The Fig Tree
The Surgeon backed away from the operating table and told one of
the student Doctors to close for him. The Surgeon had a dinner
date to keep, tonight was the big night, he was going to ask his girl
to marry him and be his wife. He felt like he was on top of the
world because he had just made a lot of money doing that surgery.
The Surgeon went to his private office in the hospital and dressed
in his finest clothes. He was so proud of what he was wearing. He
said, Expensive and hand made, I had it all hand made in Sweden
last week and I flew there especially to have it done, It cost me
20 K, but I’m worth it, I make that doing a small surgery before
noon on any given day.
He left his office and got on the elevator, a man was on the
elevator with him, it was just the two of them there alone. The
man was holding an Empty jar in his hand with a picture of a
young girl taped to the jar. A little note was taped on the jar also,
it said, I’m Beth 5 years old, Give if you can, its OK if you can’t, I
understand, I need an operation real soon or I will die.
The Surgeon quickly said, I don’t carry any money on me. That
was anything but the truth. The man holding the jar didn’t say a
word. When the elevator doors opened, the Surgeon stepped out.
Another man standing there, waiting for the elevator, noticed the
nice suit the Surgeon was wearing. He said, Wow! what a suite, I
wish I could look that good.
The Surgeon walked on down the hallway feeling real proud of
himself. The other man stepped into the elevator that he had been
waiting on. When the elevator doors closed, the second man said,
to the man holding the jar - That fig tree does not bear fruit, let me
cut it down and cast it into the fire? The man holding the jar said -
I will cultivate around him, I will water him and fertilize him, if
then he does not bear fruit, cast him into the fire.
The Surgeon got into a taxi in front of the hospital. The driver
also had a picture of Beth taped up where the passenger could see
it. The Surgeon said, That little girl is quite popular it seems, how
come, do you know? The driver said, She goes to my church,
everyone loves her. Her mother works at a place that doesn’t offer
health insurance that is affordable. The insurance would cost
more than she clears in a week. The mother is a single parent.
The Surgeon said I went to church when I was a child, but I grew
out of it. If she is hoping for a miracle, good luck. The driver
said, You don’t believe in miracles? The Surgeon said, The only
miracles around here are my two hands, I do miracles with them
all the time. The driver said, What Miracles? The surgeon said, I
am a heart Surgeon, I can give life from the dead, when a man dies
I can take his heart out and put it in another man and make it start
beating again.
The driver said, That is what kind of surgery little Beth has to
have, a new heart, hers is defective some how. You could do the
surgery for her OK? The Surgeon said, Sure, as soon as she comes
up with about a million dollars in cash, then look me up. I don’t
do charity work. The drivers said A reward in heaven is better
than a million in cash. The Surgeon said Not to me.
He arrived at the fancy restaurant and found his lady setting at the
table he had reserved. On the table was another jar with Beth’s
picture on it. His lady said, Look Honey, this little girl needs
surgery, why don’t you see if you can help her out. The Surgeon
pushed the jar around behind the flowers out of site. The lady
pulled the jar right back out.
He didn’t get to ask her the big question, the jar soon lead into a
fight and a splitting up of the couple. The Surgeon had to go into
the men’s room to get a grip on what had just happened, being
dumped in front of every one there.
The Surgeon returned to his home to find two police officers
waiting on him. They said, We have a warrant for your arrest.
The Surgeon said, What are the charges? They said Tax Evasion.
He was hauled down town and put into a holding cell with a lot of
other criminals.
The fancy clothes that he was wearing drew attention from the
others right away. This was not the kind of place where that was a
good thing to do. The other prisoners decided to cast lots for his
clothes, winner takes all. He said, You can’t do that. He watched
as they gambled in front of him for his clothes.
The winner was a large man, he was like a leader of a motorcycle
gang. The biker said, Off with the clothes little man! The Surgeon
said, Now hold on just a minute. The biker started to slap him
around, he struck which ever side of his face that was turned to
him, first one then the other.
They took everything he had except for his boxer shorts and they
would have taken them too, had they been a little cleaner. The
Surgeon sat alone in the corner on the cold floor, while the others
mocked him and spit on him as they walked by. Later another
man came over and sat down beside of him on the floor.
This prisoner had not taken part in the taking of the Surgeons
clothes. The man said, Are you a Christian? The Surgeon
answered, No, I’m a Surgeon. The man said, I’m a Christian. The
Surgeon said, I didn’t think a Christian would be in jail, not a real
Christian anyway. The man said, I didn’t think a Surgeon would
be in jail , not a real Surgeon anyway.
The Surgeon said, Where are all of the guards? Don’t they ever
come around to check up on their prisoners? The man said, Yeah,
about as often as Doctors come around in the hospital to check on
their patients. About once every couple days or so, then only for a
minute. The Surgeon said, I could be dead by then. The man said,
See, thats how your patients feel too.
The man said, Who did you use your one phone call on, Your
lawyer? The Surgeon said Yes, I got his answering machine. The
man said, Doctors, Lawyers, and people you elected are always the
hardest to get a hold of when you need one. They tell you they
will always be there for you if you need them, but they never are.
The Surgeon said, Who did you call, your preacher? He said, I
haven’t called anyone, they will let me out in the morning anyway,
what does it matter where I sleep. The Surgeon said, I’ve got a
real nice bed at home waiting on me. The man said, I just sleep on
a park bench or under a bridge if it’s raining. I don’t have a home
of my own.
The Surgeon said, Your a homeless bum and you claim to be a
Christian, The man said, It doesn’t cost anything to believe, you
can go to heaven for free, Jesus paid the bill already. The
Surgeon said, I spent a fortune to get where I’m at. The man said,
It didn’t cost me anything to get here, I just went to sleep on the
wrong park bench, and nobody beat me up as soon as I got here to
take my clothes away from me either.
The man said, Do you want my shirt to keep you warm? The
Surgeon said, NO, I’d rather be cold then to wear a shirt like that.
The man said, The shirt is clean. The Surgeon said My clothes cost
more than any of you men make in a year, I wouldn’t use your
shirt to wipe my nose with. The man said, It’s better to be a poor
Christian than a rich man, Jesus said, It would be easier for a
camel to fit through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to get
into heaven.
The man and the Surgeon talked all night, the Surgeon talked
about his money and the man talked about Christ’s teachings. The
two men were released the next day. The Surgeon had to put up a
cash bond. Jesus was well pleased with the words spoken by the
poor man. Satan was pleased with what the Surgeon had said.
Satan asked if the Surgeon could be cast into the fire now, sense
he had been cultivated, watered and fertilized several times
already, and shows no sign of bearing fruit or even to bud? Jesus
said, I know him not.
The Surgeon found himself in Hell. Satan came up to the man
and said: Physician, I’m glad your here! Then Satan grabbed him
up and tossed the Surgeon into the lake of fire, for him to burn for
ever and ever.
Then Jimmy said: I have to go now, I’ll see you guys tomorrow in
school. Another little boy that had been listening to Jimmy’s story
said: I’m going home and tell this story to my mom. She is always
telling people that I want to be a Doctor and make a lot of money
when I grow up, I’m telling her that I changed my mind, Now I
want to be a preacher and save people instead.
Written By : Johnny lee Hall
