By Rich DuBose
One morning Jesus was traveling with his disciples from Bethany to Jerusalem. It was early and he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree ahead with foliage, Jesus went over to pick some figs, but to his amazement he discovered it was barren.
Speaking to the tree, Jesus said: “‘May you never bear fruit again!’ Immediately the tree shriveled up” (Matthew 21:19-20, The Voice).
Mark said the disciples noticed and commented on the tree the next day! “The next morning as they passed by the fig tree [Jesus] had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, ‘Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!’” (Mark 11:20-21, NLT).
Meaning Over Magic
“The disciples were amazed. How did that fig tree wither so quickly?” (Matthew 21:19-20, The Voice). What kind of magic had happened?
The disciples were more intrigued with Jesus’ magical power to wither the tree than they were with the lesson he was trying to teach. They were distracted with the question, “How did he do that?” when their focus should have been on, “why did he do it?”
Was Jesus mad or impatient with the tree? Was it a knee-jerk response from being disappointed he couldn’t eat any figs? Or, did Jesus see this as a teaching moment wherein he wanted to give his disciples a striking illustration?
Greg Lanier states, “At this point in late spring, most fig trees hadn’t developed mature fruit yet (Mark 11:13). But this particular tree drew Jesus’s attention because it already had a full covering of leaves. It was an early bloomer. Its foliage signaled that it should have early figs.” But it didn’t!
Keep in mind that the day before this took place, Jesus had cleansed the Temple and driven out the merchants. The Temple authorities had displayed an alarming level of hypocrisy by using the Temple to try and merchandise God’s grace. They touted the claim of bearing godly spiritual fruit, but their actions proved they were barren
Israel’s Condition
According to one Bible commentary, Jesus was using the fig tree to illustrate Israel’s condition.
“A fig tree is often used symbolically to represent Israel in the Scriptures. First of all, chronologically, Jesus had just arrived at Jerusalem amid great fanfare and great expectations, but then proceeds to cleanse the Temple and curse the barren fig tree. Both had significance as to the spiritual condition of Israel. With His cleansing of the Temple and His criticism of the worship that was going on there (Matthew 21:13; Mark 11:17). Jesus was effectively denouncing Israel’s worship of God. With the cursing of the fig tree, He was symbolically denouncing Israel as a nation and, in a sense, even denouncing unfruitful “Christians” (that is, people who profess to be Christian but have no evidence of a relationship with Christ).*
The disciples were intrigued by Jesus’ act, so Jesus responded with a side note. “Look, I’m talking about Israel’s barrenness but you’re being side-tracked by the miracle of the withered tree.”
“II tell you this: if you have faith and do not doubt, then you will be able to wither a fig tree with one glance. You will be able to tell mountains to throw themselves into the ocean, and they will obey” (Matthew 21:21, The Voice).
The Faith Equation
I must admit, Jesus’ response seems a little Disneyish. “Just wish on a star and it will happen!”
“If you believe, whatever you ask for in prayer will be granted” (Matthew 21:22, The Voice).
No wonder some of the religious leaders thought Jesus was crazy! He said things that were out of the norm. On on another occasion Jesus said, “whenever you eat my body and drink my blood, you show my death till I come.” These were hard sayings for most to accept.
Sometimes the line between figurative and literal is difficult to discern. If we aren’t Spirit filled and Scripture fed, much of what Jesus says will be lost.
Was Jesus’ statement about moving mountains to be taken literal? If so, the disciples could have started an excavation business and made millions moving mountains without lifting a finger. Their primary tool? Just pray, and bingo! It’s done!
Surely Jesus did not die to ensure our ability to perform magic! Keep in mind, that his statement about moving mountains came in the wake of his sermon on hypocrisy—which he illustrated with a withered fig tree.
Rich DuBose writes from Northern California. Photograph by Vishnu Gopal, with Pexels.
* Got Information is an online Bible study information source.
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright ©1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.