Patience

Luke 13:1-17

Are you a patient person?

It is sometimes very easy to become impatient in life, particularly when we have things to accomplish. Jesus of course was trying to accomplish very big things. He was proclaiming the Kingdom of God, healing people, feeding people, giving hope, and changing lives. Yet, at nearly every turn Jesus faced resistance. The Pharisees and religious leaders resisted Jesus' teachings. The disciples were often slow to understand. The crowds were fickle. Jesus showed incredible patience in his ministry and just kept at it.

 

Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.⁷So he said to the gardener, ‘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?’⁸He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.⁹If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” Luke 13:6-9

Jesus was dealing with many people who had been watered, cared for, and cultivated by God for years who bore no fruit. People did not receive Jesus' message because he broke the rules, because he did not have the right schooling, because he hung out with sinners, because he was disrespectful. Others perhaps did not reject Jesus outright but nonetheless had hard hearts and did not receive. The parable suggests that Jesus offers us more time when we deserve to be cut off. After three years the tree should have bore fruit, but rather than giving up on it the farmer decides to give it extra time and manure.

God's response to our resistance is more love. God's patience with us is amazing because we do not often bear the good fruit we were designed to produce. God might be frustrated with the lack of love we display, lack of progress in our faith, or resistance to following, but praise be to God we worship a patient and loving God. Let's us be patient with one another.