Devotional:

“18 In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. 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. 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.” — Matthew 21:18-22

I think I am stating the obvious here, but this was a very different kind of miracle than anything we’ve seen so far. Jesus has healed, fed and even brought people back to life! This was a miracle and a parable and it seems very strange out of context reading just these few verses. To really understand why Jesus did this, we have to look at the events that took place before and after He withered this fig tree.

Mark’s order of events in his account of this miracle is a little different than Matthew’s. Matthew records the cursing and withering of the tree all at once and Mark 11 records it happened over a span of two days, in between the triumphal entry and the cleansing of the temple. Mark focused more on the chronological timeline and Matthew wanted to draw us to the immediacy of the withering of the tree. A typical fig tree would take weeks if not months to wither on its own. This miracle represented the fast judgment of God that was about to come against the unbelieving nation of Israel.

If we read from the beginning of Matthew 21, we learn that the day before this event, Jesus had made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Many people praised Him (verse nine) says they were shouting, “…Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” Palm Sunday, in churches all over the world, people celebrate Jesus’s triumphal entry.

After Jesus made His triumphal entry, verse 12 says He went to the temple and guess what? The money changers were there, just like in John two, three years ago. Remember, that was right after Jesus left the wedding, where He turned the water into wine. Jesus had come full circle; they were still selling and trading in the house of worship. So, Jesus once again knocked over tables in righteous anger, telling them they were making His house into a den of robbers.

After He cleared the temple, Jesus went in and performed many miracles, healing the blind and lame. And as the chief priest and scribes saw this and heard the children running around and shouting His name throughout the temple, they questioned Him. Jesus quoted Scripture to them. In verse 16, Jesus said, “out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise.”

Have you ever heard the saying “out of the mouths of babes?” This is where that saying came from. What is one thing we all know about young children? They have no filter! They speak the truth, no matter how uncomfortable that is for us! Jesus quoted Psalm 8:2 to fulfill the Old Testament prophecy of the Messiah. God is the one who can ordain children to praise His name. Jesus said this to the scribes to acknowledge that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. 

Jesus knew He angered the religious leaders and had stirred up trouble again, so He left Jerusalem and returned to Bethany for the night. The following day, He and the disciples got up early to return to Jerusalem and somewhere along the way, He encountered the fig tree.

Do you know how important context is when reading the Bible? If I were to read verses 18-20 and write a devotional on that alone, I would be trying to figure out how to spiritualize Jesus being ‘hangry’ and taking it out on a tree. That is not what Jesus was doing. Yes, I am sure He was hungry and had a rough day before this. People praised Him and shouted Hosannah in the highest as He entered Jerusalem, but He knew just a few days later, the same crowd would yell, “crucify him.”

Right after that, He had to deal with the money changers in the temple and be questioned by the Jewish leaders to top it all off. So, yes, Jesus had a difficult 24 hours, to say the least, but that was nothing compared to what He knew He would endure in less than a week. Jesus’s hunger was not the point of this miracle and this is the perfect example of why reading God’s Word in its entirety is so important. We cannot pluck verses out of the Bible just to fit our circumstances or to benefit our worldly needs.

“Every word of God proves true;
he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.
Do not add to his words,
lest he rebuke you and you be found a liar.” — Proverbs 30:5-6

“You shall not add to the word that I command you, nor take from it, that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I command you.” — Deuteronomy 4:2

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” — John 1:1

Figs are a native fruit in Israel and in the Old Testament, the fruitful fig tree was referenced several times as a symbol of Israel’s health, safety and prosperity. The Scripture also warned Israel of God’s judgment on them, specifically referencing empty fig trees being stripped of their fruit. This symbolic fig tree that Jesus encountered was another teaching moment to the disciples and a foretelling of the Jewish nation that would soon reject Jesus as their Messiah and Savior.

