Expecting fruit

Our Lord tells a parable in which the owner of vineyard has a righteous and reasonable expectation of fruit from the tree he has planted; arrives at righteous frustration with the absence of fruit; shows wonderful consideration, willing to invest yet more in the hope of the tree producing, but eventually ready to cut it down if it bears no fruit, that it might not draw away that which would be a blessing to others. We consider the application to the people to whom Christ first spoke, and to churches and individuals today.