13.6-9
Jesus said, "A certain man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard. He came looking for fruit on it and found none. So he said to the man who pruned the vines, 'This is the third year I've come looking for fruit on this tree. I haven't found any, so cut it down. Why should it take the goodness out of the ground?'

"In reply the man said, 'Sir, leave it for this year, then I can cultivate and manure it. Perhaps it will yield next year. But if it doesn't we can get on and cut it down.'"

13.18-19
Jesus said, "How does God do things?* How does it look? It's something like a mustard seed which a man took and sowed in his garden. It grew into a tree and 'The birds of the air roosted in its branches.'"

13.20-21
Jesus said, "What comes into mind when we think of how God works? It's like yeast which a woman took and mixed into three measures of flour until the whole lot was leavened."

13.24, 30
Jesus said, "Strive to enter through the narrow doorway. I say to you that many people will long to get in but won't be able to. Keep in mind that there are those who will come first and yet be last; and there are those who will be last and yet come first."

* The phrase "The way God gets things done" and "... how God acts" replace the more familiar "The kingdom of God" and the "God's imperial rule" of the Jesus Seminar. The phrases could also be rendered by something like "The way God works in the world". The thinking behind this translation is [a] that kingdoms and empires are no longer viable paradigms for ways of organising society in the 21st century; and [b] that no one nation can now be reasonably seen as operating in isolation. Each nation is inextricably bound up with every other. So when we now think of our world, it makes sense to imagine an all-embracing, highly complex, totally integrated system. The tiniest part of this system affects every other part. When we imagine God acting today, it no longer works well to think of an emperor or a king giving commands for things to be done by underlings. If God does intervene in the world - and that's by no means certain - then something like the phrases used here seem more expressive than those favoured by tradition.

Chapter 14 >>>

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