Parable of the Barren Fig Tree

The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree (Luke 13:6–9Biblos.com: Search, Read, Study the Bible in Many Languages.) written in the New Testament is a parable of Jesus.  It is a parable about a fig tree which does not produce fruit, unlike the parable of the budding fig tree.

 What Jesus said 
Then he told this parable:

What it means
The owner of the vineyard represents God.  The fig tree is a symbol for Jerusalem (and also for Jesus's church).  The vineyard where the tree was planted is the earth.  The tree was meant to bear the good fruit of the Holy Spirit and the gardener (vinedresser) is Jesus.Timothy Maurice Pianzin, Parables of Jesus: In the Light of Its Historical, Geographical & Socio-Cultural Setting, Tate Publishing, 2008, , pp. 235–237. Fig trees are often planted in vineyards.Peter Rhea Jones, Studying the Parables of Jesus, Smyth & Helwys, 1999, , pp. 123–133.

The parable indicates Jesus is giving his hearers one last chance to repent their sins. "These three years" refers to the period of his ministry on earth. The parable is connected to the miracle of cursing the fig tree. Richard Whately commented that this parable "is one which our Lord may be said to have put before his hearers twice; once in words, once in action."Richard Whately, Lectures on Some of the Scripture Parables, John W. Parker and Son, 1859, p. 153.

Related pages
 Figs in the Bible

References

Barren Fig Tree