A lesson from the fig tree Luke 13:1-9

I encourage you to take a couple of minutes to read the relevant section of Luke’s Gospel before reading on. (Click on the link below to see the text)
Luke 13:1-9       Gospel Reading for Sunday March 7th 2010

Well? What did you make of that?

My first thoughts were … how on earth am I going to make any sense out of this and be able to write anything of value as a response? Maybe we can make sense of the latter fig tree section, but what about the first five verses? There does not seem to be any Gospel in those words. Such is the bizarre nature of this reading, that rather than just make interesting observations, I feel it calls for an attempt to bring the whole reading into some form of understandable context.

Maybe the clue lies in the opening words “about this time” which suggest that it is not possible to understand the strange opening to Chapter 13 without reading it as a continuation of the previous chapter/s. A quick browse of Chapter 12 might initially lead us to think that the mystery only deepens. Broadly speaking however, there is a central theme of worldly things, sin, punishment, judgment and the Lord coming at an unknown time when we least expect Him, emerging across the two chapters. In particular though, Jesus is dealing with the popular misconception of the time, that bad things happen to people because of some sin that they have committed. Perhaps He is also conversely saying to the people … don’t go basking in your self-righteousness just because nothing bad has happened to you.

Enter the fig tree! (The first time through I missed the fact that the fig tree is planted in the vineyard! The fig tree itself is evidently symbolic of the Israeli people, so there is a lot of imagery tied up in that.) The strange discourse leading up to the fig tree parable is a classic illustration of Jesus in action as the master teacher, but it also prompts us to give credit to the inspired, clever technique of Luke the Gospel writer. In a way, Jesus has been highlighting the futility of the Old Testament model of operating, as a preamble to ushering in the largely foreign concept of GRACE, which is surely present in this fig tree story. Perhaps this also gives us a glimpse of the grace parables to come, notably the Lost Son, just around the corner in Luke 15.

While there is a strong use of the word repent, do we see here the beginning of a shift in what it means? In the Old Testament, REPENT =change the way that you live your life, turn back to God, so that God will forgive you and reward you. It seems that the fig tree parable in the light of grace, starts to subtly redefine what it means to REPENT, as simply the act of placing our trust in Jesus and responding with a changed life as evidence that we have “repented”. Under the new deal (Testament), God’s grace negates the need for repentance in the O.T sense of the word. Is that reading too much into this story? Personally I don’t think so, since we note in the parable of the prodigal that follows soon after, that although the younger son has something in his mind, he never gets to spit out his repentance plan before being unconditionally received by the Father!

So the message to us in Lutheran Schools hidden away in this passage is one of most profound significance … a reminder of what I have come to call CORE PROPOSITION 1 for what it means to be a Lutheran School in the 21st Century. A Lutheran School is a place where GRACE abounds. The word grace only has meaning if GOD is wrapped up in the word. As spiritual leaders we need to make sure that every staff member has an opportunity to fully know and apply the meaning of that word, after the manner of the God of Grace as revealed to us in the parable of the Lost Son. We show people Jesus, when we model grace consistently within our school community.

Nev