Luke 13:7 (WEB)
He said to the vine dresser, ‘Behold, these three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and found none. Cut it down! Why does it waste the soil?’
Fathers and councils · 23
Ambrose of Milan
“For repentance must be taken in hand not only anxiously, but also quickly, lest perchance that father of the house in the Gospel who planted a fig-tree in his vineyard should come and seek fruit on it, and finding none, say to the vine-dresser: “Cut it down, why doth it cumber the ground?”” — editor's note: S. Luke xiii. 7.
Read the whole comment“Are they not, perchance, those in which the Lord came to the earth and could not find fruit on the fig-tree, according to that which is written: “Behold, there are three years that I came seeking fruit on this fig-tree, and find none.”” — editor's note: S. Luke xiii. 7.
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Gregory of Nazianzus
- Gregory of Nazianzus, Letters Letter 77To Theodore, Bishop of Tyana
“Let us not dry up a fig tree which may yet bear fruit, nor condemn it as useless and cumbering the ground, when possibly the care and diligence of a skilful gardener may yet heal it.” — editor's note: S. Luke xiii. 7.
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Augustine of Hippo
“But intercession was made for it, that it might be let alone that year, that year, that if it bore fruit, well; if otherwise, it should be cut down.” — editor's note: Luke xiii. 6–17
Read the whole comment“And the husbandman intercedes, saying, “Lord, let it alone this year also, till I shall dig about it and dung it; and if it bear fruit, well; and if not, then Thou shalt come and cut it down.”” — editor's note: Luke xiii. 7, etc.
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Hippolytus of Rome
“(This seed is) a refuge for the terror-stricken, a shelter of the naked, a veil for modesty, (and) the sought-for produce, to which He came in search (for fruit), he says, three times, and did not discover (any).” — editor's note: Or,“ the Lord came in search of fruit” (Roeper). The reading followed in the translation agrees with the scriptural account; see Luke xiii. 7.
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Catena Aurea on Luke
- Titus of BostraCatena Aurea on Luke
The Jews were boasting, that while the eighteen had perished, they all remained unhurt. He therefore sets before them the parable of the fig tree, for it follows, He spake also this parable; A certain man had a fig…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
There was a vineyard of the Lord of hosts, which He gave for a spoil to the Gentiles. And the comparison of the fig tree to the synagogue is well chosen, because as that tree abounds with wide and spreading foliage,…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
The Lord Himself who established the synagogue by Moses, came born in the flesh, and frequently teaching in the synagogue, sought for the fruits of faith, but in the hearts of the Pharisees found none; therefore it…
Read the whole comment - Ambrose of MilanCatena Aurea on Luke
But our Lord sought, not because He was ignorant that the fig tree had no fruit, but that He might shew in a figure that the synagogue ought by this time to have fruit. Lastly, from what follows, He teaches that He…
Read the whole comment - BedeCatena Aurea on Luke
Which indeed came to pass under the Romans, by whom the Jewish nation was cut off, and thrust out from the land of promise.
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Luke
Or, in another sense, the fig tree is the race of mankind. For the first man after he had sinned concealed with fig leaves his nakedness, that is, the members from which we derive our birth.
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
But each one of us also is a fig tree planted in the vineyard of God, that is, in the Church, or in the world.
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
But our Lord came three times to the fig tree, because He sought after man’s nature before the law, under the law, and under grace, by waiting, admonishing, visiting; but yet He complains that for three years he…
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
Our nature yields no fruit though three times sought for; once indeed when we transgressed the commandment in paradise; the second time, when they made the molten calf under the law; thirdly, when they rejected the…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
But with great fear and trembling should we hear the word which follows, Cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground. For every one according to his measure, in whatsoever station of life he is, except he shew forth the…
Read the whole comment - Gregory of NazianzusCatena Aurea on Luke
Let us not then strike suddenly, but overcome by gentleness, lest we cut down the fig tree still able to bear fruit, which the care perhaps of a skilful dresser will restore. Hence it is also here added, And he…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
By the dresser of the vineyard is represented the order of Bishops, who, by ruling over the Church, take care of our Lord’s vineyard.
Read the whole comment - Theophylact of OhridCatena Aurea on Luke
Or the master of the household is God the Father, the dresser is Christ, who will not have the fig tree cut down as barren, as if saying to the Father, Although through the Law and the Prophets they gave no fruit of…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Luke
Or, the husbandman who intercedes is every holy man who within the Church prays for them that are without the Church, saying, O Lord, O Lord, let it alone this year, that is, for that time vouchsafed under grace,…
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
Or, the sins of the flesh are called the dung. From this then the tree revives to bear fruit again, for from the remembrance of sin the soul quickens itself to good works. But there are very many who hear reproof,…
Read the whole comment - Augustine of HippoCatena Aurea on Luke
That is, it will be well, but if not, then after that thou shalt cut it down; namely, when Thou shalt come to judge the quick and the dead. In the mean time it is now spared.
Read the whole comment - Gregory the GreatCatena Aurea on Luke
But he who will not by correction grow rich unto fruitfulness, falls to that place from whence he is no more able to rise again by repentance.
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Cross-references · 34
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance II.1.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance II.1.
Cited together in Sermons on New Testament Lessons Sermon 22.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance II.1.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance II.1.
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 3.
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance II.1.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance II.1.
Cited together in On the Holy Trinity IV.4.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 3.
Cited together in Concerning Repentance II.1.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 3.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 3.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 3.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 3.
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.
Cited together in On the Holy Trinity IV.4.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in Concerning Widows Chapter 3.
Cited together in The Refutation of All Heresies VIII.1.
Cited together in Letters Letter 77.