Luke 13:1 - 9
13 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
Questions:
ReplyDelete1. What were those people saying to Jesus that warranted Jesus' response?
2. Who does the barren fig tree represent?
3. In the parable, who is the man and who is the vinedresser? Why is the vinedresser more compassionate?
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-13-commentary says:
ReplyDeleteRod Mattoon adds that "In this portion of Luke, we find the Lord Jesus Christ trying to wake up His listeners about judgment to come. If they do not take this matter seriously, if they do not heed what He is saying, they will surely perish. Nothing has changed, beloved.
Luke 12 ends with Jesus focusing on the topic of judgment and Luke 13 carries on His discourse related to the same topic.
As governor, Pilate displayed insensitivity and brutality (cf. Luke 13:1). Reversing the policy of the earlier governors, Pilate marched his troops into Jerusalem carrying standards bearing images that the Jews viewed as idolatrous. Outraged, many protested heatedly against what they saw as a sacrilege. Pilate ignored their protests and ordered them, on pain of death, to stop bothering him. But they called his bluff and dared him to carry out his threat. Unwilling to massacre so many people, Pilate removed the offending standards. The story reveals his poor judgment, stubbornness, arrogance, and vacillating weakness. Pilate also enraged the Jews when he took money from the temple treasury to build an aqueduct to bring water to Jerusalem. In the ensuing riots, his soldiers beat and slaughtered many of the protesters. Ironically, the incident that finally triggered Pilate’s removal from office involved not the Jews, but their hated rivals the Samaritans. A group of them decided to climb Mount Gerizim in search of golden objects Moses had supposedly hidden on its summit. Mistakenly thinking the Samaritans were insurrectionists, Pilate ordered his troops to attack them, and many were killed. The Samaritans complained about Pilate’s brutality to his immediate superior, the governor of Syria. He removed Pilate from office and ordered him to Rome to be judged by Tiberius, but Tiberius died before Pilate reached Rome. At that point, Pilate disappeared from history. Some accounts claim that he was banished, others that he was executed, still others that he committed suicide.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-13-commentary continued:
ReplyDeletePilate, who thought the entire affair was a disguise for some other political or military activity, dispatched Roman forces to assault and massacre the crowd that had gathered. In the end, it became apparent that nothing political had been intended. The Samaritans felt such great loss for those who died, they3 formally requested that the governor of Syria intervene in this matter. Their complaints of Pilate became so numerous that he was eventually summoned to Rome in 36 A.D. to give account for his actions before the Emperor Tiberius himself. These indictments resulted in his removal from office and exile to Gaul (modern-day France). Eusebius, the well-known early Christian historian, later wrote that Pilate fell into misfortune under the wicked Emperor Caligula and lost many privileges. According to Eusebius, this man Pilate — who was ultimately responsible for the trial, judgment, crucifixion, and burial of Jesus, and who had ruled Judea ruthlessly and mercilessly for ten years, finally committed suicide.
Do you suppose that these Galileans were greater sinners than all other Galileans because they suffered this fate? - What is Jesus alluding to with this question? He knew that they Jews held a common belief that disasters such as the Galileans had suffered were somehow their punishment for sin. John alludes to this Jewish belief even among Jesus' disciples “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” (John 9:2)
It was their greater sin to which Jews ascribed their tragic fate, not to the fact that they were just sinners. The implication is that the Jews knew they were sinners, but they were just not as "bad" a group of sinners as those who they thought were punished by God for their greater sin. Jesus will correct their faulty theology. It is not greater sin that calls down God's wrath, but ONE sin that kills a man.
Darrell Bock writes "the point is that repentance involves a reorientation of perspective, a fresh point of view. When dealing with God's plan, it means to see that plan in a new way and to orient oneself to it. There can be no genuine conversion without genuine repentance. A heart that has never turned to God and from sin, has never experienced regeneration and is still dead it trespasses and sins (Eph 2:1).
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-13-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteIt is crucial to understand that (contrary to what some "evangelical" writers say) repentance is not an act separate from faith, but saving faith includes and implies the true change of heart/mind which is called repentance. to repent is not just an event at the time of conversion, but represents an ongoing lifestyle -- we sin daily, and sometimes we get caught in a "rut" (habit) of sin, and so we are daily in desperate need of God's gracious gift of repentance. As Albert Barnes wisely said "False repentance dreads the consequences of sin; true repentance dreads sin itself."
The Jews had a misunderstanding that since their father was Abraham, they had a "free pass" regarding God's judgment of sin. Ryrie's note on Mt 3:9 explains that "The common teaching of that day said that the Jews participated in the merits of Abraham, which made their prayers acceptable, helped in war, expiated sins, appeased the wrath of God, and assured a share in God's eternal kingdom. Consequently, the people were startled when John (Mt 3:2, 8) and Jesus (Mt 4:17) preached the necessity of personal repentance."
