The Patience of God in Christ
The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree
In today’s Gospel reading, we hear one of Jesus’s wise parables and as always, there is a valuable lesson to learn; one of patience. A familiar joke shared in Lutheran circles goes like this, “Lord, grant me patience and please do it now”.
Our sinful flesh craves instant gratification and the society we live in only encourages it. For many of us, patience is a skill we need to hone. Fortunately, God’s patience is perfect. He is both the owner of the vineyard who can’t tolerate a tree with no fruit and also the vinedresser who wants to give it one last season to turn itself around.
This parable comes as the reply to the age-old question of “why do bad things happen to good people?” Well, it turns out that it’s because there are no good people! Instead of questioning, we should all be thankful for His patience in the face of our rebellion.
This “one last season” is a time of grace for all to repent.
Thanks be to God for his gift of forgiveness and eternal life!
Today’s sermon is based on these passages from Luke 13:
6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
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