<p>12:3<i> And they took him and beat him, and sent him away empty handed</i>- Paul several times uses the word to express his fear that his preaching and pastoral labour had been &quot;in vain&quot; s.w. &quot;empty&quot;, e.g. 1 Cor. 15:14. His aim, as our aim, was spiritual fruit in people, to see the fruits of the Spirit revealed in a convert. Where this is lacking we come away empty handed as it were, just like the Old Testament prophets. The parable suggests that the more Israel were asked for spiritual fruit, the more angry and abusive they progressively became towards the servants who required that fruit from them. And so often, those who call others on their real spirituality are hated and finally destroyed by them.</p>