Luke 13:6-9--The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

Luke 13:6-9
English Standard Version
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The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”

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We're still talking about the coming judgment, but now instead of talking about how individuals will be judged, Jesus switches things up and talks about what condition the nation of Israel will be in when He returns as king.  Do they imagine somehow they will escape judgment as a nation because they are the people of God?  We know that this was their expectation, but Jesus takes the symbol of the fig tree that represents Israel and says that they are like a fig tree that was planted in a vineyard that when it was time for harvest, it was fruitless.

Jesus has had three years of earthly ministry, so it's no mistake that the harvester (that is Jesus) in this parable tells the vinedresser (that is God the Father) about three years that he has come seeking fruit on this fig tree (that is the nation of Israel) and found none.  What does the vinedresser do?

The vinedresser commands that nothing be done to it this year (judgment is not to come upon the nation of Israel at this time, even though they deserve it right now), but that next year, the vinedresser would dig around it and put manure around the tree to fertilize it and encourage it to grow (this is probably talking about the fulfillment of the gospel, the coming of the Holy Spirit upon the Jewish people as a whole at Pentecost, and the birth of the Church out of what was the nation of Israel, for the gospel went to the Jews first, and then to the Gentiles after that).  The vinedresser said that if the tree representing the nation of Israel still remained unfruitful after all this time and energy, then the harvester could cut it down.

We see that God will save a remnant from the nation of Israel as well as from among the nations.  He has not given up on them, which is what this parable tells us.  While Jesus may portray Himself as the one calling for their judgment here, we know that He's going to cry over the coming judgment of Jerusalem when He enters the city in just a short period of time.  Jesus gets no pleasure out of the judgment that He must execute.  He has been patient for these three years when they had all the evidence they needed.  Some will believe after the Resurrection when all is made clear to them by the Father, but many continue to love their old wine in their old wineskins because it is comfortable to them and tastes better to them and they don't want the "new wine" of the New Covenant when they think the "old wine" of the Old Covenant is good enough.  We see that it is not just Jesus that had a heart for the salvation of Israel but so did the apostles and even Paul who was the apostle to the Gentiles desired much like Moses did that he would be accursed so that all of Israel might be saved.  God refused Paul's request just like He refused Moses' request for the guilty cannot give themselves to save the guilty, only the innocent can give themselves to save the guilty, but that's exactly what Jesus was going to do to save not only the nation of Israel, but all those, even from among the Gentile nations, who would come to Him by faith and be "in Christ" instead of "in Adam."

Those who are "in Christ" must be alive and fruitful.  We see that here and we see that in the epistles of the New Testament.  Jesus also comes across another fig tree that we read about in the book of Matthew and other places that has lots of leaves and has the appearance of being alive, but has no fruit, nor even the bud to show that fruit was forming.  Jesus curses this fig tree and it withers up and dies as a symbol of what will eventually happen not only to the nation of Israel but all those who appear to have a form of godliness, but they have no genuine faith in the finished work of Jesus and therefore there is no real fruit of the Holy Spirit and the work of the gospel in their lives . The disciples were astonished when they saw this (see Matthew 21 and Mark 11) and Jesus tells them that they too will do even greater things if they have even a mustard-seed sized faith.

Jesus also uses the fig tree as an example of being able to understand the times and know that the return of Christ is imminent in Matthew 24, Mark 13 and Luke 21--we'll hopefully get to that passage soon).  So then we too would be wise to learn these lessons from the fig tree, even though we may not be a part of ethnic Israel if we claim to be the people of God.  Those who claim to be part of God's chosen people, even if we claim that choice is through adoption, must be alive and fruitful when Jesus comes to inspect us and collect a harvest from us.  Those who are without fruit, even if they have the appearance of being spiritually alive are as good as spiritually dead (see those in Matthew 7 that point to their works that would sound impressive to most and Jesus replies with "I never knew you.")  Examine yourselves as we are encouraged to do in the book of 1 John to make sure that your faith is genuine and know for certain that you have eternal life.  Figure it out today because you are not guaranteed tomorrow.