Introduction
This week’s text launches us right into the heart of very human dynamics and theodicy.
Jesus is confronted by a crowd who is asking him about two tragedies that have occurred in the past. And the crowd is wondering if these tragedies occurred because those people were sinful. And Jesus tells the crowd that they should focus on their own repentance and their own relationship with God rather than pointing the finger or worrying about everyone else’s sins.
And then Jesus launches into one of his parables (which happens most often in the Gospel of Luke).
The Traditional Parable
We can treat this like other parables and look at it from all the angles.
Have you been the landowner?
Have you been a business owner, where you’ve had to make job cuts knowing that you need more production or balanced revenue sooner rather than later?
Have you been the gardener?
Maybe you’re a teacher that has given students countless opportunities to thrive but even so, they can’t get their act together.
Have you been the tree?
The tree that doesn’t even know if you’ve produced fruit. Maybe being in a season of drought or wilderness where you just don’t have enough resources or energy to thrive.
Each of us can look at this parable and identify with it in a different way. It’s one of the reasons that Jesus teaching in parables is so effective. Because ultimately, at any point in our life, there is something to learn from them. And being in a different portion of our life, we may learn something completely different than before.
On the surface, this parable is relatively easy. Even though we may not know exactly what Jesus meant, we can point to grace as the culmination of this text. “Give me one more year” the gardener says. It opens up a world of possibilities for us to see grace in this world. For ourselves, for others, time for us to do better with creation.
But just as we get comfy and cozy with this grace-filled message, we can also ask an odd question: Why on earth is a fig tree planted in a vineyard?
The Vineyard Fig Tree
This, my friends, is why Jesus’ parables are so brilliant. Because if you look back in the Bible, this is desired image of scripture.
In 1st Kings 4:25 “During Solomon’s lifetime Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beer-sheba, all of them under their vines and fig trees.”
In Zechariah 3:10, “On that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree.”
In Micah 4:4, “all will sit under their own vines and fig trees, and no one shall make them afraid.”
A fig tree in a vineyard in scripture means safety, home, and comfort. It is a place of flourishing and abundance. And so, a healthy fig tree in a healthy vineyard would mean a paradise. A place of community flourishing and sharing. The community of the plants (vines and figs) and also from Zechariah 3:10, the community of people inviting one another to each other’s homes.
And so, in Jesus’ imagery here, there is then a threat to this image of paradise. An axe lies at the root of this tree. The image of comfort and abundance are in jeopardy. The promise of communal peace and prosperity is at risk of being lost.
But wasn’t it already? The tree itself wasn’t bearing any fruit. All indications are that this landowner has been here multiple times and each time there is no fruit. This tree is a drain on resources, time, and attention. It drains hope standing there in its barrenness. Wouldn’t it be better if it were just cut down and discarded?
And yet, the gardener says, “Give me one more year.”
Let’s jump into preaching possibilities and see where this goes.
Preaching Possibilities
Dream Theory
Jesus tells this parable in response to a complicated question from this crowd. Do bad things happen to bad people because they deserve it?
To that question Jesus says “no,” and that they should worry about their own repentance. And then he tells this parable. Jesus is pointing the crowd to look at their own spiritual lives, their own repentance, their own relationship with God and one another.
There’s an interesting concept in dream theory, that every character in a dream actually represents yourself. There’s a similar theory about parables. Every character in a parable can represent ourselves. And I think that may be a helpful way to hear this parable.
When we begin asking questions about whether others deserve to be punished, or why do bad things happen to good people, oftentimes we are asking out of concern for ourselves. We are concerned about our own life. About our own mortality. About our own salvation. Jesus turns it right back around on these folks, on us, and gives us hope.
What if we aren’t bearing good fruit? The gardener responds, “Give me one more year.”
While we work in finite timelines, God doesn’t. While we may want to call people lost causes, God never does.
The Gospel of Luke is the Gospel of the outcast, the sinner, the poor, the poor and the oppressed. So many of whom we write-off and discard in society. They are the drains on the system. They are the ones that require too much. Let’s cast them off.
But the gardener stays the hand with the axe.
The Work of the Gardener
The gardener doesn’t just ask for more time, they commit to action. “Let me dig around it and put manure on it.” This isn’t passive patience. It’s an investment.
Think about that image. Digging around the roots, disrupting the hardened soil, getting hands dirty, and covering everything with manure. That’s not a pleasant or easy process. But growth doesn’t come from comfort. It comes from disruption, nourishment, and time.
Maybe this is what Jesus is getting at when he tells the crowd to focus on their own repentance. Repentance isn’t just about feeling sorry or avoiding accountability. It’s about turning, changing, preparing the soil of our lives for something new to grow.
What does it look like for us to be gardeners in our own spiritual lives? Where do we need to dig deep, loosen the hardened ground, and create space for growth? Where do we need nourishment, even if it comes in unexpected (or messy) forms?
Similarly, it’s about helping others before we cast them off as worthless or unimportant.
What does it look like to be gardeners for others? Who in our communities have been written off as barren, as hopeless? Who needs someone to step in, to advocate, to work for their flourishing?
The Gospel in the Waiting
We never find out what happens to the fig tree. Does it bear fruit? Does it get cut down? Jesus leaves that question hanging because the point is not the outcome, it’s the grace in the waiting.
God is not in the business of quick judgment. God is in the business of patience, nurture, and second chances. That’s good news for us. And it’s a challenge for us, because we’re called to extend that same grace to others.
Maybe repentance is less about avoiding destruction and more about stepping into the work of tending and growing. Maybe Jesus is inviting us to see the world as the gardener does. Not as something to discard when it doesn’t meet expectations, but as something worth investing in, worth working for, worth another year.
Micah Krey 
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