October 22, 2005
Lk 13:1-9
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”
I am not sure of the time it takes for a young fig tree to bear fruit. Many of us sense when it is time for us in our lives to bear fruit and know if we are past the time when we should have born fruit in our lives. It is a thing that slips by ever so quickly and subtly in the business of the little details of life. The important good acts that serve God and the kingdom. I pray for the quietness of mind and heart today to see God's will in what I do and plan today.
Some people told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with the blood of their sacrifices. He said to them in reply, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way they were greater sinners than all other Galileans? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did! Or those eighteen people who were killed when the tower at Siloam fell on them— do you think they were more guilty than everyone else who lived in Jerusalem? By no means! But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!”
And he told them this parable: “There once was a person who had a fig tree planted in his orchard, and when he came in search of fruit on it but found none, he said to the gardener, ‘For three years now I have come in search of fruit on this fig tree but have found none. So cut it down. Why should it exhaust the soil?’ He said to him in reply, ‘Sir, leave it for this year also,
and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future.
If not you can cut it down.’”
I am not sure of the time it takes for a young fig tree to bear fruit. Many of us sense when it is time for us in our lives to bear fruit and know if we are past the time when we should have born fruit in our lives. It is a thing that slips by ever so quickly and subtly in the business of the little details of life. The important good acts that serve God and the kingdom. I pray for the quietness of mind and heart today to see God's will in what I do and plan today.
posted by Joan Morris at 6:00 AM
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