Trying to understand why people suffer has taken up oceans of ink, acres of parchment and countless hours of meditation. Entire books of the bible are there considering the question of “why bad things happen” let alone “why bad things happen to good people”. Just go read a psalm or two. I love attending evensong regularly and the psalms are constantly echoing the question of “why?”.
One of the main lessons of the wisdom literature in the Bible is that “why” is not always knowable. In fact in the book of Job we are reminded that pressing for answers to the “why” involves a certain amount of hubris on the part of the creature fashioned from clay. Out of the depths of despair we are encouraged to rest in the Lord, and on his promises, but not to ask to closely why we suffer despair in the first place.
The question obviously is as old as theology itself. So when the people asked Jesus about some Galileans who had their blood mingled with their sacrifices (a thing which would have induced genuine horror and revulsion in anyone who heard or told the story), they were asking Jesus about what those Galileans had done to earn such a terrible and blasphemous ending.
Jesus answers the question with the parable of the barren fig tree. This is one of my favourites.
It is just a little parable, so I will repeat it here:
“A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it 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 13:6-9”
We are all aware that pruning and feeding a plant will generally cause it to be fruitful. That is not the point of the parable. I want you to use your imagination for a moment and notice one thing, and then imagine a couple of other things. First, why is a fig tree in a vineyard? Fig trees are not vines, so they are 'in' but not 'of' the vineyard. They benefit from the soil and offer back what the vines need, and feed on the nutrients that the vines produce. So perhaps the Fig tree might represent the individual christian or even the whole Church.
The owner who looks for fruitfulness is impatient and accuses the fig tree. Is this God demanding we get on with it? Perhaps, or the vineyard owner could represent someone else. You could read that the vineyard owner who is accusing the fig tree (the way some accuse individual Christians or even accuse the church) might be a figure of the Adversary, often known as Satan. That would make the Gardener a figure of Jesus, who defends the fig tree but prunes and fertilizes the offending tree, confident that it will produce fruits worthy of its vineyard.
There is an awful lot to unpack in that one way of reading this parable. But the idea that God permits the church, or even individual Christians to be “pruned and fertilized” is one of the ways that we have understood some of the suffering in our lives. Rather than look at someone and say “A-ha! They must have sinned in order to suffer this way!” We might consider that in our various trials, God is preparing us to be more fruitful, more faithful and more able to serve the vineyard (the world) while not being part of it (the Church, or the individual Christian).
This isn’t the only way to understand the parable, but the next time you feel you’re being spiritually ‘pruned’ you might consider focusing on preparing to become fruitful, rather than any of the accusers that might come along and say that you ought to be cut down.
Yours faithfully, Bishop William G. Cliff
XIII Bishop of Ontario
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