Summer in the Parables kicks off with a challenging parable that Jesus told in Luke 13 about a fig tree that didn't produce any figs. The owner wanted the tree cut down, but the servant asked for one more year to cultivate and nurture the tree to see if he could help it produce fruit.

In the parable, we are the fig(less) tree. We have been provided the opportunity to produce the fruit of faith but have not. But instead of cutting us down, the Servant (Jesus) tends to us and nurtures us: not with manure around the base of the tree, but by the spilling of his own precious blood as he hung upon the tree.