It was the morning after the presidential election, and there I sat (sleepers still in my eyes) to begin processing the outcome with the Lord, when bloop! a parable of Jesus dropped into my mind like a letter dropped in a mail slot. I love it when the Lord does that.
The story in Luke 13 is about a man who stopped by his vineyard one day to inspect his fig trees.[i] For three years he looked for fruit on one tree in particular and found none. This day apparently was no different. “Just look at this thing!” he told his vinedresser. “Why should I allow it to continue to take up space and deplete the soil in my garden? Chop it down.”
I picture his worker drawing back in alarm, if not out of concern for the tree’s welfare, then out of concern for himself. If the saying, “the work we do is a reflection of who we are”, what did chopping down the tree he’d been entrusted to care for say about him?[ii] Had he prided himself in his position as vinedresser and become slack in his duties? or took it for granted that figs would magically appear because that’s what nature does?
“Oh, but sir, please have mercy and give this tree another chance,” he cried. Give me another chance. Did I let the soil get too compacted and its roots couldn’t grow properly? Not to mention those weeds. How did they get so thick without me noticing them? They must’ve cropped up overnight!
“I’ll really put my back into hoeing and tilling around your tree, sir. And with fig trees being such heavy feeders, I’ll fertilize right away and get some nutrients back into that soil. Again, please, one more year. If your tree hasn’t produced by then, you can cut it down. What do you say, sir?”
Assuming the boss’s answer was yes, did the vinedresser head back to the house to celebrate the fig tree’s reprieve?[iii] Or feeling pressed for time, did he head back to work to get the tree turned around?
In keeping with Luke 13, I'm convinced that America is one such fig tree, unfruitful still in the purposes in which we were created. On election day we received a reprieve in the sense that God pressed the ‘pause’ button on the punishment we deserve. A shift back to our original roots of “In God We Trust” has begun. But let’s not celebrate as if we have it all together. Jesus’ parable of the fig tree comes on the heels of a call to repentance.[iv] Can we claim that we love God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength? Are we in harmony with Him and so love what He loves and hate what He hates? Do we love our neighbor as ourselves?[v]
We have work yet to do. But God is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.[vi] He has given us time to reflect on our stewardship of what was entrusted to us—namely America. If my people who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.[vii]
He gave us time to plow up the stoney ground of our hearts through prayer. Turn to the LORD with all your heart and with fasting and with weeping, and with mourning over our own sins and the sins of our nation. He’s provided us with the living seed of His Son, and the nourishment of His Spirit so we can bear the fruit of loving God wholeheartedly and loving our neighbor as ourselves.[viii]
So, what do you say? Is it chop chop? Or back to work we go?
photo by Nastya Kvokka on Unsplash
[i] Luke 13:6–9
[ii] Quote from The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don’t Work and What to Do About it by Michael E. Gerber
[iii] Luke 17:7–10
[iv] Luke 13:1–5
[v] Matthew 22:37–39; Romans 12:9; Isaiah 5:20
[vi] Joel 2:13–14
[vii] 2 Chronicles 7:14
[viii] Joel 2:12–14; Hosea 10:11–12; Hosea 10:12