Grow Up and Bear Good Fruit

Homily for Saturday of the Twenty-ninth Week in Ordinary Time

It is fairly obvious that the man who owned the orchard expected to find fruit on the fig tree of which we hear in today’s Gospel text. However, the gardener asks the owner to allow him to cultivate and fertilize the soil in the hopes that the tree will bear fruit in the following year. Apparently, the evangelists understood some things about fig trees that we might not fully understand.

For instance, it would be helpful for us to know that it takes about three or four years for a fig tree to fully mature. According to the parable, the owner of the orchard is ready to give up on the barren fig tree. However, the gardener knows that it might still be a fruitful tree. Consequently, he asks the orchard owner to give the tree one more year before he has it cut down.

The fig tree also appears in the Gospels of St. Mark and St. Matthew. However, in those texts, it is Jesus who curses the fig tree. When Jesus and the apostles passed the tree the following day, it had obviously withered.

The fig tree is very symbolic in the Scriptures. With the leaves of a fig tree, Adam and Eve fashioned garments when they realized that they were naked. The prophets refer to a fig tree as a symbol of Israel and the fruit of the fig tree as a symbol of the effectiveness of Israel in bringing people to God. Consequently, a barren fig tree is an example of a person who does not bear the good fruit that God is looking for in us.

In this parable, the gardener takes the place of God, for it is obvious that the gardener is willing to forgive the barrenness of this tree and to give it another chance. If the tree bears fruit in the next year, God’s forgiveness has led to repentance and conversion.

Both St. Paul and Saint Luke are encouraging their listeners to keep growing in their faith. The message is rather simple. Grow up and bear spiritual fruit. But the simple does not mean easy. Growing in our faith is a lifelong journey that can be challenging. Jesus aids us in this journey by giving himself to us in the word and in the Eucharist. Let us keep on growing and bearing good fruit.