Barren Fig Trees
Scripture Reading: Mark 11:12-14
“Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response, Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”
And His disciples heard it.”
As we continue our devotional walk through this Holy Week, Monday is marked by Jesus’ return to Jerusalem after spending the previous night in nearby Bethany. On the way, as they drew near to the city, Jesus noticed a fig tree that had leaves indicating that it likely also had fruit to eat. They came to the tree and found it without fruit. Jesus startles the disciples by pronouncing a curse on the tree.
The spiritual significance should not be overlooked. Jesus was not throwing a temper tantrum. He was teaching a spiritual truth.
From all outward appearances that tree looked like the kind of tree from which one could harvest fruit to meet one’s hunger. The reality was much different. It was a tree without fruit.
Jesus was looking past the fig tree towards Jerusalem and the Temple. It had every outward indication that it would be the kind of place where one would find life-giving, life-sustaining, spiritual fruit. The reality was much different. It was all leaves and no figs.
The next day Jesus would predict the coming judgment that was to befall Jerusalem. It would be destroyed along with the Temple. All of that came to pass around 70 AD.
I once knew a man from church who was prone to put on a show of spirituality. He carried a large black Bible to church, holding it in a way that made it very conspicuous. He spoke with the diction of a fundamentalist Baptist preacher. He even started his own Saturday morning radio program on a local AM station where he pontificated about all things spiritual.
One day I walked into a large hospital where I was going to work on their communication systems. I spotted this gentleman in the lobby, leaning over the information/welcome counter behind which a pretty young woman was seated, uncomfortably fending off his none-too-subtle overtures of romantic intentions. Gone were his preacherly vocal inflections, and the big Bible was nowhere to be seen. It was as if his evil twin had taken his place.
I approached from behind, called his name, and greeted him with a smile as he turned around, shocked to see me in this unexpected way. The young woman seemed relieved to be relieved from his attention. He walked with me a bit, first quietly speaking in friendly terms, and then more loudly calling me brother and throwing in an “Amen,” and “Praise the Lord,” the further out of ear-shot we got from his intended love interest.
I’m always a little suspicious and hesitant about people who show me all their leaves when I’m looking for fruit. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control are the kinds of things our leaves out to point to. If we have the trappings of spiritual life but not the fruit of spiritual life we are in danger of being cursed.
