Thursday 4 July 2024
"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?'" (v. 7)
Background
It’s just possible that this is a very suitable reading for the day of a general election! Let me explain…
From time to time, governments change. We see it in the Bible when King Saul has stayed too long in the job and is not ruling as God intends – to the extent that God regrets ever having him anointed (1 Samuel 15:11). God chooses another king – David – and Samuel anoints him secretly (1 Samuel 16), promising that one day David would take the throne. It still took another 15 difficult years or so for that to be fulfilled (2 Samuel 5).
When God calls and anoints people or organisations (ministers, churches, or governments), there’s an expectation that they will be fruitful and faithful to their calling and the responsibilities they bear. When they are not, there can be pruning (as Jesus indicates in John 15), or even removal altogether. Sometimes this can be painful and drawn-out, but eventually it will end.
Now, the fig tree is a controversial image – a provocative metaphor. It’s an image Jesus chose on many occasions. He even cursed one, so that it withered and died, in an enacted parable in Mark 11 and Matthew 21.
In the writings of the prophets, figs and fig trees were used to represent God’s people Israel: faithful Israel being the good figs and the misleading treacherous rulers being the bad. We can see this in Jeremiah 24, for example. In Micah 4, we get a vision of a peaceful future under the hoped-for Messiah. Everyone sitting under their own fig tree (v. 4) is a symbol of God’s people prospering and flourishing. It’s worth reading this whole chapter and comparing it to the governments of this world. When Jesus meets Nathanael in John 1:43-51, he comments on him being "an Israelite in whom there is no deceit", and notes that he saw him "under the fig tree". Nathanael would know that this was an image of being at peace with God.
So, Jesus wasn’t talking about the fate of all Israel, or expressing any ill-feeling towards Jewish people. Jesus knew that figs (like all of us) can be good or bad. Fig trees can be fruitful or fruitless. People of any faith or culture can be pulling in God’s direction or pulling against. God in the Bible is critical of those ‘inside’ and ‘outside’, at different times. Despite many people naturally taking offence at Jesus’ words, he meant them as a sincere and loving warning: failure is inevitable if you constantly pull away from God, or follow leaders who are intent on destruction.
Biblical words that have often been used in a hurtful or damning way against a whole people or nation were usually truly originally aimed at the leaders or governments. God has high standards for those who represent his people. In this parable, the fig tree is given more time. Even in judgement, there can be grace and time to make amends. But, sometimes, things have to change.
To Ponder:
- In our churches, or in society, do we get the balance right between judgement and grace?
- In a relationship, how would you know when to give someone more time or another chance, or when to bring it to an end?
- How can followers of Jesus in a democracy make decisions about who to vote for, or how politically active to be? What visions or ideals guide us?
Bible notes author: The Revd Andrew Murphy
A Methodist presbyter in the East Mercia Circuit, Andrew is currently the minister of the churches of Harborough, Kibworth and Daventry. Married to Emily, with two children, aged eight and ten, he has been in the ministry for 16 years, previously serving in the Hinckley Circuit. He trained at the Wesley Study Centre in Durham, is a published hymnwriter, supports Newcastle United FC, and is proud of his roots in Consett, County Durham.