When he was going back to the city in the morning, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went over to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again.” And immediately the fig tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, “How was it that the fig tree withered immediately?” 21 Jesus said to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”
This unusual event was directed towards the Jews who refused to accept Jesus’ ministry. After chasing the merchants out of the Temple area, Jesus cured many lame and blind people (Mt. 21:12-17). He spent the night in Bethany and was returning to Jerusalem when he saw a fig tree nearby. He was hungry but the fig tree was barren. In the OT, trees were used to symbolize life and God’s presence which gives life (Gen. 2:9; Rev. 22:2; Ez. 47:12). Jesus cursed the fig tree because, in this instance, it symbolized the baren response of the Jews to his ministry. The tree withered immediately (Mt. 21:43).
From the beginning of his public ministry, Jesus was ‘hungry’ for the House of Israel to listen to and act on his words, but they would not. What Jesus did was a foretelling of the destruction that would befall the Jews and their Temple in 70 A. D. by the Romans. The disciples questioned Jesus’ actions and he responded by telling them to have faith without doubting (Mt. 14:28-31). Faith expressed in prayer will be effective (Acts 2:42-43; Acts 9:40-41).
Almighty God, out of your
abundance mercy grant us the grace to live a faith-filled life where our hearts
are so moved by a desire to please you that we are willing to die to self to accomplish
your will. This we pray through Christ
our Lord. Amen!
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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