Producing Figs

The passage in the gospel of Mark where Jesus curses the fig tree is an intriguing passage to me. After Jesus had previously (in Mark chapter 3) taken a man whose hand was withered and unfruitful, he healed him. And now we see Jesus cursing a leafy fig tree, and it consequently withers clear to the root. The sequence of events seems odd here. First the fig tree bears no fruit, only leaves. Then the scene switches to Jesus overturning the tables in the temple. Then the scene goes back to the tree. And finally, Jesus utters some profound words that seem unconnected to the fig tree.

Mark 11:12-26
12On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. 13Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. 15Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves; 16and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. 17And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘MY HOUSE SHALL BE CALLED A HOUSE OF PRAYER FOR ALL THE NATIONS’? But you have made it a ROBBERS’ DEN.” 18The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching. 19When evening came, they would go out of the city. 20As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. 21Being reminded, Peter said* to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” 22And Jesus answered* saying to them, “Have faith in God. 23“Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. 24“Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. 25“Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. 26“But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

Some commentators talk of how the unfruitful fig tree and the incident in the temple are symbolic of the impending judgment on those who have consistently rejected Christ. There are some deep things to think about there. While that may be true, I see a simple truth that applies to the Christian here. While the fig tree and the temple situation appear to be unrelated on the surface, a few minutes of meditation on these verses reveal a striking truth about the relationship between ‘fruit’ and ‘prayer’. This fig tree was literally full of fig leaves. But there were no figs. None. Christians often have beautiful ‘leaves’, like their baptism, or nice works, or pretty church clothes, or doing all the right ‘things’, but they have no ‘figs’. Bishop Ryle suggests that, just like Adam and Eve tried to hide their nakedness with a fig leaf, we try to hide our own fruitlessness with other seemingly good things.

Then Jesus busts through the gate of the temple and tables start flying. “My house shall be called a house of…” Preaching? Singing? Socializing? No… PRAYER. It appears to me as we read on, that PRAYER is the main ingredient in producing ‘figs’. Do we want to be fruitful? This passage is telling us how to be fruitful fig trees that won’t wither when we’re exposed to the Son. “Have faith in God”. What is prayer if it isn’t faith in God? What is prayer if it isn’t sprinkled with our belief that God hears and answers? Knock, seek, pray, ask, believe… produce figs.

The Man With the Withered Hand - Part 2

"... Get up and come forward!” And He said to them, “Is it lawful to do good or to do harm on the Sabbath, to save a life or to kill?” But they kept silent. After looking around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored. - Mark 3:3b-5

The Pharisees were trying to catch Jesus in a trap again. Was He going to break the Sabbath?! Jesus always confounded them with astonishing answers. He posed to them a rhetorical question: 'Well what do you guys think? Is it OK to do good on the Sabbath'. I guess they hadn't expected this kind of a question... if they had expected it, I imagine they would have responded. But they were silent. They weren't just 'outsmarted', they were caught in their own trap - by the One who already knew what they were thinking. He was grieved at the hardness of their heart.

It is both a comforting thing AND a scary thing... that, if Jesus knew these wicked Pharisees hard hearts and evil thoughts, then he certainly knows mine. Comforting, because He knows when I hurt, when I fear, when I lack faith... but also scary, because He knows those same wicked and evil thoughts that entertain my mind. This is incentive for me to seek purity of heart. It is incentive for me to take every thought captive. It is incentive for me to be on the lookout against the enemy who seeks to destroy me by using my own thoughts and imaginations. It is incentive for me to be vigilant to protect my mind from becoming dull and... withered.

The Man With the Withered Hand - Part 1

The account of the man with the withered hand in Mark 3 always intrigued me. I always wondered what a withered hand really looked like. What ever a withered hand is or looks like, Jesus Christ, the healer, fixed it. This is a passage loaded with many things.

"He entered again into a synagogue; and a man was there whose hand was withered. They were watching Him to see if He would heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might accuse Him. He said to the man with the withered hand..."

These people were 'watching' Jesus. It doesn't appear like they are 'watching' because they have been impressed by him. They are watching because they were looking to accuse him. In fact, not only did they want to accuse him, but even worse... they wanted to destroy him (verse 6). They kept their eyes peeled. They couldn't afford to blink. They didn't want to miss anything. And so they were watching intently, hoping he'd mess up.

"If they hate you, know that they hated me first", Jesus says in another place. In this passage in Mark, know that if they watched Jesus intently, know that 'they' are watching you too. This should be motivation for every Christian - every true believer - to live an exemplary life. We ought to be shining examples of the highest integrity and honor. Truthfulness and honesty should characterize our lives. We ought not to give anyone an occasion to speak poorly of us. We ought to be as blameless as is humanly possible and always run to Christ and His Word for help.

People watched Jesus. People are watching us.

I Have Never Seen Anything Like This...

I don’t know what time it was… must have been around noon. The sun was beating down and it was hotter than blazes. I don’t usually spend much time down there in Capernaum, but I did notice that the crowds were unusually large that day. And then these lunatics came pushing their way through the busy street and then up the sidewalk to the run down home. What on earth was going on there? They couldn’t possibly be trying to get into that house – it was already full of sick people. It looked like the town clinic; people moaning in pain, others appeared to be in some sort of seizures or demon-possessed, blind people groping around tripping over the ones lying on the floor. It was mass chaos from my point of view.

I thought I’d leave and go back home, until I saw the four men carrying the paraplegic on a makeshift stretcher trying desperately but unsuccessfully to get in the front door… somehow ended up on the roof. They grabbed a crude shovel and started digging. Dirt and thatch was being thrown everywhere. “Watch what you’re doing!”, I yelled, rubbing the dust out of my eyes. After I removed the specks from my eyes, I didn’t see the paraplegic anymore. “Out of my way… c’mon, move it…”. I rushed to the door of the run-down home undoubtedly knocking a few bystanders aside. The one everyone was talking about was standing inside the dirt clay house. I had heard about the healings taking place in town. And now the crippled man lay helpless at the healer’s feet. “My son, your sins are forgiven”, I heard him say. What in the world? What kind of statement is that?!, I thought. What blasphemy! Only God can forgive sins… even I knew that – and besides, this man needed his legs fixed, not his sins forgiven. At that moment, the healer turned and gave me a piercing look. There were so many people in the room, he could have been looking at anyone, but I knew he was looking at me. “Why do you think this way in your heart?”, he asked me directly. My face went flush and I started to sweat. “What do you think is the easier thing, to say ‘your sins are forgiven’, or to say ‘get up and walk’. I didn’t even have time to process the question as I felt every eye in the place on me. “Pick up your make-shift stretcher and go home”, he said to the crippled man. Without hesitation, the lame man was instantly able to walk, and he left.

Nobody said a word for a minute or two. We all stood there in amazement looking at one another. We had never seen anything like this. This was amazing. So much so, that some people were praising the Hebrew God. Amid all the activity, I lost sight of the healer. Where did he go? Someone needs to keep an eye on him, the way he talks… but then again, he might be worth finding and following…