The Saturday of Ember Week in September
Posted on September 26, 2026 by under
Scripture: St. Luke 13:6-17 (NKJV)
13:6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”
10 Now He was teaching in one of the synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And behold, there was a woman who had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years, and was bent over and could in no way raise herself up. 12 But when Jesus saw her, He called her to Him and said to her, “Woman, you are loosed from your infirmity.” 13 And He laid His hands on her, and immediately she was made straight, and glorified God.
14 But the ruler of the synagogue answered with indignation, because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath; and he said to the crowd, “There are six days on which men ought to work; therefore come and be healed on them, and not on the Sabbath day.”
15 The Lord then answered him and said, “Hypocrite! Does not each one of you on the Sabbath loose his ox or donkey from the stall, and lead it away to water it? 16 So ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has bound—think of it—for eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath?” 17 And when He said these things, all His adversaries were put to shame; and all the multitude rejoiced for all the glorious things that were done by Him.
Devotion
It seems this reading is often dealt with as if it weren’t related to what comes before it in Luke 13: the question addressed to Jesus about some Galileans whom Pilate had slaughtered in the middle of worshiping at the Temple. Jesus responds to the report by saying that those slaughtered shouldn’t be considered worse than any others, but that everyone should learn from it to repent, lest they receive a fate even worse. Perhaps that fate would be a violent death, or a peaceful one that led them to the hell they deserved, rather than to eternal life!
The story of the fig tree not producing, then, is a story about God’s great forbearance: His patience now being shown to the Jews in the visitation of God the Son, and the continuation of that mercy a full forty years from His advent, before the Temple would be destroyed. The barren fig tree that Israel had become would not immediately be uprooted when Jesus ascended to heaven. It would be dug about and fertilized by the Gospel of the Christ and the outcome of His disciples’ living it out before them, so that it might yet bear fruit that glorifies the Lord. As an ox is loosed from the stall for water on the Sabbath, they must see that the true restoration and refreshment of that day is by neither their work nor relaxation, but the Lord’s continuing work, His own giving of that rest.
Collect: We beseech Thee, O Lord, that our weakness may be upheld by Thy healing mercy, so that what of itself is falling into ruin may be restored by Thy clemency; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Collect for the Sixteenth Sunday after Trinity Sunday
Lord, we pray Thee, that Thy grace may always go before and follow after us, and make us continually to be given to all good works; through Jesus Christ, Thy Son, our Lord, Who liveth and reigneth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One God, world without end. Amen.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
