God appeared to Moses and commanded him to lead the Israelites out of slavery. "bring him to a fertile and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey.". God's plan was "plant" Israel as a fertile vineyard - spiritually and materially - in her own land, free from foreign oppression. God wanted Israel to bear the spiritual fruit of holiness, as a light to all nations.
Knowing this helps us to understand today's readings. The first reading describes Moses' encounter with God in the desert, where the Lord, in the form of a burning bush, reveals himself to Moses and sends him to liberate the Israelites.
In the second reading, Paul gives us some fragments of this deliverance, describing how God led Israel through the wilderness.
It is in this light that we appreciate the disappointment Jesus feels in today's Gospel. In him, God has not only partially revealed himself as to Moses. Jesus is the full revelation of the Father. Because of their sinfulness, the Israelites were again groaning under foreign rule. The Bible constantly shows God allowing Israel to be invaded or taken into exile as punishment for their sins; the fact that they did not enjoy independence was because Israel stubbornly turned to foreign gods and away from the one true God who alone could offer them freedom. And so we learn of an act of brutality on the part of the Roman governor Pilate towards some Israelites and of a tower falling on others (a hint perhaps that unless we build on God all our projects will collapse).
Israel, often described in the Bible as God's chosen vine, does not bear the fruit that God intended, producing sour grapes instead (cf. Isaiah 5). In this parable, the example is that of a fig tree in the vineyard. Sitting under one's own vine and fig tree was a metaphor for freedom and independence (see Micah 5, 5) that Israel could not enjoy because of their sins. And God had good reasons for giving Israel up: "three years I have been coming to look for fruit on this fig tree, and I can't find it.". That "three" is an allusion to the Trinity in divine counsel. Divine justice demands that the tree, Israel, be cut down. But God's mercy always triumphs. The vinedresser, who represents Jesus, God the Son, intercedes for him and offers himself, "I will dig around it and throw manure on it." to give it another chance. It will be the digging and fertilizing of the suffering and death of Christ in his Passion. In Lent, God invites us to participate in his digging and composting for the salvation of souls.
