“Jesus also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none.” Lk 13:6
Missionaries uniquely understand what 1 Peter 2:11 meant when he wrote about “aliens and exiles”. Sometimes we just feel out of place, or out of sync with what’s happening around us—which can be in our adopted country or even when we come back to the land of our birth. Sometimes we feel downright extraterrestrial, or what it must have been like when Rip Van Winkle woke up.
I experienced this in Singapore. They spoke English, so naturally I was supposed to understand what they were saying. Until I didn’t. For instance, they loved to use acronyms—sometimes rattling two or three off in a sentence. They all knew what those three or four letters stood for. I was clueless.
One I heard quite often was KPI. I seemed to be the only person in the room who had no idea what they were talking about. One day I got up the courage to ask someone, and found out KPI stands for “Key Performance Indicator”. I learned KPIs answer the questions: Are we accomplishing what we set out to do? or, If we continue forward on this trajectory, will we reach our desired destination as planned?
Missions worldwide went through an upheaval during and after the COVID years. We all got some form of PTSD (two more acronyms). We got waylaid, sidetracked, and benched. But it is time to shake it off, take stock, reorient, and forge ahead. This is true for anyone going through major transitions. We must maintain a curious and probing posture. What is the Holy Spirit saying to us here and now? How do we shift, apply new methods, adjust our goals to new realities? How do I take these five, or ten talents I’ve been given, and invest them in a way that pleases the Master? One day he will for sure come knocking.
Like Jesus did when He visited the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3; they all receive a thorough and honest report card. He keeps repeating one phrase throughout, “I know your works”. He might as well have said, “You can’t fool me” or as The Passion Translation says, “I know all that you’ve done for me…but…”
Likewise, in the brief parable in Luke 13:6-9 Jesus comes expecting results. He is “seeking fruit”. It seems God too has KPIs. Every year He comes to check how his fig tree is doing. We also discover he is patient, coming back the next year, and then the next. Still, we must never confuse patience with passivity. He for sure will come back and check again. We also see that He is gracious, magnanimous even. Though the owner says “cut it down”, He intercedes for the tree, then bends down to gently dig around the trunk and roots, literally getting his hands dirty with just the right amount of loving manure. When he comes the next year, it’s fruit, or it’s fire. Grace may be a free gift, but that is not the same as a blank check. It is an injection of undeserved resources meant to empower, resulting in fruitfulness.
“Be fruitful and multiply” was not just the first command ever spoken to mankind, it was a revelation of God’s very heart. So let us consider how to stir one another up to good works, even as Paul exhorted his coworker Archippus with a KPI at the end of his letter to the Colossians: “take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it” (4:17).