Luke 13:6-9 You can read the passage here if you don’t have a Bible nearby: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke%2013%3A6-9&version=NLT
If you’re more of a video person, here’s the link to this post on you tube: https://youtu.be/6tfrl0XX6IE
Since we have just been talking about God’s judgement I’m really thankful this little parable pops up. Judgement comes for everyone at the end of their lives, but God really isn’t rushing to get there. He wants to keep providing opportunities for us to repent and believe him. I love the metaphor of a fruit tree because I have been trying to grow an apple orchard for just over three years now. Believe me when I say I can truly relate to the guy who says, I’ve been waiting for three years for fruit and there’s nothing. Cut it down!
I personally have battled apple rusts, leaf curlers, fungus and rose chafer beetles to name a few. I’m telling you, growing apples organically is not for the faint of heart. My apple trees, who have now seen four springs, have so far produced…drum roll please…nuthin! I have seen blossoms on three or four of my one hundred trees since they were planted. I have not lost hope. This spring has not really begun for my precious little sticks. If they blossom, you can bet my posts will be FULL of it!
But the work I have put into these sad little sticks is crazy. First, I had to plant them all by hand because it’s a tiny orchard (101 trees). I don’t have equipment for that. I have had to weed around them because, who knew, grass and other growth should not touch the trunk or it can encourage fungal disease. I have sprayed them with horrifying smelling “organic” potions out of a back pack with tortuous straps that concentrate the weight of all 5 gallons onto one square inch of each shoulder. (Pro-tip stand upwind while spraying) I have pruned in the dead of winter falling through thigh high snow at each step. And, bless my hubby and kids who can drive our mower without threatening the health and well-being of any and all bystanders, the grass between my trees which are spaced at 15 feet apart in each direction has been kept short also for the protection of the trees. So when fig-tree-man walks by and says, “Just cut that thing down. It’s useless” I get it. I really get it. He figures today is as good a day as any for judgment day. But the gardener says, “Let’s give it another year. I think with a little more manure, maybe aerating the roots a little, this can be a healthy productive tree.”
I’m thankful our God is like the gardener. He’s willing to dig us up a little, loosen the roots, feed us a little more fertilizer, trim off some of that dead stuff that is just sapping our energy, whatever gives us one more chance to repent and trust him with our lives. Because judgement day is coming. We are all guilty and deserve punishment. So on that day, we will either be condemned to take the punishment for our many sins, or our judgement will be placed on the account of Jesus – who already suffered for it, who paid it in full so we wouldn’t have to.
If you happen to be one of the people I love who hasn’t yet decided to trust God with your life, it’s not too late. If you happen to be someone I don’t even know who hasn’t yet decided to trust God with your life, it’s not too late. But one day it will be. If you woke up today, that’s all the evidence you need that God the gardener hasn’t given up on you. He wants to keep fertilizing, nurturing, pruning, offering you another opportunity.
But in this life, no one lives forever. Please keep considering the claims of Jesus. Keep exploring. I am absolutely convinced it’s the truth, not just some fairly solid moral pathway, or some existentially satisfying belief that gets me through the day. I really think the evidence in creation, in history, in humanity demands the conclusion that Jesus really came to earth because as the son of God he was the only sacrifice that could cover the evil of every human who ever lived. The evidence is clear that he lived in ancient Israel, was executed by the Roman authorities at the request of the Jewish authorities, and that three days after his death, the tomb was empty – the same tomb that was sealed and guarded by a company of Roman soldiers. After that, hundreds of people reported seeing him alive, many who had known and believed him before, but also many who previously thought he was a fraud. Many who saw him died for holding that belief. The evidence for this is strong, compelling. The ramifications of this narrative being accurate are massive – they are literally EVERYTHING that matters for eternity. If it’s true, every one of us has a choice to make. We can choose to believe in Jesus, ask him to forgive us and submit ourselves to him, or we can choose to reject him.
He has given you today. He doesn’t want death to uproot you and remove your opportunity to know him and experience eternal life with him. He told the gardener to wait, to give you some more care, some more tending. Please give it some more thought. Please don’t dismiss it as something you’ll think about later. We have today. Today is a good day to believe.
I’m praying for you.
