Daily Reflections ...

In today’s gospel parable, if we are the fig tree and Jesus is the gardener, interceding for us, does that mean that God the Father is like the vineyard owner, demanding fruit, or we get the chop?

Well, maybe. Maybe we need a ‘kick in the pants’ from time to time to remind us that life isn’t a game, that we are all called to bear fruit for the Kingdom. But if our motives are fear-based then this can perpetuate not only a fearful attitude towards God, but also an ‘us and them’ mentality—we want to be in the fruitful group and not among those that are cut down.

But that’s not Jesus’ view. We know this because he has just been denying that some people are more deserving of condemnation than others! The Galileans killed by Pilate, the victims of the tower collapse, they were no different than the rest of us. This world is a dangerous place and we human beings are a violent lot, when all is said and done. It’s with this clear understanding that Jesus says, ‘unless you repent, you will all perish’. Unless we change our ways, we will bring about our own destruction.

And now the parable makes sense. Fruitless trees are cut down, in this life, because here it’s always a zero-sum game: provide a decent return on investment or expect to get the chop. But this isn’t—this can’t be—the logic of the Kingdom, which is grounded in the love of God. It’s that love which should motivate us to bear fruit, not the threat of the axe. It’s that mercy that draws us to cultivate the same love in others, that they might be fruitful, too.

By Chad Hargrave