The fig grower’s gift
by Pastor Matthew Bishop
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‘I will bring my people Israel back from exile … They will make gardens and eat their fruit’ (Amos 9:14).
Mr L’bruno* was our Italian neighbour in the very Italian area of Adelaide I grew up in. Like so many of the good and peaceful folk around us, he was a first-generation post-World War II immigrant. On his little block of Rostrevor clay, he had the most amazing garden full of fruit and veg. Directly on our western fence grew his magnificent fig tree. He hardly spoke any English. It must have been hard for him. I think that’s what might have precluded him from not much more than a wave most of the time. That was until the figs ripened. Then his face would regularly appear over the fence, grinning from ear to ear with a big bag full of ripened figs. While he might not have been able to find the words through the rest of the year, his generous heart expressed through those figs and beaming face showed his true character.
It’s thought that the prophet Amos was a fig grower. While he was clearly capable with words, they were words that were hard to hear. For nine chapters, Amos tells of God’s judgement of pending destruction in response to the unfaithfulness of the Israelites. It must have been hard for Amos to communicate this side of God. Then, suddenly, there he is in the last few verses telling us about God’s generosity. So great will God’s abundance be that the next harvest will follow even before the reaper and the picker can finish their work on the last (verse 13).
The Holy Spirit wants us to know that, ultimately, the return from exile Amos points to is the redeeming work of Jesus, our saviour (verse 14). It is God’s true character and his proper work to be about generously returning us from exile into the abundant kingdom of his grace. Certainly, we may find times of God’s silence and judgement crushing. But as sure as Mr L’bruno handed those big bags of figs kept over the fence, even more so does God’s word of grace pronounce his everlasting favour on us (complete with a big God-grin, I think!).
Lord God, I thank you for this picture of new wine and robust seasons in the prophecy of Amos. Even as I look forward to your eternal feast, I know that’s only possible because you have brought me back from exile through the gift of your son Jesus’s life. Keep me receiving and sharing him and his Spirit’s fruit. Through him, I pray. Amen.
*Name changed
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