163. Now consider the customs and spirits of the Jews, who, like the first fruits of a barren synagogue, have fallen by the resemblance of a crumbling log, so that lasting fruits might succeed beyond the age of our race. For indeed, the first people of the synagogue, weak as the root of withered works, could not draw in the abundance of natural wisdom. And therefore, like useless fruit, it fell away, so that a new people of the Church might emerge from the same keys of the fruitful tree, enriched by the ancient religion. Therefore, he who existed ceased to be, so that he who did not exist could begin to exist. However, those from the first Israel whom the more powerful branch of nature had brought forth, shaded by the Law and the Cross, colored by the double juice of both, like the example of a growing fruit, excelled in the beauty of their fruits compared to the others, to whom it is said: You shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28).
Nor is it irrelevant that Adam and Eve, those first parents of our race and of our error, who covered themselves with the leaves of this tree (Gen. III, 7), deserved to be exiled from paradise when, aware of their transgression, they avoided the presence of the Lord walking in paradise, in order to signify what would happen in the last times when the Jewish people, upon the coming of the Lord and Savior who called them, recognizing that they had been stripped of virtues through the temptations of the devil and fearing the unhidden stains of their conscience, would go astray from the true religion, confused by their transgressions, and would depart from the Lord, concealed by the flattery of their words and the shameful deeds they committed.
Therefore, those who did not pick fig leaves, but apples, were eliminated from the kingdom of God; for they were in a living soul. The second Adam came, and he was no longer seeking leaves, but fruits; for he was in a life-giving spirit. However, in the spirit, the fruit of virtue is acquired, and the Lord is worshipped (I Cor. XV, 45). But the Lord was seeking not because he did not know that the fig tree lacked fruit, but to show in a figure that the Synagogue ought to have fruit already. Finally, from the following, it teaches that it did not come before its time, which it came for three years; for you have it thus:
(Vers. 7.)
(Verse 7) Look, it has been three years since I came seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I have found none. Cut it down, why should it even use up the ground?
166. He came to Abraham, he came to Moses, he came to Mary, that is, he came in the flesh, he came under the Law, he came in a body. We recognize his coming through his blessings. In one place there is purification, in another sanctification, in another justification: circumcision purified, the Law sanctified, grace justified. He is one in all, and in him are all things. For no one can be cleansed unless they fear the Lord: no one deserves to receive the Law unless they are purified from guilt: no one comes to grace unless they know the Law. Therefore, the Jewish people could not be purified because they had circumcision not of the heart but of the body, nor could they be sanctified because they were ignorant of the power of the Law and followed physical rather than spiritual things (but the Law is spiritual), nor could they be justified because they did not repent of their sins and therefore did not know grace.
167. Therefore, deservedly, no fruit was found in the Synagogue; and for this reason, it is ordered to be cut down. But the good cultivator, and perhaps he in whom the foundation of the Church lies, foreseeing that another should be sent to the Gentiles, but himself to those who are from circumcision, intervenes religiously so that he is not cut down, relying on his own calling and even asserting that the people of the Jews can be saved through the Church. And therefore he says:
(Vers. 8.)
(Verse 8.) Forgive her and this year, until I dig around it, and I will put a basket of manure.
How quickly did he recognize that the hardness and pride of the Jews were the causes of their barrenness! Therefore, he knows how to cultivate, who knows how to detect vices. He promises that their hard hearts are to be dug up by apostolic hoes; so that the long neglect may turn the hidden mind inside out with sharp speech, and with the heart cut open, it may awaken the sense already thriving with airy breath; lest the heap of worldly wisdom bury and hide the root of wisdom. He also says that the dung basket is to be thrown. Truly great is the power of dung, which is so great that it makes the infertile fertile, the dry green, and the barren fruitful. Job sat in it while he was being tested, and he could not be defeated (Job 2:8). And Paul considers it as dung, in order to gain Christ (Philippians 3:8). Finally, when Job had lost many things before, after he sat in dung, the devil had nothing more to take from him. Therefore, the good earth that is dug is a good dung that is spread. Finally, the Lord raises up the needy from the earth, and lifts up the poor from the dung. (Psalm 113:7).
Therefore, through the exercise of spiritual understanding and the affection of humility, that good worshipper of Christ considers even the Jews to be fruitful in the Gospel. For he remembers that the Lord spoke through Haggai, saying, 'On the twenty-fourth day of the ninth month, from the day the foundation of the temple of the Lord Almighty was laid, I will bless the vine, the fig tree, the pomegranate, and the olive tree, and they will not fail to bear fruit' (Haggai 2:20). By this, it is revealed that at the very end of the year, that is, at the decline of an aging age, the holy temple of God, which is the Church, is to be built, so that by the sanctification of baptism, the Jews and the nations of the people may be able to have the fruit of their merits.
Therefore, by the nature of the tree, the image of the Synagogue is indicated, fruitful in secondary benefits; for we are from the seed of the fathers. And rightly the Jews are compared to fat slipping away because, with their hearts hardened and their necks stiff, they cannot reach the permanence of themselves. But if they die and seem to fall from this world, so that they may be reborn in the inner person through the grace of baptism, they will certainly be fruitful. However, the perfidy of stubborn people has rendered the Synagogue useless; and therefore it is commanded to be cut down as if it were barren.
