Soil

Jesus told this parable: “[The man who owned the vineyard] said to the man working in the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it.’” – Luke 13:7-8 (NRSVUE) 

Everything I have, I earned. Everything I’ve achieved is down to my hard work and nobody else’s. If you’ve failed, it’s because you’re a failure. You didn’t grind hard enough, don’t have enough grit. Spent too much on lattes. 

That’s some people’s line, anyway. It’s nice for them, because it absolves them of a lot of responsibility. The responsibility to thank or acknowledge the world for the aid, privilege, boost that they received. The responsibility to aid, privilege, boost others. 

Against which nonsense Jesus preaches this parable. The vineyard owner, a rugged individualist, an up-by-your-bootstraps kind of guy, has given this tree three years to produce something, and it hasn’t. Three strikes, and it’s out. The arborist, however, knows that fruit production is about much more than the abilities of one tree. It’s about all sorts of matrices and factors: water, light, pollinators, and of course, the structural and chemical health of the soil.  

The individual is only half of the equation. The arborist knows that the place where the tree is planted is just as important to its flowering as the tree itself. 

The rugged individualist doesn’t touch the tree for three years and then says, “Cut it down.” God the arborist says, “Not till we see how it does in my kind of soil.” 

Prayer
Thank you, God, for all the gardens and all the gardeners who have helped me thrive. Amen.

About the Author
Quinn G. Caldwell is Chaplain of the Protestant Cooperative Ministry at Cornell University. His most recent book is a series of daily reflections for Advent and Christmas called All I Really Want: Readings for a Modern Christmas. Learn more about it and find him on Facebook at Quinn G. Caldwell.