Fig trees drop their leaves out of season and become brown and dormant, almost dead looking. Then they grow beautiful green leaves again in the spring and eventually produce figs and they can produce two harvests a year. I’m not talking about the trendy Fiddle Leaf Fig trees everyone wants to have in every corner of their homes. Those don’t really produce figs unless they are planted in the ground and even those, I’ve been told taste horrible. I actually have one and mine is very dormant. Every single leaf has fallen off. It is a pathetic little tree with three brown branches that resemble a pitchfork sitting in a pot of dirt on my front porch. I don’t have the heart to throw it away because I really wanted to be a proud Fiddle Leaf grower. I now have a beautiful fake Fiddle Leaf fig tree in my living room. I have come to realize our home does not provide the natural light that many indoor plants and trees need, so I have bowed to the artificial plant world. I am proud of all my fake plants because they always look perfect and for the right price; no one can tell the difference! Until now, I guess, but there is no shame in my fake tree game. So next time you come to visit, it’s ok to touch the leaves, but if you knock one off, please put it back on.

Mark’s account of this miracle says in chapter 11, verse 13, that it was not the season for figs which means it should not have had leaves, but this tree had leaves and Jesus walked up to it because it looked fruitful. When Jesus saw that it only had leaves and no fruit, He was deceived by the beauty and appearance of fruit. All Jesus saw was a tree, full of promise, but void of any fruit.

Jesus used this miracle to show the disciples what God would do to the unbelieving nation of Israel. Just like the fig tree that looked perfect from afar, but deep down was fruitless and empty, the religious leaders paraded around with their perfect exterior and rule-following, yet they were full of hypocrisy and unbelief.

J.C. Ryle, a pastor, writer and evangelist from the 1800s, explained this miracle perfectly. “This is an instance almost without parallel in our Lord’s ministry; it is almost the only occasion on which we find Him making one of His creatures suffer in order to teach a spiritual truth. The fig tree, full of leaves, but barren of fruit, was a striking emblem of the Jewish church when our Lord was on the earth. It had no grace, no faith, no love, no humility, no spirituality, no real holiness, no willingness to receive its Messiah…never was there a picture so literally fulfilled.”

After the disciples witnessed this miracle and were amazed at how quickly this tree withered and what that represented, in verses 20-22, Jesus takes a moment to show them the importance of having faith, never doubting what God could do through them and what could be accomplished through prayer. I still don’t think the disciples realized the urgency Jesus felt while telling them these things. In just a few days, Jesus would be leaving them to return to His seat in heaven and they would be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to do these great and mighty things in order to continue the ministry of Jesus. He was not only teaching them, but He was also pleading with them and pouring out His heart because His heart was heavy and burdened by what was to come. He needed them to know the power of prayer and to have enough faith and belief to move mountains.

This small miracle produced powerful lessons for the disciples over those two days and it still speaks powerfully to us today.

Churches fall into one of those two categories; beautiful on the outside and empty on the inside or beautiful and full of fruit inside and out. So many churches fall into the religious trap of idolatry and hypocrisy. Their physical beauty and surface teachings produce no fruit and have no impact on the kingdom of God. It is only their own will that they seek in order to keep the peace and not make others feel uncomfortable or challenged. This is not the desire of Eleven22. We want to bear fruit, so that we can send it to the ends of the earth in order to reach as many souls as we can. It is a privilege to be a part of a church that seeks to save the lost, no matter the cost and despite what the world tries to say about us.

As a follower of Christ, what category do you fall in? Do you bear fruit, running after Christ with all your time and energy and every resource you can give? Or do you look the part on the outside, with the shiny leaves, checking off the right boxes and saying all the right things, maybe helping fund a few things here and there, but deep down, you’re not bearing any fruit? Maybe you’ve stopped running after Christ and started running toward a career, a girlfriend or boyfriend, your kids or a habit or a grudge because someone in the church hurt you.

Lord, thank You for the lessons You give us through all Your miracles. I pray especially for each person to feel the weight and the blessings of this miracle today. May we always seek to see Your truth, believe Your promises and have faith that can move mountains? Forgive us when we fail to bear fruit and bring us out of the pits of doubt, shame and fear. Help us to trust Your Word is perfect and true. Amen