I think that what is said about the Jews should be avoided by everyone, especially by us, so that we do not occupy a fruitful place in the Church through empty merits. We should be like blessed apple trees and bear internal fruits, such as the fruits of modesty, the fruits of unity, the fruits of mutual charity and love, all enclosed in the womb of the Church as one. We should not let any harmful breeze, hailstorm, heat of desire, or downpour of passions harm us.
172. However, some consider that this fig tree is not a symbol of the Synagogue, but rather a representation of evil and wickedness. The only difference is that they choose a specific kind for the genus. They say that they take caution in this matter because the Lord said to the fig tree, 'Let no fruit grow on you ever again' (Matthew 21:19), even though we know that many Jews believed, and will continue to believe. But those who believe are no longer the fruit of the Synagogue, but of the Church. And the one who is born again in the Church is not born of the Synagogue. Just as there are those who have gone out from among us, but were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have remained with us (1 John 2:19). So we say about those who believe from among the Jews, that if they were of the Synagogue, they would remain in the Synagogue. But they have gone out from the Synagogue so that it may be believed that they were not of the Synagogue. Then, in order to counteract the malice, someone intervened and said that it should be cultivated to bring forth fruit; for this reason the Lord came, to destroy the seeds of wickedness (1 John 3:5).
(Vers. 10, 11.)
(Verse 10, 11.) Now he was teaching in their synagogue on the sabbaths. And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity for eighteen years and was bent over.
How quickly he indicated what he was saying about the Synagogue! He shows that he came to the same tree in which he was teaching. Finally, he assumes the form of the weak woman as a symbol of the Church, who, having fulfilled the measure of the Law and the resurrection, is raised to everlasting peace and cannot feel the inclination of our weakness. This woman could not have been healed in any other way, except that she fulfilled the Law and received grace: the Law in precepts, grace in baptism, through which we rise to Christ, who has died to the world. For in ten words, there is the perfection of the Law; in the number eight, there is the fullness of the resurrection. Therefore, the observance of the Sabbath is a sign of the future, in which each person, having fulfilled the Law and received grace through the mercy of Christ, will be freed from the troubles of bodily frailty. And so, in preparation for this, sanctification was established as a sign beforehand through Moses (Exodus 19:10), in order to be a practice of future sanctification and spiritual observance by abstaining from secular works. Finally, God rested from the works of the world (Genesis 2:2), but not from the works which are eternal and constant; as the Son says: 'My Father is working until now, and I am working' (John 5:17), so that our secular works, not our religious ones, would cease in resemblance to God.
174. (Verse 14.) But the ruler of the synagogue, not understanding this, was prohibiting anyone from being healed on the Sabbath, even though the Sabbath is a foreshadowing of future festivities. Therefore, the Sabbath is a holiday not for good works, but for evil works; and it is prescribed that we observe no Sabbath carrying the burden of sins, nor the Sabbaths of fasting and good works after death. Hence, the Lord seems to respond spiritually when he says:
(Vers. 15.)
(Verse 15.) Hypocrites, each one of you does not untie his ox or donkey on the Sabbath and lead it to drink?
Why did not another animal indicate, except to show, that even though the leaders of the Synagogue opposed it, it would still come to pass that the Jewish and Gentile people would abandon the thirst of the body and the heat of this world, due to the abundance of the Lord's fountain? For the ox knows its owner, and the donkey the manger of its Lord (Isaiah 1:3). Therefore, that people who before were sustained by the cheap hay that withers before it is plucked, received the bread that descended from heaven. And therefore, because of the calling of two peoples, he says that the Church will be saved, at the time when the Law is fulfilled, and in the age of the Lord's resurrection, he received the time of his redemption. How merciful, then, is the Lord, how pious in both, when he either has mercy or avenges! In the Synagogue, he orders the cutting down of a tree as a symbol, in the Church, he saves a woman. What a sweet parable! And yet, the solution is easy. He compares a bond to a bond, so that by the pretense of the Jews, their own actions may be refuted. For when they themselves release the chains from animals on the Sabbath, they criticize the Lord, who freed mankind from the chains of sin.
(Vers. 18, 19.)
(Verse 18, 19.) To what shall I compare the kingdom of God? What shall I liken it to? It is like a grain of mustard seed, which, when a man took and sowed in his garden, grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air nested in its branches.
176. The present reading teaches us that we should consider the nature of comparisons, not just the appearance. So let us see why the sublime kingdom of heaven is compared to a grain of mustard seed: for I remember reading elsewhere about the grain of mustard seed, where it is compared to faith, with the Lord saying: If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain: Move from here to there, and it will move (Matthew XVII, 19 and 21). And this is not a minor, but a great faith, which can command a mountain to move and be thrown into the sea; for the Lord does not demand a mediocre faith from the apostles, who know that they must strive against the height of spiritual wickedness. Do you want to know that great faith is required? Read in the Apostle: And if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains (I Cor. XIII, 2).
177. Therefore, if the kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, and faith is like a mustard seed: then faith is certainly the kingdom of heaven, and the kingdom of heaven is faith. So, whoever has faith, has the kingdom of heaven. And the kingdom of God is within us, and faith is within us; for we read: The kingdom of God is within you (Luke 17:21). And elsewhere: Have faith in yourselves (Matthew 16:19). Finally, Saint Peter, who had full faith, received the keys of the kingdom of heaven to unlock it for others.