Bearing Fruit

BEARING FRUIT

Mark 11:12-14

12 The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. 14 Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it.

NIV

It would seem a little story about a fruitless fig tree has no bearing on the reason Jesus is at Jerusalem, but that may not be the case. This could be a very telling narrative about the condition of the spiritual state of the nation of Israel, in fact, even about the spiritual state of everyone. There has been discussions about the fig tree and is season of bearing fruit, which being about five days before the Passover the and the climate of Israel, this tree should have been bearing fruit, otherwise why would Jesus even go to it to pick some figs. Certainly Jesus would have known the season for fig trees, having grown up in that place, so why would he go to the fig tree unless he knew it was supposed to be bearing fruit? Although it does say here it was not the season for figs, which may or may not be absolute in the sense that in this climate it is known fig trees have fruit on them the whole year. Now because it was by the wayside and the road was busy with travelers going to into Jerusalem for the Passover, perhaps it had already been picked clean by the time Jesus came by. But the truth for us today is not about the season of figs or not, or about the tree having been picked clean or not, as it is about the condition of the human spirit. Just as in the first Psalm if we put our roots deep within the stream of living water, Jesus, we will bear much fruit; this story is about people who do not bear fruit. The nation of Israel had over three years to hear and listen to the message Jesus was teaching. They had more than ample time to bear fruit within they spirits, but they chose to have no fruit, and Jesus was pronouncing if they had not borne and fruit by now, they would never bear any fruit. Is this not the case with all of us? If when we hear the gospel, and have the opportunity to be planted by the stream of living water and bear much fruit, and we do not accept that opportunity, we will never bear any fruit ever again. We might even see that we who have been planted by the stream of living water have an obligation to bear fruit, and if we do not, we have to ask what then? So we should learn that when Jesus comes he should find us bearing fruit.