6 Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. 7 So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, ‘For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and haven’t found any. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?’ 8 “‘Sir,’ the man replied, ‘leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. 9 If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.’”

A man plants a fig tree, and for three straight years expects fruit but finds none. He tells the gardener to chop it down and plant something else. The gardener asks for one more chance, another season for the tree to bear fruit. If there is no fruit next season, then cut it down.

This is an odd parable as Jesus doesn’t explain it. Who is the tree, who is the gardener, where is it planted? These are the kinds of details that I like to read so as to understand exactly what Jesus is trying to say. But I think this one is open to the Holy Spirit to speak to us as to how he wants to apply it.

As I read it, I have a sense of two things.

Firstly expectation. The man who planted the tree comes back again and again looking for three years, looking for and expecting to find fruit. God has an expectation of us, that where we are planted we would bear fruit. He has gardeners that care for us, feed and water us, ensuring that the conditions are right for us to bear fruit.

The second, is one that doesn’t rest comfortably with me. It’s not the grace that the gardener asked for – one more year, one more chance to bear fruit. The second one for me is urgency. The man who owned the tree expected fruit now and was prepared to chop it down and replace it with another. Yes, there is grace – one more year, but there is also urgency.

Time is running out. What am I doing to bear fruit?

Father, thank you for planting me exactly where you need me. Thank you for providing everything I need to bear fruit. Help me to be faithful to you and bear the fruit that pleases you.

Written by Andrew Martin

49 “I have come to bring fire on the earth, and how I wish it were already kindled! 50 But I have a baptism to undergo, and what constraint I am under until it is completed! 51 Do you think I came to bring peace on earth? No, I tell you, but division. 52 From now on there will be five in one family divided against each other, three against two and two against three. 53 They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” 54 He said to the crowd: “When you see a cloud rising in the west, immediately you say, ‘It’s going to rain,’ and it does. 55 And when the south wind blows, you say, ‘It’s going to be hot,’ and it is. 56 Hypocrites! You know how to interpret the appearance of the earth and the sky. How is it that you don’t know how to interpret this present time? 57 “Why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58 As you are going with your adversary to the magistrate, try hard to be reconciled on the way, or your adversary may drag you off to the judge, and the judge turn you over to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. 59 I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the last penny.”

This is really two separate conversations Jesus had. The first with his disciples, the second with the large crowds that followed him. First to his disciples he prepares them for the reality they will soon encounter. Soon Jesus will undergo his ‘terrible baptism’, a baptism into death via the cross. Soon people will be divided about who Jesus is, particularly the Jews. Some will call him Lord, others will call him a liar and a lunatic. If his disciples were going to follow him, they needed to be aware of where he was headed. I don’t think they understood – I know I wouldn’t have.

Then, talking to the crowds, Jesus encourages them to wake up and look at the signs. I think he is referring to all the teaching and miracles he had performed, they were a sign to repent and turn back to God, before punishment comes.

Jesus is the Prince of Peace, he doesn’t like division – nevertheless people are divided over him. Just as was the case then, Jesus is calling people through his church to find peace with God today, to find acceptance, forgiveness and love through faith in Jesus.

Lord, I thank you that you have made peace with me and I have found that peace in you, all because you sent Jesus to undergo a terrible baptism on my behalf. Thank you Lord, make me a sign to others that today is the day to make peace with you through Jesus.

Written by Andrew Mellor

35 “Be dressed ready for service and keep your lamps burning, 36 like servants waiting for their master to return from a wedding banquet, so that when he comes and knocks they can immediately open the door for him. 37 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them watching when he comes. Truly I tell you, he will dress himself to serve, will have them recline at the table and will come and wait on them. 38 It will be good for those servants whose master finds them ready, even if he comes in the middle of the night or toward daybreak. 39 But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what hour the thief was coming, he would not have let his house be broken into. 40 You also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.”

Be ready! That’s the message of this passage. Even though the time and day are uncertain, the one certainty is that the Master will return. Jesus will return.

The challenge is of course are we ready, am I ready, are you ready for the return of Jesus? Are there things in your life or heart that shouldn’t be? Something or someone, a situation we’re hanging onto & shouldn’t. I remember as a very young Christian the day when I said to Jesus, “Ok you can come back now”. I had finally surrendered all my heart to Him & turned away from a situation that I knew wasn’t acceptable to Him but I’d  been hanging onto.

Today I wonder, am I still ready? Have I gotten caught up in things of this world and taken my gaze away from the certainty of the next? Am I like the Psalmist who says, “… I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, …”? (Psalm 63:1) … I think perhaps I need to re-focus.

Lord Jesus, thank you for your promise to return & your grace in not yet. Thank you that your Word doesn’t leave us wondering. I need to re-focus my eyes to you and be ready, whether in my life-time or not, you will return. Amen

Written by Suzie Hodgson

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” 15 Then he said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” 16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ 20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ 21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”

Reading this passage, I feel both close to Jesus and puzzled at the same time. I feel close, as I imagine Jesus in a typical interchange with the people that followed him. Crowds listening in. Jesus teaching and chatting at the very middle of a huddle. I have a front row seat, I see the interrupting man interjecting with “Help me sort out my problem: arbitrate between me and my brother”. In the dust and in the outdoors. The afternoon sun casting orange light on people’s faces.

And then I read Jesus’s response. Is Jesus even listening? He hijacks the question and directs everyone’s attention off sideways into a parable against hoarding and a commentary on being generous towards God. Whatever the dispute (it may have been a genuinely unfair situation for the interrupting man) Jesus gets triggered to attack the subject of greed lurking in the background and stomps on it! ‘Watch out!’, ‘Be on your guard…!’, ‘Life is not about possessions!’, ‘Life is not about hoarding it all up’ – instead, ‘be rich (generous) towards God’.

I think it might be better to interpret the application of this in an irregular way. As opposed to simply responding ‘I need to give more to God’ or adopting a “be more generous” mantra (I’m confident you are already generous to God, why else would you be reading these digests?). Instead, commit your heart against the attitude that wants to store up, contain and tuck away the abundance of God’s blessing when it comes. When the bumper harvest arrives, and for many of us it will at times, Jesus wants to see the surplus overflowing not being locked away.

Lord, I want your share your generous overflow without reserve! Amen

Written by Sam Stewart

12 Meanwhile, when a crowd of many thousands had gathered, so that they were trampling on one another, Jesus began to speak first to his disciples, saying: “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. 2 There is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. 3 What you have said in the dark will be heard in the daylight, and what you have whispered in the ear in the inner rooms will be proclaimed from the roofs.

Here we find Jesus warning His disciples about the “yeast of the Pharisees”, referring to their hypocrisy. This follows a long list of ‘woes’ which he dishes out to the Pharisees and experts in the Law in Chapter 11.

Hypocrisy means a lack of integrity – professing one thing but doing the opposite. But Jesus isn’t just talking about actions here – He’s addressing the state of their hearts. While they seem morally righteous on the outside, on the inside they are empty and hard-hearted. The word ‘yeast’ is telling here; just a small amount of this kind of attitude can have a widespread influence.

It’s all too easy to be a hypocrite and I think it comes about when we disregard grace. Just like yeast, it takes one small moment of forgetting about God’s grace, one small instance of ignoring His grace, a split second of scorning His grace – and suddenly we become desperate to find a way to measure up. The problem is, we can never measure up – at least not on our own.

Thank You Jesus for measuring up on behalf of all of us. Thank You for living the perfect life that we could never hope to live, so that we have hope to live in perfect union with You forever. Amen.

Written by Ps. Matt Samperi