He replied, ‘Sir, let [the fig tree] alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’ [Luke’s Gospel 13.8-9]

“I have things to do, of value and service. I can’t be worried about when it’s going to happen.”

I was speaking to a splendid friend and colleague recently, who talked about the challenge of a health issue which hovers around their life. The consequences of this particular health issue are terminal, and the choice might well be to shut down, to live a life of complaint or fear, or to renew your mind, as my friend has, and to step into the world as it is. “I have service to offer others. I am not simply going to sit around and wait.”

Jesus’ recent conversations have been about how we read the signs of these times and live faithfully within them. He is confronted suddenly with the punitive and abhorrent actions of the provincial Governor.

Perhaps someone is being punished? Perhaps a deity is having a bad day? There has to be a reason.

Jesus’ cryptic response reminds us that injustices and accidents occur constantly; how will we live in this season, when death and acts of violence are consistently before us? We have plenty of teaching from Jesus about forgiveness and non-violence, and living hopefully and faithfully.

And accidents happen, friends become ill – this has always been true. People suffer and grieve. If we say this too fast, it will sound glib and uncaring, but if we say it with the attention it deserves, we realise that we are living here, and we need to attend to those around us, offering care and hope, and mercy.  

Jesus invites us to be prepared, within ourselves. The word for repent here is “to change one’s mind”; it’s about renewing how we think about, indeed how we understand, our world and our lives. It’s about comprehending that faithfulness involves laying failures and brokenness aside and taking up the life to which Jesus calls us.

How long will Jesus wait? How long will the faithful gardener tend the tree? Has the owner of the vineyard come down and complained before?

A theologian comments that God’s mercy remains in serious conversation with God’s judgment. We are urged to live our lives more faithfully, to turn from the failures – deliberate and otherwise – which hinder our relationships and drag our feet.

We cannot read these stories too lightly, or mathematically. Jesus is addressing suffering and death, and where real life – and hope – are found. This is not about balancing scales, or solving a life equation.

Jesus in on the road to his own, unjust, death. We have no measure for an act of such mercy, or hope.

In a world where vast injustice is enacted each day, where accidents occur despite our best efforts, we follow one who chose suffering and execution, in order that death would never again be the final word spoken.

Our story is held in the nail-scarred hands of Christ. God intends, in Jesus Christ, to save. What can we imagine will hinder God’s intent?