Luke 13:6-9: Year 1 (Judges)

This afternoon (4/29/12) I was thinking about today’s Sunday school lesson and how the time period of the Judges represented year 1 of the 3 + 1 years referenced in Luke 13:6-9.  My mind also went to back to Mark 11:13 – Jesus cursing the fig tree that had leaves but no fruit.  We see in Judges 2:4 that the Israelites wept after being called out by the Angel of the Lord.  The repeated cycle throughout the book of Judges was sin which led to oppression causing the people to cry out.  Then God would raise up a judge to deliver His people.  Deliverance brought peace – at least until the people were ensnared (Jdg 2:3 reference) by sin again.

The distressed cries of the Israelites were like leaves on the fig tree in Mark 11.  Jesus came looking for fruit on that tree because the leaves could be seen from far away (in fig trees its leaves and fruit appear at the same time).  The same was true of the Israelites in the time of the Judges.  When they wept (recorded 6 times in the book of Judges) and cried out (recorded 10 times in Judges), it was like leaves showing up on the fig tree, and along with leaves, there should have been fruit –the fruit of repentance (Matt 3:8).  Unfortunately Judges 2:16-17 reveals what God – “the man” from Luke 13:6 – saw when He came looking for fruit on His tree: 

“But the Lord raised up judges, who delivered them out of the hands of those who robbed them.  And yet they did not listen to their judges, for they played the harlot after other gods and bowed down to them.  They turned quickly out of the way in which their fathers had walked, who had obeyed the commandments of the Lord, and they did not so.” (Amplified Bible)

Year 1:  the Judges – no fruit

As humans, we would naturally feel disappointed coming to a dearly loved tree that isn’t producing fruit, but we can’t forget that God is not human (Num 23:19).  His knowledge is timeless.  He knew from the beginning how time would unfold and yet He made us … He chose us … He loves us anyway.  He says it this way through the prophet Jeremiah, “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’” (Jer 29:11).

Luke 13:6-9

This past Sunday (4/15/12), we were in Luke 13:6-9.  We had visited this passage the week before from the base camp of Mark 11 – another mention of a leafed-out tree bearing no fruit.  This past week we discussed several things related to Lk 13, but our main focus was:

(1)    What kind of fruit did/does God expect to find on us?  Short answer:  fruit of

          repentance (Matt 3:8)

a.      Acknowledgement of sin paired with change in attitude toward the sin which 

results in change of behavior.

b.      Testimony and service to others, not out of duty but because of what God has

done for us.  (Matt 25:31-37)

(2)    Possible reasons the vinedresser in Lk 13 may have requested time to “dig around

          and fertilize” the tree.

a.      To improve the soil so that the tree would be better able to bear fruit.

b.      To possibly transplant the tree “out of darkness and into … light” (Col 1: 13).

c.       To mark the tree as set apart for a special purpose.

But we still don’t really know what happened to the tree in Lk 13.  Did it bear fruit after the 4^th year, or was it cut down?  I told you last week that I was playing with possible meanings of the 3 + 1 years.  Well, I have considered the possibilities even more this week, and this Sunday (4/22/12) we will start digging deeper into one of them (the one I feel fits the essence of Jesus’ message most closely).  We won’t yet have a satisfactory answer to the question posed in class, i.e. “What happens to the tree?”, but know that we’re working toward it together.

For now, we know this.  The man came looking for fruit on the fig tree in Lk 13, and the vinedresser pleaded with him to give it one more year.  Jesus came hungry to a fig tree in Mk 11, and the tree was cursed.  I wonder if He had walked by that fig tree every year of His 3-year ministry.  I wonder if its time was up.  God more than wants His children to produce fruit; He expects it.  Are we producing fruit?