Methodist Pastor Disagrees With Jesus About Barren Fig Tree in Luke 13, Says It Actually WAS Bearing Fruit
Allendale United Methodist Church is one the most progressive ‘churches’ we’ve ever seen. Led by Rev. Andy Oliver, his congregation is “committed to anti-racism and radical solidarity with folx on the margin,” while he himself is “grounded in liberation theology and following Jesus” while being “a community organizer who always located himself with the oppressed.”
This is the same church that preaches super cringe sermons that give trigger warnings for “violent” bible verses, reassuring congregants that if the scripture is too triggering, people can leave, all the while leading them through calming breath exercises.
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In their recent sermon, Oliver predictably gets the parable of the Fig tree in Luke 13 wrong. Initially describing the parable as “boring,” he creates a little musical of it to put his own spin on it.
As far as the parable, Jesus begins by using recent disasters to explain the urgency of repentance, using his parable of the fig tree to drive the point home and illustrate the principles of God’s Judgment. In David Guzik’s Enduring Word commentary, he notes
a. He came seeking fruit: After the warning unless you repent you will all likewise perish, Jesus used this parable to illustrate principles of God’s judgment. The first point was simple: God looks for fruit.
i. The fruit of our life shows what kind of person we really are. An apple tree will bring forth apples, not watermelons. If Jesus Christ has truly touched our life, it will show in the fruit we bear – even if it takes a while for the fruit to come forth.
ii. What fruit is God looking for? It certainly has to begin with the fruit of the Spirit, mentioned in Galatians 5:22-23: But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.
b. Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit…let it alone this year: The certain man in the parable illustrated the patience of God in judgment. He waited three years and gave it a second chance.
i. The certain man, illustrating God, did not leave the tree alone. He gave it special care. When God shows special care for someone it may feel to them like they are surrounded by manure, but He is nourishing and preparing it for fruit-bearing to come.
c. If not, after that you can cut it down: The certain man, illustrating God, was also just in His judgment. There finally would come the day of reckoning. It was not just an endless string of threats.
i. “There is a time for felling fruitless trees, and there is an appointed season for hewing down and casting into the fire the useless sinner.” (Spurgeon)
Oliver sees things much differently, insisting:
“The vineyard owner accused it of taking from the soil, of being a taker, of draining resources while giving nothing back. But that’s not how trees work. That’s not how life works. Even without fruit, this fig tree was giving to the soil, its roots were anchoring the earth, preventing erosion, its fallen leaves were decomposing, enriching the ground, and beneath the surface where no one was looking, its roots were in deep conversation with the underground world of fungi, bacteria, and other plants.
A struggling tree isn’t abandoned, it’s supported. A struggling tree is surrounded by nearby plants that send extra nutrients through these underground fungal networks, sustaining the weaker ones, giving them a chance to recover. And maybe that’s what the gardener saw. Not just what was missing, but what was already happening under the surface.
Maybe the tree wasn’t fruiting yet, but it was still connected, still contributing in ways that no one could see. The fig tree reminds us that worth isn’t just about what’s seen above ground. What if the seasons of waiting, the times we feel stuck and unfruitful, or like we have nothing left to offer? What if they’re actually when we’re doing the most important work? What if even when we feel like we’re failing, we’re still part of something sacred.
What if love is saying, I see what’s happening beneath the surface. I see the roots, I see the connection, I see the life still moving through you, don’t give up just yet. Maybe it’s not just about giving the fig tree more time, maybe it’s about seeing that it never was barren after all.
And capitalism, capitalism has seeped into our mentality so deeply that we don’t even recognize it. It’s not just about how we spend money, it’s about how we see each other. We’ve been trained to believe that value comes in what we produce, that our worth is measured by how much we accomplish, that people are only deserving of care and of attention and of dignity if they are useful
What if we all embodied the gardener and practiced that same grace toward one another? This is radical because it goes against everything capitalism tells us. It says people are not disposable. It says love is not transactional. It says rest is not laziness. It says worth is not earned. It is inherent. And maybe we start with ourselves. We let go of the guilt that tells us that we are only as good as what we produce, that we embrace the radical truth, that we are loved just as we are, even in the in-between seasons, because we are not commodities. We are not measured by our output. We are beloved. We are connected, and we are already enough.