12On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He (Jesus) 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 money changers 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."]
New American Standard Bible (NASB)
Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation
I have always wondered why Jesus cursed the fig tree in the above passage. I am still wondering, I have no conclusions yet. Big Daddy brought it up recently and I discovered he is wondering about it also.
Why would Jesus curse it when it wasn't the season for figs? Was it a parable or a prophetic teaching for His Disciples (and us)? Was it simply to illustrate to them the kind of faith in asking the Lord for things as He went on to talk about in vs. 22-24?
Anyway, I'm just chewing this over.
In other news...
My Summer Day Camp job is enjoyable. I am spending much time with the children at pools and the beach. It keeps me busy, of course, and quite tan, despite my rigorous attempts at applying sunblock religiously and wearing a hat and sunglasses. I am now seeking to find a wonderful thing called a rash guard suit of my very own.
I am reading my bible in a year plan, of course, and loving it. I am also finally reading Hannah Hurnard's Hind's Feet on High Places, a gift from my Mother-in-law from ages ago. I am enjoying that one, by the way, and finding it timely. I am trying to keep my resolution to not buy any new books until I've read all of the ones I already have. I've collected many books over the years, and there are a portion of them that remain unread. I 'have been meaning to read them, BUT haven't actually gotten around to yet.' I think I mentioned on an earlier post I was reading James Joyce's "Portrait of the Artist...", and I finished it.
Next I began Gabriel Garcia Marquez' 100 Years of Solitude, which I have had for at least 16 years, long before a certain influential talk show hostess had it on her book club. I loved Marquez' short story, A Very Old Man With Enormous Wings when I read it as a student. I have always been a fan of magic realism in fiction and fond of South American fiction in a rather limited way (Isabelle Allende). I got somewhere between one half and two-thirds of they way through One Hundred Years of Solitude. It is beautifully and fancifully written, I just grew a little weary of some of the plot and character elements that were troubling and immoral, such as incest. The book is not particularly graphic or gratuitous in is descriptions of various immoral behaviors, but I was not comfortable in going on with it, so I didn't. I loved the character Melquíades, the gypsy. And the strange land-locked ship wreck José Arcadio Buendía finds reminds me of another land-locked ship from pop culture: The Black Rock. (I miss LOST!)
And now I bid you Adieu and goodnight.
2 comments:
Greetings and salubrious salutations! It's been a long time since last dropping by.
Anyway, I believe the answer to your first question is simply because the tree had the appearance of producing fruit, but there was no fruit. At a cursory glance, everything looked in place to provide luscious figs to satisfy hunger, but upon closer examination... you get the idea.
We are admonished to turn away from those who show a form of godliness but deny the power thereof. Jesus said in Matthew 7:21 (ESV) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven."
I believe Jesus cursed the tree because it didn't produce what it pretended to show. Secondly, he cursed it as an object lesson for his disciples.
Hello, Pastor Ron! I really like your take on the passage, but I still wonder about the seasonal aspect of it. We know that trees only produce during their particular season of the year. Mark states clearly wasn't fig time. I believe Jesus also would have realized it wasn't fig season, so I think why would He curse it when it wasn't the right time of year anyway? There has to be more to it.
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