will even receive special care. But if at the end of that time it has not produced fruit, it shall be cut down. What does the parable mean, in this context? It clearly means that those of us who survive, those Galileans who were not killed by Herod, or those Jews on whom the tower did not fall, or those of us who have not died from famine, or those who were not in the Twin Towers on September 11, are living only by the grace of God, and that our continued life is for the purpose that we bear fruit.