I believe that we as a nation, as well as, as individuals, go through different periods of our lives. We are like the washing machine that fills, tumbles, then spins, and then repeats those three cycles again. Except, our cycles are Fig Tree, Trauma/Decline, and Transition, then repeat. The scariest period is the Fig Tree. It is akin to Jonah sleeping on the boat, just before the storm that causes him to be swallowed by the whale. To understand this, you must hear Jesus’ parable of the Fig Tree:
A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any. So he said to the man who took care of the vineyard, “For three years now I’ve been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree and have found none. Cut it down! Why should it use up the soil?”
“Sir,” the man replied, “leave it alone for one more year, and I’ll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”
– Luke 13:6-9
1) The fig tree is meant to be one thing, but it is often another. Jesus tells us that our lives are meant to be fruitful. And what is fruit? Being a nation with a booming stock market and an impenetrable border? Being a comfortable with our lifestyle and enjoying our hobbies? There is a theme repeated in many of Jesus’ teachings and parable regarding the punishment coming to those who are neither fruitful nor faithful to the task that the master has given them, but the clearest definition of these expectations is found in Matthew 25:
Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink, I was a stranger and you did not invite me in, I needed clothes and you did not clothe me, I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me.
The worst part about living in a fig tree period is that it feels normal. The tree says, “I’m doing okay.” This is a “grace period,” but similar to the time a student receives to improve grades, or like the time when a roof needs replacing but hasn’t started leaking. The fig tree period will one day end.
2) Trauma/Decline period often follows a fig tree season. This time of trouble is not a punishment from God. In Luke, the story of a woman who suffered a crippling disease for eighteen years follows the fig tree parable. This disability wasn’t a punishment. Jesus refuses to assign blame, but simply heals her. Her eighteen years of Trauma segues into Transition.
3) Transition is a time in which we come to terms with what we’ve lost, realize our new reality, forgive ourselves and others, and learn a new way to be fruitful. The woman that Jesus healed, now entered a new phase in which she had to learn how to live without her disability, and to form new relationships that aren’t based upon receiving the alms and care of others.
At the beginning of his second term, President Trump said that we were entering a period of transition. He was mistaken; he can’t define the word transition, nor does he understand our nation’s history. We entered a period of Transition in late 2020, as we recovered from the trauma of COVID-19. Joe Biden was a transitional leader. Having been an intentional interim pastor and trained transitional leader myself, I get it. People called me slow because I acted intentionally to lower congregational anxiety and patiently to manage needed change. We are now having trauma and economic decline. This is the phase we are in. The next phase will be Fig Tree. If we don’t learn to be fruitful, more trauma will follow.
Now, it needs to be said that the three phases don’t always cycle through this predictable order. Let’s say you get married. Then, you would have two transitions in a row. First that of falling in love, reorienting your values around what you appreciate in the other person, and reforming your friendships to support your new relationship state. Then, after the wedding, you have a different transition as you form a new identity as someone’s spouse. This is a Transition – Transition sequence can be followed by either a Fig Tree period or a Trauma/Decline period. The timing of these things is out of our control, but we can choose to learn what God is teaching us through these three phases. This is what spiritual formation is all about.