Jesus conveyed many of his teachings and messages through parables or stories. He knows how to grab our attention because he knows us well. Jesus also knew his audience. They were agricultural people who understood the land and what it took to tend crops and get the best produce. In this context, Jesus tells the story of the barren fig tree that the owner wanted to destroy.
What story would Jesus tell us about our context? One of industry, manufacturing and technology that has been slowly destroying agricultural land? A story of deforestation, over-farming and over-fishing that destroys our forests, soil and oceans? Or will it be a story of air, land, and water pollution destroying our home and the earth?
The owner of the barren fig tree was willing to
cast it aside and destroy it because it was of no value to him. We, too, take God’s creation for granted to fulfil our selfish needs. We use the resources and discard what is no longer valuable, depleting and stripping the land or oceans of all their goodness.
What are we doing to change the earth's current situation so that our children and grandchildren will one day have a better story to tell?
Reflections by Adri Sutherland
