Are You Bearing Fruit?
One
The Parable
In Luke 13, Jesus tells a parable with three characters: an owner, a gardener, and a fig tree. And He told them this parable, “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. [So] cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ The gardener said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not, you can cut it down.’”
The owner is disappointed with his fig tree because it’s not bearing fruit, so he wants to cut it down. The gardener pleads for the tree to have more time, but if it doesn’t bear fruit after that, it will be cut down. So what does it mean?
Two
The Fruitless Israel
On the one hand, Israel is the fig tree. It’s God’s special plant, special vine, special tree. For a long, long time, God gave this tree special care, preparing it for fruitfulness. And then the time came: Christ appeared in Judea, ready to gather the spiritual fruits that had been prepared by that people’s long cultivation. But instead, he was met mostly by barrenness. With a few notable exceptions, the bulk of the chosen people did not bear the fruit of faith in the Messiah. Even after three years of Christ’s public ministry.
Now the owner of the Fig Tree, God the Father, says, “It’s time for this tree to go.” And Christ, the Gardener, pleads for just a little more time. Maybe His death and resurrection will convert the nation? Maybe power of the Spirit’s coming at Jerusalem will finally prompt Jerusalem to come over to the gospel wholesale? So, a little more time is given to Judah. One more year. One more generation.
But no. It remains largely fruitless. And in 70 AD, the tree of Israel is cut down by the Romans and most of the Jews were removed. Only the stump of the tree remained. A faithful remnant of Israel gathered around Jesus, Mary, the Apostles, and the first disciples, and this remnant became the beginning of the Catholic Church.
Then something new happened: the Gentiles were grafted in. The Catholic Church is Israel renewed and expanded, made up of faithful Jews and faithful Gentiles united in Christ. As Paul explains, the Gentiles are like wild branches grafted onto Israel’s olive tree. The root remains the same, but the tree now grows to include all nations.
So, the parable of the fig tree isn’t just about Israel. It’s about the Catholic Church; it is about us. Are we bearing the fruit God expects?
Three
Will We Bear Fruit?
We have been put into the world to bear much fruit: the fruits of the Spirit, “love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Gal 5:22-23). As well as all the virtues that make up holiness: Fatih, Hope, Love, prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance and so on.
God has made us for that, and Christ is the Gardener, who expended all his effort, to the point of shedding His blood, so that we could flourish and bloom in those virtues. And if we don’t bear fruit, then we’re like that fig tree: God is going to order us to be uprooted, since there’s no point in letting us take up space on earth when we’re not doing any good.
When are we supposed to be bearing such fruits? Now. All the time. Not just in old age, or when we feel inspired. Now. Do you remember when Jesus goes to a fig tree that doesn’t have any fruits? He curses that fig tree, and it withers and dies (Mark 11).
Now what’s interesting about that is that St. Mark tells us that it wasn’t the season for figs (v. 13). So why did Jeus curse the tree?
Probably, he did it as a sign for us to remember, it’s always the season for us to be bearing the fruits of holiness. We can’t wait and say, “I’ll get holy later, now’s not the time.”
There was no later for that fig tree, and there might not be any later for us. The Lord of the Garden might visit us at any moment, and He’ll want to see what we have to show for all the investment He’s put into us. Now is the time. Now is definitely the time to make sure we’re bearing the good fruit of righteousness.
Four
Fertilizer
Did you notice in the parable given by Jesus that the Gardener says, “Sir, leave it for this year also, and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.”
As we said, we have been put in this world to bear much fruit. To help us do this, God will put fertilizer, or shall we say manure on our lives so that we will bear more fruit. Now we all know that plants can’t bear fruit unless they have fertilizer, or manure spread over them. So when the Lord allows manure into your life, don’t be angry or discouraged and don’t give up. The Gardener knows what we need so that we can bear much fruit. It may feel kind of “crappy” now, forgive the pun, but when this life if over and we are in eternity we will thank the Gardener for the fertilizer that helped us bear the fruit of holiness and to help many many souls to conversion and heaven.
Five
The Gardener: Praying for Time
Notice a final aspect of the parable: the Gardener prays for more time. Every year, every day and hour and minute, is another chance for conversion, another chance to grow in virtue, one more chance to help others to God. When our time is up, our opportunity is up too. But Jesus intercedes for us, to ask God to give us more time. This is what we have to do, not only for ourselves, but for those we love. We have to ask God to give them more time.
Think of the person closest to you who is far from God. Who has not yielded the fruits of faith and holiness. Pray to God for mercy for that person. Pray for God for time to be given to that person. Because all it takes is a little time. When the power of God’s grace finds just a crack of openness in the human heart, then it doesn’t take much. Things can turn on a dime.
It will not take much to turn a lost soul into a saint, just never stop praying that God keeps sending His grace, and grants the mercy of more time.