A story about a fig tree
6 Then Jesus told this story. ‘A man had a garden where he grew fruit. He had planted a fig tree there. But when he came to look for fruit on it, he could not find any. 7 So he said to his gardener, “Look, for three years, I have come to look for fruit on this tree. But I have never found any. So cut the tree down! I do not think that it should be here. It is wasting the ground.”
8 “Master,” the gardener replied, “please leave the tree in the ground for one more year. Let me dig round it and let me put some good soil there. 9 If I do that, next year, the fig tree may have some fruit on it. If it does not, I will cut it down for you.” ’
13:8This would make the ground good to grow things.
13:9The people are like a tree that has no fruit. But God wants them to believe. And he wants them to obey Jesus. If they do that, they will be like a tree with fruit. If they refuse to believe in Jesus, they will die.
