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The parable of the fig-tree:
v. 6. He spake also this parable: A certain man had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard; and he came and sought fruit thereon, and found none.
v. 7. Then said he unto the dresser of his vineyard, Behold, these three years I come seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none; cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?
v. 8. And he, answering, said unto him, Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it;
v. 9. and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down.
A word-picture preaching an earnest lesson. A certain man, apparently one of means, had a fig-tree planted in his vineyard, in good soil, from which he naturally expected fruit. He waited for some time, but finally he voiced a complaint to the vinedresser, to the gardener in charge of the vineyard. The fig-tree was supposed to bear fruit three times a year, and the owner had not yet found a single fig on it. It seemed useless to waste any more time and work on its cultivation; it ought to be chopped down, since it interfered with, and spoiled the ground for, more productive fruit-trees. The master no longer felt like coming and coming again, and always being disappointed. But the vinedresser interceded for the tree. He begged for only one more year of grace, in which he intended to try all his art and labor in loosening the soil about the roots, in putting fertilizer into the ground; there might be some chances of coaxing the tree to bear fruit the coming year. But if not, then the doom of the tree is sealed, and the master may carry out his intention. The unfruitful fig-tree is a type of the Jewish people. During the entire time of the Old Testament the Lord had vainly looked for fruit commensurate with the amount of labor and the cost which He had put into the vineyard of His Church. Israel had received a rich measure of grace, but had not reacted in kind. It was like the unfruitful vineyard of which the Lord complained Isa_5:1-7. The fourth year, for which the love of the vinedresser, Jesus, pleaded, was the time of mercy which had dawned with the ministry of John, had burst into full brightness with the preaching of Jesus, and would continue thus during the ministry of the apostles. Here the vinedresser wanted to dig about and dung the fig-tree with the evidences of His most searching love, of His holiest zeal, and finally, through His servants, by the preaching of His suffering and death, of His resurrection and sitting at the right hand of Power. But the extra time of grace went by, the people as a whole brought no fruits worthy of repentance; and so finally the judgment of God was carried out upon the disobedient people: Jerusalem was destroyed and the Jewish nation rejected. Note: There is a lesson here for all times, for God deals with all men in a similar way. His justice is tempered with patience; He waits long before He condemns. The mercy and love on the part of Jesus succeeds often in extending the time of grace for a people. But finally the most loving patience must come to an end and justice be carried out.