3rd Day of Jesus being in Jerusalem
Matthew 21:18-22 New Living Translation (nlt)
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
18 In the morning, as Jesus
was returning to Jerusalem, He was hungry, 19 and He noticed a fig tree
beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were
only leaves. Then He said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And
immediately the fig tree withered up.
20 The disciples were amazed
when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”
21 Then Jesus told them, “I
tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like
this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up
and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 You can pray for anything,
and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
Have you ever really
thought about what happened here?
SO, is Jesus just being CRUEL to this fig tree to make a
point?
For us to fully answer
this question, we need to understand a few things first.
When is the
Passover?
Since Jesus and his disciples
came to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover, what time of year would this have
been?
See the Passover starts
on the evening
·
Of
the 15th of the Jewish month of Nisan.
·
In
our secular calendar terms,
o
The
Passover traditionally begins
o
In
late March or early April.
o
And
for this year of 2020,
§ Passover begins at sundown on this
Wednesday, April 8.
When does
Fig Trees produce fruit?
BUT, since this story
deals with a proud fig tree which had no figs, when would we normally expect to
find figs on a fig tree?
Common fig trees produce
fruit
·
Starting
as early as May or June,
·
And
will continue fruiting as late as the first frost of the season,
o
which
is usually in October or November.
·
And
a fig tree will begin producing fruit during the 1st or 2nd
year after being planted.
And how long
and big does a Fig Tree grow?
A fig tree can live up to
200 years
·
And
a large fig tree,
o
One
that goes up to be 30 feet tall
o
Or
so, can produce hundreds of figs in a year.
SO, is Jesus just being CRUEL to this fig tree to make a point?
The
answer would be a NO and a YES.
Here is
the No Part.
NO to Our Lord being
Cruel. We must remember that Jesus is never cruel.
Yes, Jesus would have been
·
Perfectly
in His right to do anything He wanted to this Fig tree,
·
Simply
because, it really belongs to Him.
·
He
created it so it belongs to Him.
·
However,
Jesus never reacts this way.
Yes, He judges
·
And
if we are not in Him,
o
Then
we will be judged that way
§ However, He is never cruel.
·
Cruel
would be to take someone
o
Who
is of Him and then Jesus would just send Him to hell because He can.
o
Now
that would be cruel.
o
But
we all know that Jesus doesn’t do that.
And now, This is where
the YES Part of that question.
YES – Is Jesus making a Point?
·
Simply
put, Jesus judged this tree
o
And
He found that it was not living up to how it should be living,
§ And it was JUDGED!
YES, Jesus made His point
to His disciples.
·
But
– We may be asking - How can He judge a Fig
tree of not having fruit when it was a few months away from when it should be
having fruit?
And that is a Great
question.
See, Although the Fig
trees do not produce fruit until May or June,
·
The
Fig trees always have little buds or sprouts
o
Growing
upon them which are not yet what we would call figs.
·
However,
they are still very tasty.
And that is what Jesus
was looking for to satisfy His hunger.
See – this tree was full
of leaves but had ZERO fruit,
·
Including
Zero of the little buds or sprouts.
·
So,
in relating this thinking of a tree to human kind,
o
This
tree was FULL-Of-HIMSELF
o
And
he is not thinking past of himself
o
And
not providing for any life of future trees nor for any other life.
So, I believe the obvious
is clear here.
·
If
we do nothing other than fill ourselves up with God
·
And
we allow ourselves to grow Tall and Proud –
·
Thinking
only of ourselves,
·
Then
what GOOD are we to God and God’s purpose?
o
See
– God created us to worship Him
o
But
He also created us to humble ourselves before Him
o
And
to do His work which is sharing Him with others.
And yes, this
is something that I need to be reminded of more than not.
·
When
we, when I
o
Begin
to look around
o
And
see what others may have,
§ It is hard for me to not want those
same things.
§ They are my age and see what they
have?
§ I would love to have those same
things myself.
But you see - most of the
time,
·
By
following God and spreading His Word,
o
That
takes energy,
o
That
takes time,
o
That
takes resources,
o
And
YES,
§ Putting it in a tree’s language,
§ Being of God does decrease our foulage.
§ It does take away some of the toys
·
Which
we could otherwise have.
It does mean that we put our
energy
·
Into
making fruit for others
·
Rather
than saving-up those juices
o
And
putting it into the bank for ourselves.
So, I believe,
·
This should change our question from
o ‘Is Jesus being cruel’
·
to
o ‘Why did Jesus use this
tree
§
To tell the disciples that they can move mountains’?
But Here is the thing.
I do not believe that the
moving mountains
·
Was
the True Point which
·
Jesus
was making here
o
But
isn’t that where most of us run to
o
And
that is simply because,
§ When we think of God,
§ Do we not always think of Him doing
something HUGE
§ With His strength
·
Such
as moving mountains from here to there.
But I believe His point
comes before that.
I believe Jesus’ point
lies within His Words:
“I tell you
the Truth, IF you have FAITH and DON’T DOUBT, you can do things like
this and much more.”
“IF you have
Faith”,
Yes, He is saying these
Words to us
·
But
He was also saying them to His personal disciples.
“IF you have
Faith.”
Tell me –
·
What
would be your thoughts
·
IF
I came up to you and said,
o
IF
ONLY YOU HAD FAITH in God?
How would you take that?
·
I
am sure that you would be offended by my statement.
o
“What
do you mean – IF I have Faith?!!!”
Would that not be what
you would be thinking?
But see - Jesus said
these same words to
·
His
disciples who have been with Him for 3 years now.
From the Webster 1828
Dictionary,
·
They
used the words
o
‘SUPPOSE’
and ‘UNCERTAINTY’
o
As
of ways of defining the word IF
o
And
they even include the scriptures of Matthew 4:3 within their definition:
o
“During that time the devil came and said to him, ‘IF You are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of
bread.’”
So, IF…
I believe Jesus is
telling us IF
·
IF ONLY we have Faith,
·
And I am talking about True Faith.
I remember once being
told of a very God driven woman
·
And
at the last moments of her life here,
·
She
said these words:
·
“Oh My. I have so much to learn.”
I believe we are all like
that.
·
Some
of us have just begun believing
o And there is lots to learn
·
While
some of us have been believing our whole lives
o But yet, there is lots to learn.
And learning Only Comes
from Being with God.
·
Being
In His Word
·
And
in Prayer with Him.
That is how we learn
about Him.
And as we learn of Him,
·
We
grow in Faith in Him.
·
And
we can continue to grow in faith
·
Up
to the point
o And even beyond the point
§ Of being called home
But that question still remains
for you and I - “IF you have Faith.”
Today, I encourage you to
spend extra time with God.
Dig Deeper into His Word
and let the Spirit deepen your Faith.
If we live our lives for
today so we have tomorrow,
·
What good is that?
But IF we live our lives
for Him and In Him we Live –
·
How Grand is That?
