The Barren Fig Tree

Jesus has been asked about people killed under Pilate, and He also mentions those who died when a tower fell. He rejects the assumption that their deaths establish them as worse sinners than others. In that setting, He calls His hearers to repentance and tells of a fig tree. Luke 13:1-9

The owner has looked for fruit for three years and found none. He proposes cutting the tree down. The gardener asks for another year in which to dig around it and nourish it, holding together the need for fruit and a willingness to provide further care.

The story ends with that proposed opportunity. It does not tell us whether the tree later bears fruit. The open ending leaves the invitation before the hearer rather than allowing the conclusion to be assigned to an imaginary person safely outside the reader's own life.

Patient cultivation is a different response from either indifference or instant removal. You might consider what needs tending in your own response to God. Keep the beginning of the passage in view: this reflection should never become an explanation that other people's tragedies prove a lack of righteousness.