Luke 12:41
Then he told this parable: A man had a fig tree growing in his vineyard, and he went to look for fruit on it but did not find any — the fig tree's three-year fruitlessness mirrors the three years of Jesus' ministry, and the owner's instruction to cut it down meets the gardener's intercession. The parable's unique element is the one-year extension: let me dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine; if not, then cut it down.