Fig Tree Mercy

"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, NRSV]

As we listen this parable Jesus told, we must be careful not to equate God with the man who had a fig tree and Jesus as the gardner. Instead, we need to think of this parable as debate between judgment and mercy. The easy path to walk in this story would be to simply cut the tree down. Likewise, in life, we are tempted to walk away from tasks and people whom we find difficult. Judgment is always an easy thing to do. It takes very little effort on our part.

The harder path to walk is to care for the tree. This means we will have to work hard. We will have to endure a little manure under our fingernails and wait in hopeful expectation for fruit that may or may not come. Mercy is like that. It is a much more difficult thing to do than we could ever anticipate. It take lots of sweat and toil with no guarantee of success or reward.

Consider for a few minutes the trees God has planted in your life. They may be people or places. They may be dreams or projects. Which ones have been giving you a hard time lately? Which ones have you been tempted to chop down and walk away from? Perhaps with a little more tender care, these barren trees just might produce some fruit. The questions is, are we willing to be patient enough for this to happen?