Luke 13: 6-9 The Purpose of A Fig Tree Parable

Luke 13:6-9

6  And He began telling this parable: “A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. 7 And he said to the vineyard-keeper, ‘Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered and said to him, ‘Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.’”

The fig tree parable is a short story of Jesus explaining the Lord God love, patience, mercy and judgement. Jesus uses agriculture in His parables several times, and this is one of them. Everything God created serves a purpose, even fig trees. On the third day of creation, God made vegetation, planets that yield fruit with seeds, so that it could reproduce.

Genesis 1:11 Then God said, “Let the earth sprout vegetation, plants yielding seed, and fruit trees on the earth bearing fruit after their kind with seed in them”; and it was so. 12 The earth brought forth vegetation, plants yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit with seed in them, after their kind; and God saw that it was good.

 Nature does the will of God, because He designed it that way, to serve His purpose. When a hungry animal eats a fig and spits the seed out, and the seed will produce a whole new fig tree. The fig tree parable tells the followers of the Lord, God is like a farmer, who plants a fig tree. It could be for many purposes, for him and his family to enjoy when bears fruit, to feed his livestock, or gain income off of and feed others. Jesus tells us in the parable, the man checked on the fig tree a few years in row and it never produced any fruit. Now the farmer is like the Lord, if a tree goes a season with bearing any fruit, then he gives it some grace. But as I said, the farmer and the Lord have a purpose for everything and most farmers are a waste not, want not man. The farmer’s whole property has value, he put time in planting the fig tree’s see. The soil is full of minerals, he irrigates the tree with good water, and the Lord’s bright sun gives it energy to go. If the farmers see the fig tree, not producing anything, it is just barren, dead and taking up valuable  time and land. So he removes the tree, burns it and uses the ashes as fertilizer, cause every farmer knows dead wastes push up daisies as they commonly say. You and I were made with a purpose, just like the fig tree, a Christian should know this fact, especially if we take in our daily bread.

Psalm 150:6 Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord!

Now there are plenty of people who worship the Lord and praise Jesus’ name, but that is all there is to being a follower of the Lord, and treat Him like a good farmer that produces good productive fruit. Being a church member means more the pew warmers, or being a Christian means more having good behavior .Your duty as a Christian is to tell others of what He has done for you, and make sure your fruits  reflect His glory.

Matthew 12:32-34  Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit,  it shall not be forgiven him, either in this age or in the age to come. 33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad; for the tree is known by its fruit.

We all know the Lord is full of love and grace, plenty of us had bad seasons and didn’t produce good fruit. But scripture says there will be a time, when His grace is over and burned now, those who produce bad fruit or whose actions are dead and barren.  If He looks on you and calls you good, He will reward you for your good fruit. My dear brothers and sisters, please don’t stay in a bad season, ask Him to help you go. If  you truly surrender to Him and be like a seed, let His rain and light to nature you, into a lovely fruit producing fig tree. God bless you all, the Lord loves you and so do I. Samuel H

John 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, “The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. 24 Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. 25 He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal.