Using the format of Lectio Divino, we heard the Parable read three times. Each time we heard it with a question in our mind. The discussion that followed each reading was rich: indignation at the callousness of the Land Owner; recognition that not everything or everyone grows as expected; where had the Gardener been up until this point?; do we ask people to be more than they can be?; what if people need more time to know how to grow their fruit? We want to be the caring Gardener...but sometimes we know we are the impatient Land Owner... sometimes we show up too late.
How does this parable speak to you?
Lectio Divino…Read the scripture three times…each time ask yourself a different question:
What phrase stands out to you? What challenges you? Where do you see yourself in this story
The Parable of the Fig Tree 6 Jesus told this parable: “A man owned a fig tree planted in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. 7 He said to his gardener, ‘Look, I’ve come looking for fruit on this fig tree for the past three years, and I’ve never found any. Cut it down! Why should it continue depleting the soil’s nutrients?’ 8 The gardener responded, ‘Lord, give it one more year, and I will dig around it and give it fertilizer. 9 Maybe it will produce fruit next year; if not, then you can cut it down.’”
