God is about redemption not destruction; forgiveness not judgment; fruitfulness not fruitlessness; nurturing not uprooting. In life we realize that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people. When a few bad things happen to us in a row we start thinking and wondering “why me”? What offence have I committed against God that karma is catching up with me? We do the same to our neighbors especially the ones that don’t get along with us, as we mock when they graduate from college but couldn’t pass board exam; married but don’t have children; of age but don’t have a husband or wife; are down with some strange illness; and so on. We think they must have done something wrong, maybe their sin and wickedness have caught up with them. We blame the victim as if we cannot be victims or as if we are more righteous or as if things are ok for us because we know what we are doing, and they don’t.
Today we reflect on the events that happened in Luke 13:1-9. There was this breaking news, in fact a couple. Then those events provided a teaching moment, so the lord took advantage of that. In this country every time there is breaking news we get divided in our opinions, and everybody thinks his own view is right. In fact, sometimes we blame God, we blame the victim, we blame the government, we blame the church, we blame the law makers, we blame the president…..It is not new. The blame game started at Eden and has been here ever since. When children don’t do well in school parents blame each other; when a child comes to school with a gun, everybody blames somebody else; when road traffic accident happens, each party blames the other. Ours has become a country of freedom and of rights…everybody is right and everybody knows his right, everybody is the best …and that mindset also has become our undoing.
In the bible story, the tower of Siloam had fallen and killed eighteen people, not long after came another breaking news of the people that Pilate had killed as well. We can imagine the reaction and opinions of people towards these events. Jesus corrects their thinking stating that those befallen by the calamities are not sinners above others in Jerusalem. Then he goes on to speak a parable…a certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came and sought fruit thereon and found none. He said to the gardener, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none, cut it down. It is a waste of land and space (my emphasis). The gardener pleaded …please lord, leave it alone this year also, till I dig around it and dung (manure) it. Then if it bears fruit, well and if not then you can cut it down.
I grew up in the farm so I am familiar with this parable.
In the vineyard of this certain man were different trees but the fig tree gets the attention today. Fig trees usually mature from two to six years of age. It is not clear whether this tree had been planted three years ago or whether it has been three years since it was supposed to have been matured. In any case, it is slow in fruiting and the farmer is tired of being disappointed every time he comes around in expectation to gather fruits. What do we do to trees that fail to bear fruits? So he was not being outrageous for nothing. Many of us would act the same way. He was angry and legitimately so. Sowing and reaping follow natural laws and once your seed leaves your hands, harvest is expected. May you not be fruitless in your season according to the timing of life.
He must have taken time to look very closely on this fig tree to see if he would find even one flower. He wanted to see any sign that his fig tree has any promises of fruiting in the near future. But the gardener pleaded, having come up with a plan. I hear him say “the fig tree has no fruit upwards because it doesn’t have the correct nutrients downwards”. Although we see the leaves, the stems, the branches, etc, it is the root that supplies them with nutrients. Fig trees need specific nutrients from the soil and sometimes the soil is not rich with some of those nutrients. Such nutrients have to be supplied in form of manure or fertilizers and then a bountiful harvest is expected. There was no mention to us about the nature of the soil on which this tree was planted. The suggestion of the gardener suggests that adequate nutrition may be to blame but then he leaves the options open should the tree refuse to do any better after a year of being fertilized with manure. Isn’t it interesting how we get sweet edible fruits from the trees by the provision of dirty stinky manure? Our people say “sandy hands guarantee oily mouth”. When your focus is on the finished product, you don’t mind rolling up your sleeves and getting your hands dirty.
Apparently, the vineyard owner listened to the gardener and gave the tree a second chance. It is not the will of God for anyone to perish but he longs for all to come to full repentance. That is what leaders should be about. They have to train, educate, correct, instruct, but not victimize or set traps for people to fall into. The job of the gardener here is a mediator—he asks for second chance; a correction officer – he wants to correct nutritional deficiency; a leader feeds the people. The gardener offers his service to feed the tree with manure, which contains nutrients for nourishment, hopefully the manure supplied to the root will make a difference to the fruiting process. If you must be a great leader you must learn to give people second chance(s). You don’t fire people just because you can fire them. Nothing stops the vineyard owner from cutting the tree off without minding the plea of the gardener.
In my leadership roles I have had to give someone second chances over and again. In a city where someone told me she is a good worker because she shows up, I quickly realized that my expectations were too high in this little town. People made more money collecting unemployment than they did working so why would they work? Others made more money flipping hamburger at McDonald than they were paid doing jobs that require certification. There was no incentive. When young men made more money working in the oil field than a principal of a high school made then why would they finish high school? You get my point? If you rebuke them for not doing their homework, they quit school and go make money at the oil fields. They say, college is not for everybody and I agree, it is all in the value system.
Someone could argue that every tree should not bear fruit, and that also is true depending on why the farmer planted the tree. If the purpose is for the fruit, then the fruitless tree has fallen short of the expectation and then becomes a candidate for whatsoever the farmer wants to do with it. We are the fruitless tree, in any area we have fallen short of the expectations of God, the purpose for which he planted us where we are. We are expected to blossom where we are planted and any tree that fails to bear fruit worthy of its purpose risks being cut off. The same is applicable to branches of a tree that fail to bear fruit. When you don’t deliver on the job, your position another will take.
The request of the gardener has a time attached to it. The tree didn’t know this conversation happened and that it was on a time clock. Oh, how often we don’t know the conversations they have about us in the workplace, in school, in the community, in the marketplace…therefore we must do our best to exceed expectations at any time t. If purpose is not known, abuse is inevitable but abuse is expensive and risky. In the next year if the fig tree does not bear fruit it will be uprooted and its position another will take. May we not lose our place to another due to unproductivity. A fruitless tree is an unproductive tree and an unproductive tree is an unwanted tree. Whatever productivity means in your situation, I pray for wisdom, knowledge and grace to fulfil destiny and receive commendation instead of condemnation. May God give us understanding
Mezie Okolo @TheRitePlace, Texas