Saturday of the 29th Week in Ordinary Time

Luke 13:1-9

Some people told Jesus about the Galileans
whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices.
He said to them in reply,
“Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way
they were greater sinners than all other Galileans?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!
Or those eighteen people who were killed
when the tower at Siloam fell on them–
do you think they were more guilty
than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem?
By no means!
But I tell you, if you do not repent,
you will all perish as they did!”

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?’
He 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.’”

What strike me are the two persons presented in the parable:  the owner  of the garden and the gardener.  The owner wants to cut down the fig tree, and he certainly has a reason to:  After all, three years is a long time to wait for a fig tree to produce fruit.  The “owner,”  in my mind, represents the image of God possessed by those people Jesus is addressing.  The listeners believe that the bad things that happen to people are a punishment from God because of the sinfulness of those people.

Whether or not that is true—I do not believe it is— the main point is not the sinfulness of those people but the  image of God possessed by those who approached Jesus.  They see God as someone ready to punish, ready to inflict pain and suffering if His will is not followed or His love and grace are squandered.  God will “cut down” the person who guilty of sin, making him or her suffer for it.  He is not patient with those who do not follow His laws.

This is in contrast to what Jesus is telling those who approached him.  His parable presents another image of God:  that of the gardener.  The gardener also sees that the fig tree has produced no fruit for three years, and he know s that this is a long time.  Still, he asks for one more year, and  will pay close attention to the care he gives to the fig tree.  The gardener will take extra measures to help the fig tree produce fruit; all he asks in return.

Even the gardener, though, recognizes that there is a limit to what he can do, and he tells the owner that he may cut down the tree if there is no fruit after that year.  Notice who has the last word.  The gardener has won the argument, and he has won the right to care for tree, to help it grow and mature, just as Jesus  desires to nourish us, to care for us, to save us.  This is the image of God that Jesus is trying to present to his listeners.

That brings us to a question:  Which image of God do we have?  Which image is the one we live out of?  Is God an ogre, waiting to punish us, or is God someone who cares for us and helps us to live better lives?  It is our decision to  make and ours alone.  No one can tell us how we are to view God, but it is not hard to see that the image of God we have will affect everything we say, hear, think, and do.