3-11-22 - The Soil, Not the Tree

You can listen to this reflection here.

My congregations are doing a worship series this year, Lent: A Season For Growing, which explores trees as a metaphor for spiritual growth. Many Sundays we are deviating from the lectionary. On those weeks, Friday’s Water Daily will focus on my chosen gospel reading. This week that is a short parable Jesus told about an unfruitful fig tree. (Ironically, this passage is in the lectionary for March 20, and will occupy much of Water Daily next week). Here's the story:

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the gardener, “See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, “Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig round it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.”

Is this story a warning or a promise – or both? Why are we talking about a fig tree in a vineyard? Is that where fig trees thrive best, or is its unfruitfulness due to its environment?

Let’s look at the owner of this vineyard: he is interested in results. He is not without patience – he’s watched this tree for three years – but eventually he wants some return on his investment or to cut his losses. (Or his tree, as the case may be.) Why not just “live and let live?” Because this tree is wasting the soil, taking nutrients away from other more viable plants. Is this owner Jesus, wanting his followers to bear fruit, impatient when they can’t seem to comprehend his teaching and dwell in the realm of God he's introduced?

What does the tree represent? Churches that are no longer fruitful, taking up common resources that could be better invested in worshipping communities with life and energy? Is it us, when we are “going through the motions” of a faith life, and not really opening ourselves to the life of God?

Or – is it not about the tree at all, but about its soil? The wise gardener proposes a phased approach: give it one more year, during which more attention can be paid to the soil – “let me dig round it and put manure on it.” Perhaps the poor tree is root-bound and needs its soil aerated so that it gets more light and water. Perhaps there is disease in the mychorrhizae surrounding the roots – the fungi, lichens, mosses and other organisms connecting the tree to a vast network of life. Perhaps it needs extra nutrients that the manure might provide.

Do you know people who are “unfruitful fig trees?” Maybe parts of yourself? The work of spiritual growth is that of soil-tending, making sure our roots are sunk deep into rich humus, with access to the water of life, well connected in a web of mutual giving and receiving. What would “digging around” look like for you? What would serve as manure? Give these questions some thought and prayer.

Is this story a warning or a promise – or both? Let’s take it as an invitation to stay intentional about our spiritual lives, focused on growing in faith and love and grace. Jesus offers some hope for this tree’s survival. Tend the soil, and you just may get a bumper crop of figs, even in a vineyard.

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