18 Now in the morning, when He was returning to the city, He became hungry. 19 Seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, “No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you.” And at once the fig tree withered. 20 Seeing this, the disciples were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither all at once?” 21 And Jesus answered and said to them, “Truly I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And all things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Did Jesus fly off the handle in frustration before His morning cup of coffee simply because of an inconvenience? That would seem rather petty, especially for the One who taught His disciples that anxiety is not productive (see Matthew 6:25-34). How then do we explain this enigmatic behavior?
Jesus as God is the Creator over all that exists. He is the One that designed fruit trees to do what they were created to do, namely, to give fruit. And here was a fig tree that was not doing what it was created to do. How insolent of it!
On another level, this incident may be an illustration of God’s assessment of Israel, particularly after Jesus had just the day before cleaned up the temple from its racketeering. It is not hard to imagine Hosea’s railing against Israel, “I found Israel like grapes in the wilderness; I saw your forefathers as the earliest fruit on the fig tree in its first season. But they came to Baal-peor and devoted themselves to shame, and they became as detestable as that which they loved.” (Hosea 9:10). Yet now, with Messianic fulfillment at their doorstep, Israel was completely without spiritual fruit, barren as it were, like that fig tree. Jesus said later in Matthew 24:32 to learn from the parable of the fig tree. When leaves are present, summer is near. However, the lack of fruit was indicative that something very serious was wrong. Repentance was needed because of Israel’s fruitlessness, which was due to unbelief.
The disciples, as usual, were dull in understanding all this, focused on the mechanics of what happened rather than its meaning. Jesus condescended with an explanation that has become a prime teaching point on prayer. Faith is required for effective requests with God. Miraculous possibilities open up to those who believe He can do what they ask of Him, so long as they trust in Him. This is not a matter of whether a person believes “hard enough,” but whether he simply believes God can do what is asked of Him. He may choose to answer “No,” but faith means we believe He can do it and we trust Him.
Lord, I believe You can do anything I ask of You. However, help me overcome the issues of unbelief that produce fruitlessness.
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