For the next week, our devotions will be focused on the events of Holy Week, as recorded in the Gospels.
18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry.
Jesus is returning to Jerusalem from Bethany. Bethany is southeast of Jerusalem.
This is a trip he makes often. Bethany seems to be Jesus' place to stay when in Judea. From the city of Jerusalem to Lazarus' home, it is not a very long trip ~ 2 miles or so.
19 And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once.
The area that Jesus is walking in would have been filled with fig trees. Funny enough, there is a village in this area called Bethphage, which means in Aramaic "House of un-ripe figs". (You may remember Bethphage from the Palm Sunday account. It is the place where the disciples find the colt.)
I think, for many readers, this miracle of Jesus is odd or confusing. It is funny that Jesus speaks to the tree. He does not speak about the tree.
It is a "destructive" miracle, so to speak. Whereas, most of Jesus' miracles in the Gospel, demonstrate a restorative power.
ἐξηράνθη - meaning "dried up, wasted away" immediately.
There have been many scholars that have posited theories about the meaning behind this miracle:
1. Some have suggested that it is Christ demonstrating the judgment that is coming for Israel, or the religious leaders of Israel. Thematically, this makes sense.
In just two chapters, Jesus will call the Pharisees "whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness."
There is a sense of bad advertising by the tree in this passage. It is a fig tree, full of leaves, which would suggest fruitfulness. That is, obviously, not the case.
It certainly was not the case for the Pharisees -- who had all the outward appearance of true faith, yet they did not "bear fruit worthy of repentance." (Matthew 3:8)
Yet, there is no allusion to the Pharisees, or to the nation of Israel.
However, the next recorded event in the Gospel is the Pharisees challenging Jesus' authority, which is in beautiful contrast to the absolute obedience of the tree.
Jesus then goes on to tell two parables (The Two Sons & Parable of the Tenants). Both parables deal with listening and doing the will of God. From Matthew 19:43 -- where Jesus explains the meaning of the Parable of Tenants -- "Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits."
2. Others have turned it into a discussion about sanctification.
From Matthew 7 -- which both follows Jesus discussing the nature/manifestation of true faith and precedes Jesus discussing the nature/manifestation of true faith -- "So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit... Thus you will recognize them by their fruits."
Lutherans get little skittish around sanctification. We LOVE justification (looking at you Romans 3:28), but we get weird when good works come into the equation.
James 2 makes it pretty clear, in my opinion, "...faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead." Now, I know Luther was not a big fan of James because he believed it contradicted Paul's teaching of justification by faith.
It doesn't. In fact, it aligns very nicely with what Jesus has to say about the nature of faith. (Matthew 25) True faith always manifests itself in works, wrought by the power of the Spirit that sanctifies a believer. Faith is alive.
From Zach McIntosh, an excellent pastor and a much smarter human being:
"The key to James 2 is in vs. 18: "But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds and I will show you my faith by deeds.”
James is issuing a challenge: “Show me your faith without deeds.” But you can’t. Because that kind of faith doesn’t exist. Faith ALWAYS produces some kind of fruit! Not perfect fruit. Not all the fruit it should. But some kind of fruit. In fact, James knows that there’s really no danger of having true faith without deeds. That’s impossible.
The real danger is having deeds without faith, because that leads to self-righteousness. James is totally in line with Paul and with justification here."
It is interesting that Jesus turns this into a teaching on the power of prayer.
20 When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?" 21 And Jesus answered them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22 And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
Pray big.
Pray with assurance that your Heavenly Father hears your prayers.
Pray with faith that knows that nothing is beyond His power. Pray with faith that knows He loves to give us good gifts.
Pray for the world today. Pray for healing. Pray for an end to this pandemic. Pray for those who mourn, those who are sick, those who are dying in hospital beds, for doctors, nurses, and all those who work in hospitals. Pray for our nation's leadership.
Pray for the world. Pray for your enemies.
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