Fig Tree

Sunday Reflection, Lent III – March 20, 2022

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Turn Back to God

Luke 13 About this same time Jesus was told that Pilate had given orders for some people from Galilee to be killed while they were offering sacrifices. 2 Jesus replied:

Do you think that these people were worse sinners than everyone else in Galilee just because of what happened to them? 3 Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don’t turn back to God, every one of you will also be killed. 4 What about those eighteen people who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them? Do you think they were worse than everyone else in Jerusalem? 5 Not at all! But you can be sure that if you don’t turn back to God, every one of you will also die.

A Story about a Fig Tree

6 Jesus then told them this story:

A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. One day he went out to pick some figs, but he didn’t find any. 7 So he said to the gardener, “For three years I have come looking for figs on this tree, and I haven’t found any yet. Chop it down! Why should it take up space?”

8 The gardener answered, “Master, leave it for another year. I’ll dig around it and put some manure on it to make it grow. 9 Maybe it will have figs on it next year. If it doesn’t, you can have it cut down.”

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Story of the Fig Tree (March 20th)

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Read Luke 13:1-9 with your family.

Jesus talked about two bad things that happened to the Hebrew people and reminded his followers that bad things did not happen to them because they were bad people. God does not hurt people who make bad choices. A lot of people in Bible times thought that, and some people today still think that, but that is not how God treats us.

For us to understand God better and to know that God only wants good things for us, we have to spend time learning more about God. That is the second part of this reading: the story of the fig tree.

Jesus used the fig tree story to show us that just because we go to church, attend Sunday school, and look like we are doing all the right things, that does not mean that deep down we are working to understand God. Just like the farmer who just assumed the fig tree would grow on its own without help, that’s what we often assume about people in church.

We have to try harder, pray more, do good things for others like Jesus taught us. Those are the ways to understand God, and we all have to do that work, children and grown-ups, just like the farmer had to work to make the fig tree produce good fruit.