Matthew 7:21-23:
21 o“Not everyone who psays to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will qenter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who rdoes the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 sOn that day tmany will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not uprophesy in your name, and cast out demons vin your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 tAnd then will I declare to them, ‘I wnever knew you; xdepart from me, yyou workers of lawlessness.’
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-13-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteTHE PARABLE OF A FRUITLESS FIG TREE
Liefeld - Once more Jesus alludes to Micah 7, this time to Micah 7:1-note, with its lament over unproductive fig trees. The symbolism, like that of the vine in Isaiah 5:1–7, applies to Israel. Luke includes this parable instead of the cursing of the fig tree (found only in Mt 21:18–22; Mk 11:12–14, 20–25).
MacArthur - Fig trees were common as a source of food. Three years were required from planting until fruit bearing. After that, a tree could be harvested twice a year, usually yielding much fruit. The figs normally grew with the leaves. This tree had leaves but, strangely, no fruit.
No place is as dangerous for an unconverted person — as the church of God! It is to be feared that many join the church before they are truly converted; and yet very, very few are ever converted after.
https://www.preceptaustin.org/luke-13-commentary continued:
ReplyDeleteIn most of the NT uses fruit refers to what a saint supernaturally produces by the enabling power of the Holy Spirit, by Whom we "abide" in the Vine, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who made it clear that "apart from (Him) we can do (absolutely) nothing (supernatural and of eternal value, "that you would go and bear fruit, and that your fruit would remain.
Three years - Note that the three-year period is not from the time of planting, but from the time it should have started bearing fruit. Here we see the patience of God in judgment. One wonders if Jesus is not making at least some allusion to the fact that He ministered in Israel (the "fig tree") for 3 years?
Why does it even use up the ground? - What is he saying with this question? The point is that the useless fig tree was using up space and nutrients in the ground that could have been used for other fig trees. For example, it's root system would be drawing water and minerals that could be utilized by other trees. Thus the command to cut it down.
What is some of the fruit a believer might look for in their life? (adapted from Mattoon)
The Fruit of Soul-winning - Pr 11:30, Jn 4:36
The Fruit of Spiritual Growth - Ro 6:22 Mt 13:23
The Fruit of the Spirit of God - Gal 5:22-23.
The Fruit of Surrender and Supplying Others Needs. - Ro 15:26,28.
The Fruit of Service to Christ - Colossians 1:10
The Fruit of Speaking Praises to God - Heb 13:15
The Fruit of Serenity or Peace - John 14:27
The Fruit of Shunning Sinfulness & Shame - Matthew 3:8
The Fruit of Submission and Obedience to the Lord - John 15:10
This tree was planted by the owner within the walls of his vineyard, which points to the special privileges of those who sit in church and hear the Word of God. If such people do not respond to the message of God’s grace by repenting of their sins and seeking to be fruitful in God’s kingdom, they are not just neutral. They are destructive to the owner’s purpose, in that they are just using up ground that otherwise could be fruitful. They are endangering their own souls and harming others as well.
Conclusion - There is one other aspect of the parable that I have not mentioned: the role of the vineyard-keeper, who appeals to the owner to give him time to dig around the tree and fertilize it, in the hopes that it will yet bear fruit the next year. “If not,” he says, “cut it down.” This is a beautiful picture of God’s patience and mercy in Christ. As 2 Peter 3:9 tells us, “The Lord ... is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance.” But, don’t mistake God’s patience to mean that His axe will never fall. His patience does have a limit. Death and the final judgment could hit you at any moment. Your need to respond to God’s offer of repentance and pardon is urgent! Life is fragile; none are exempt from tragedies.
Questions and findings:
ReplyDelete1. What were those people saying to Jesus that warranted Jesus' response?
It's quite possible that their attitudes towards the victims of these tragedies were that they deserved their fate. Whether this was true or not, Jesus was trying to break through and tell them that a worse fate was in store for them, unless they truly repented. It's possible that their attitude was preventing them from repenting. We cannot repent when we are looking down on others.
2. Who does the barren fig tree represent?
It represents each person. If we try to apply it to anything or anyone other than ourselves, we make the same mistake that the people commenting on the tragedies are most likely making - and miss the point.
To contemplate that the ax could be at the root of us personally is very hard. Yet, Jesus is warning us to consider it - and to repent. It's so much easier to apply this to someone else, and shake our heads.
3. In the parable, who is the man and who is the vinedresser? Why is the vinedresser more compassionate?
The man is likely God. The vinedresser is likely Jesus. However, the main point of the parable is about being fruitless and what happens to us when we don't bear fruit. It's entirely possible that the man's and the vinedresser's identities are beyond the point of this parable.
In any case, three years was the designated time to determine if a tree was going to bear fruit. Those that don't are cut down. This shows that God/Jesus is more merciful, and will give more than every chance to repent - and that the ax eventually comes.