Daily Bible Reading 4th October 2026 // Luke 13:1-9
1 There were some present at that very time who told him about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. 2 And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? 3 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. 4 Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? 5 No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.”
6 And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 And he said to the vine dresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ 8 And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig round it and put on manure. 9 Then if it should bear fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’”
As to the parable itself (6-9) the fig-tree is the Jewish people. It is they who were planted in the world by God, that they should bear fruit for His glory. But, of course, by analogy, the parable is also of universal application; for as Israel was the representative of those who afterwards should be chosen by God as His people, there is a warning here also for the Church, and also for the individual believer, and, indeed, in even more general terms, for nations and communities, in terms of the stewardship committed by God to them. Let us look first at the message for nations and communities, in relation to Jesus' application of the parable to His own people. His complaint against them was that they did not read the signs of the times, and that they could not see the ominous indications of impending judgment. What, then, of our own nation? In the light of the teaching of this passage can anyone doubt how Jesus would interpret our crisis-time? The story of the decline and fall of great powers is only too historical - far too historical to allow us to suppose that it is simply melodramatic to suggest that judgment is impending for our nation and the nations of the West. It may be that the present recurrent economic crisis will be resolved, that unemployment will be reduced, that violence will be restrained, that the breakdown of law and order will be healed. But if so, it will be because, unseen, a Hidden Intercessor will have said, 'Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it, and dung it; and if it bear fruit well: and if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down'.