In the vineyard is a fig tree that has not borne fruit for three years. In the owner s judgement, the tree s time has run out and it deserves to be cut down. It is also taking strength from the soil which nourishes the other trees. But the gardener begs his master to be patient and allow him more time, another year of extra effort, of digging and fertilizing the tree to see if it will bear some fruit. It takes a long drought, continual and insidious gnawing at the roots, or protracted neglect to make the tree barren.
Human life is fragile, death can be capricious.
Like the Galileans or the tower victims, we are never sure how many more next years lie ahead of us. Benedict sees God s patience towards us as the foundation of the greatest patience we are called to have with one another. This will bear the fruit of good zeal for the reign of God, for it is a sharing in Christ s own patiens , his paschal mystery of passion, death and resurrection. In the first reading we listen to the story of how God took possession of another tree, a worthless bramble bush, and changed it into a flaming but unconsumed sign of his presence. Moses makes the first movement of conversion when he turns aside to see why the bush is not burned up.