Fig Tree

Watch on YouTube/ read online

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UEmaaw3Wuyw

Luke 13: 1-9

Context

NOTE: Our minister Paul is away. These notes are derived from: Tom Wright. Luke for Everyone. London: SPCK, 2004.

Pontius Pilate had ordered the slaughter of a group of Galilean pilgrims to the temple. A building had collapsed in a suburb of Jerusalem. At this point in the gospel, Jesus is about to go to Jerusalem leading a group of Galilean pilgrims. Is he not afraid? Or are the two disasters the start of the punishment of those who do not follow his way, as Jesus has been warning?

This story is not about heaven and hell, but about the consequences of rebelling against Rome, which will affect everyone. Buildings will fall, people will be slaughtered.

Is Jesus the vineyard-owner in the story, or the gardener? In both cases the tree will be cut down. For Luke, when Jerusalem fell in AD 70, it was a direct result of refusing to follow the way of peace Jesus had been teaching. How do Jesus’ eventual fate in Jerusalem and the fate of the city relate to each other? What is God up to, both then and now?

NB. People often planted fig trees in vineyards – it was good for the grapes.

Plan

20250323 Fig TreeDownload
Create

Refreshments are served!		/fig You have 20 minutes or so to build something in response to the story, either on your own, or team up with others.
  • We are going to start out in Survival Mode (Peaceful).
  • Give each other plenty of room to give a chance for your builds to grow
  • Nurture a plant/crop/tree using the material you find in the chests
  • Think about the best way to fetch water. You could use buckets, build a channel and/or a water tank. BE VERY CAREFUL not to flood each other’s builds.
  • Can you use bonemeal or potions to help your garden grow?
  • Can you harvest seeds to make your garden/orchard/farm even bigger?

Some words from the other readings for this week:

“Listen now, my people, and come to me;
come to me, and you will have life!” Isaiah 55: 3

“O God, you are my God, and I long for you.
My whole being desires you; like a dry, worn-out, and waterless land, my soul is thirsty for you.” Psalm 63:1

“All ate the same spiritual bread 4 and drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from the spiritual rock that went with them; and that rock was Christ himself.”
1 Corinthians 10: 3 
WonderWhile you are creating, think about these questions with the adults on your table.
 
I Wonder: 
  • which part of this story you like the best?
  • what part is the most important?
  • where you are in this story or what part of the story is about you?
  • if there is any part of this story we can leave out and still have all the story we need?
There are many other things that can make us WONDER – what are you thinking about?
Final PrayerWe’ll finish with a prayer
PlayShall we make the world creative mode?

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