Luke 13:7

Verse 7. The dresser of his vineyard. The man whose duty it was to trim the vines and take care of his vineyard. These three years. These words are not to be referred to the time which Christ had been preaching the gospel, as if he meant to specify the exact period. They mean, as applicable to the vineyard, that the owner had been a long time expecting fruit on the tree. For three successive years he had been disappointed. In his view it was long enough to show that the tree was barren and would yield no fruit, and that therefore it should be cut down. Why cumbereth it the ground? The word cumber here means to render barren or sterile.