The Gospel of Luke relates that Jesus, after having fulfilled his mission in Galilee, headed for his final destination, which was Jerusalem, and this change of Jesus caused him not to perform as many miracles as when he was in the region of Galilee, but to concentrate on the teaching of the Kingdom of God, the dominion or empire of the divine perfections to the common and simple people. During this important trip, the divine master taught most of his parables, such as the Parable of the Good Samaritan, the Parable of the Lamp, the Parable of the Faithful Servant, and the Parable of the Rich Fool.
The parables, then, like the "I am" statements in the Gospel of John, show the readers of the New Testament a creative and mysterious aspect of that Kingdom which is revealed gradually, progressively, and incrementally to the hearts of men.
And among the parables of Jesus, one stands out, the Parable of the Barren Fig Tree. This parable of Jesus bears a strong resemblance to a parable from Isaiah, the Parable of the Vineyard in Isaiah 5:1-7. Just as for the prophet Isaiah, Israel was the vineyard of the Lord that was to bear fruit of life, for Jesus in this parable, the fig tree symbolizes that humanity, those children of Israel according to the spirit, who must bear the corresponding fruit of faith. Because if this does not happen, as in Isaiah, the fig tree must be uprooted from the ground. Jesus is ultimately that demanding sower who seeks the fruits of his sowing.
This fantastic story of the divine master begins with these words: "A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. One day he went out to pick some figs, but he didn't find any. So he said to the gardener, 'For three years I have come looking for figs on this tree, and I haven't found any yet. Chop it down! Why should it take up space?" Luke 13:6-7.
The parable ends by explaining that the gardener asked the owner of the field to wait one more season because he was going to fertilize and till the soil. Like the parable of the denarii, this parable of Jesus is a call to live the gifts and make them fruitful, because this is the true meaning of life for the new children of Israel according to the spirit.
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