The parable of the barren fig tree allows one more year: the owner of the vineyard who wants to cut it down is stayed by the gardener's intercession — let me dig around it and fertilize it; if it bears fruit next year, fine; if not, then cut it down. The fig tree's unfruitfulness after three years of searching mirrors Israel's response to three years of Jesus' ministry, and the extended deadline is not a guarantee of safety but an act of mercy that nevertheless has a terminus.

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