act violently or do nothing. They can seek to bring people to a transformation which will radically eliminate their evil deeds. Evil is not overcome by evil, but evil is overcome by good according to Jesus.
2. How to Change Society. Persons have several options in seeking to change society in a Christian manner. Some seek to do so by reformation. They try to change the structures of the society from within the system. They seek to make them less violent and more just. Others seek to do it by education. They strive to give people the knowledge, the skills, and the motivation to enable them to improve their and others' conditions. Still others do it by evangelism. They call people to a change of heart and mind. Finally, some are revolutionaries. They enter into the cracks in a system that the reformers, educators, and evangelists bring about. They seek to replace the present structures and systems and bring a new order into being.
Jesus worked at all of these methods. He only rejected evil as a way to do it. He tried to stay within Judaism. He taught people. He called people to repentance and a new life. He sought to replace the corrupt society with the kingdom of God. He only rejected domination and violence as methods he would use.
Persons may be called to work primarily as reformers, as educators, as evangelists, or as true revolutionaries. They can be Christian in so doing if they adopt Jesus' way of doing it, not the ways of Pilate, the Zealots, or the Pharisees.
3. Choice and Decision. All people who come to the age of accountability have choices to make. They can use their perception of self-interest as the basis for their decisions. A recent trend shows that students are no longer entering law school because the field is overcrowded. They have less opportunity in law to earn money. They are opting instead to go into medicine. The opportunities for making money seems better with an aging population who have more medical problems than younger people. The assumption is that the motivation in the change is driven by a desire to make money.
Christians should make their decisions and choices on the basis of God's call to service to others. It is natural to choose on the basis of self-interest. Animals react in that way normally. Christians should not react naturally but should act spiritually. For them the normal decision-making should arise from love of God and neighbor.
Illustrative Materials
1. Major Disasters. A series of disasters in 1995 caused large numbers of deaths and injuries.
January 17, 1995. An earthquake in Kobe, Japan, killed more than 5,000 people.
March 20, 1995. Poison gas was released in five subway cars in Tokyo, Japan. Twelve persons died and 5,500 or more became sick as a result.
April 19, 1995, at 9:05 a.m. The federal building in Oklahoma City was destroyed by a bomb. One hundred and sixty- eight people died, among which were nineteen children.
May 29, 1995. An earthquake on the Russian island of Sakhalin left 2,000-3,000 dead.
June 29, 1995. The Sampoung Department store in Seoul, Korea, caved in; 410 died, and 270 were missing though one report stated that 900 were injured.
In all of these, human actions either were a primary factor, as in the Oklahoma City bombing and the Tokyo poison gas attack, or were a factor contributing to higher injuries and death. Shoddy construction to save money was a direct or contributing cause of the injuries and death in several instances. The innocent suffered and the guilty generally escaped the direct consequences of their acts.
2. Worse Sinners. On August 6, 1945, at least 66,000 died directly because of the dropping of the atomic bomb on Hiroshima. In Nagasaki at least 39,000 died from another bomb three days later. In Tokyo earlier at least 83,893, and possibly as many as 197,000, died from firestorms caused by more conventional obliteration bombing. Were the people of Tokyo worse sinners than Hiroshima and Nagasaki? Were the Japanese persons who died worse sinners than other Japanese or other people elsewhere?
3. Manure. The gardener dug around the roots and put manure on them to try to make the tree productive. Someone has observed that Christians are like manure. They tend to stink when all piled together. They fertilize when spread around properly.
4. Wasted Gifts. In the summer of 1995 two gifted persons died, partially because of abuse of their bodies. Mickey Mantle, the great Yankee baseball player, died shortly after acknowledging that he wasted the gifts given to him as an athlete. He did so by the excessive use of alcohol. He admonished people not to consider him as a role model.
Jerry Garcia, leader of the popular musical group The Grateful Dead, died relatively young. A major factor in his death was his years of drug abuse that wasted his talents.
5. Wasted Soil. Thousands of cubic feet of topsoil wash down rivers and streams annually because of poor farming methods. State of the World: 1993 (Lester R. Brown et al, eds. New York: W. W. Norton & Co., 1993, p. 12) reported that farmers around the world are losing about 24 billion tons of topsoil annually.
Acres of farmland are taken out of production each year as they are covered by asphalt and concrete in urban sprawl. At the same time inner-city buildings stand empty and life there deteriorates.
What is the connection between ethical concerns and ecology?
