Day 36, Tuesday, April 3, 2012
According to Mark 11:27, on the second day of the Passion Week, Jesus and His disciples “arrived in Jerusalem again.” Remember, Jesus had withdrawn from all the commotion in the city and went down to Bethany. On the second day, as they went back to Jerusalem, on the way Jesus saw a fig tree and looked for fruit in it, but finding none, He did a seemingly strange thing—He “cursed” the tree! (see Mark 11: 12). And on the next day, Jesus’ disciples noticed that the fig tree had withered to its roots (Mark 11:20; Matthew 21:18-19; 20-22). Many people take offence at this and ask several difficult questions about this act and its consequences.
Well, it is not an easy task to explain everything about this act as we neither have the space nor all details; however, it was not an impulsive incidence that took place because of intemperance. In fact, Jesus used this act as a visible parable to teach His disciples, and many others, a lesson for life. Jesus found this as an odd tree which had leaves but no fruit. In reality, on such trees the fruit came before the leaves in Israel. A tree full of leaves gave the impression that there would be fruit on it, but Jesus found it fruitless. Jesus used this as a living analogy to teach us that such a fruitless tree represented Israel, the chosen people of God. God did everything that He could for them, and yet, when His Son Jesus came to Israel, He found it fruitless. Therefore, according to the Scriptures, such a fruitless tree deserved nothing but withering to the roots (see Psalm 90:6; Hosea 9:16). Jesus showed through this act that the nation of God’s people has become a worthless entity which had the appearance of being righteous, but in reality, it was a fruitless tree that was worthy of nothing but destruction. In fact, it was a prophetic act of Jesus, as the destruction of Jerusalem happened just a few years later in AD 70 through the hand of Romans. It is a lesson for the followers of Christ, too. God has done in and through Christ everything for our salvation. He expects real fruit of righteousness from our lives and not just an appearance of being a disciple. Any believer found fruitless will have to suffer the same fate of the fig tree. Therefore, let’s examine our lives and mend our ways in such a way that we become fruit-bearing branches of the Vine (see John 15:1-17). Amen.