Jesus Didn’t Finish the Parable So I Fixed It Up For Him

Then he told this parable (but didn’t finish it): “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and found none.  So he said to the gardener, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’ He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.’” – Luke 13: 6 – 9 (NRSV)

Ending 1
Then the man answered the gardener, “Do as you have said.”  And the gardener lavished great care on the fig tree for a year - watering it, fertilizing the ground, carefully pruning it, but at the end of the year there were still no figs.  The man returned and said, “Dig it up and throw it into the fire. And let the ground be given to another that will bear fruit.”

Ending 2
Then the man answered the gardener, “Do as you have said.”  And the gardener lavished great care on the fig tree for year – watering it, fertilizing the ground, carefully pruning it, but at the end of the year there were still no figs.  The man returned and said, “Give it another year.  There still may be hope for this tree.”

Ending 3
Then the man answered the gardener, “No.  This tree will not produce any fruit here.  Dig it up and move it elsewhere. Perhaps it will do better on the other side of the garden.”

Ending 4
Then the man answered the gardener, “No.  This tree will never produce any fruit. Cut it down.  But sell the timber to the carpenter.  There is still use in this tree even in its unfruitfulness.”

Ending 5
Then the man answered the gardener, “Do as you have said.”  And the gardener lavished great care on the fig tree for a year – watering it, fertilizing the ground, carefully pruning it, but shortly before the end of the year the tree was struck by lighting and burned to the ground.