…he came in search of fruit on it but found none. – Luke 13:6
What’s going on with the fig tree in this Sunday’s Gospel reading (Luke 13:1-9)? It has failed to bear fruit for three years. It’s just there among the other trees of the orchard taking up space and water and depleting the nutrients in the soil. The one who owns the orchard tells the gardener–the one in charge of caring for the trees–to cut it down. But the gardener asks for one more year to cultivate the ground around the tree and feed it in hopes that it will bear fruit the next year (Luke 13:8). But this begs the question, why didn’t the gardener care for the tree by cultivating and fertilizing it before? What was he waiting for? Maybe a better question isn’t what’s going on with the tree, but instead what’s going on with the gardener?
Acedia, or sloth, is one of the seven deadly sins. St. Thomas Aquinas calls it sadness in the face of some spiritual good that one has to achieve (ST, II-II:35). Perhaps Jesus chose the gardener to represent us when we have been slow or sad or have procrastinated in doing some spiritual good. In the context of this Gospel passage, Jesus has just called for the people to repent: “But I tell you, if you do not repent, you will all perish as they did!” (Luke 13:5). We can infer that Jesus is using the barren fig tree as a metaphor for our souls when they have lacked to bear the fruit of repentance. In other words, when we have been slothful and slow to turn from a sinful pattern or go to Confession.
The Good News is, God is patient, forbearing, and kind: “The Lord…is forbearing toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). Lent is the perfect time and space for repentance. We can trust in the Lord to give us the grace to turn back to Him during this holy season. We can pray for the gift of fortitude to counter any acedia that has taken root in our souls. It’s not too late to become good gardeners of our souls and cultivate and feed the ground of our hearts so it becomes “good soil” to bear fruit for the Lord (Matthew 13:23).