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DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF MATTHEW

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Matt 21:18-22

18 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered. 20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked. 21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." 

NIV

This might be the time when consulting our scholars could bring some clarity to the case of the fig tree and its season of fruit. Was it supposed to have fruit at the time the Lord passed by it? Was it the season of fruit gathering? Why, if it was the right time of the year for this tree to bear fruit, why was it barren of fruit? Why would Jesus curse it because it had no fruit for him to eat? Upon some research we do find it was in fact time this tree should have at least its first fruits. It seems certain types of fig trees are much like the magnolia bush. They bear fruit first, then leaves come out, then later they bear more fruit. Nevertheless because it did not bear fruit, Jesus declared it would never bear fruit again and it withered right there on the spot. What was the lesson he was demonstrating to his disciples and us? We certainly have to travel to our favorite passage to see the lesson here.

Ps 1:1-3

Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers. 2 But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night. 3 He is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.

NIV

We have to notice the concept of this tree bearing fruit as a result of being planted by the streams of water and also that its leaves do not wither. We would have to include the whole of  a book on this Psalm to explore all this to the fullest extent. But the idea Jesus was conveying in the case of the fig tree has much the same meaning as this idea in this Psalm. He could have been referring only to the state of the Jewish people. Seeming to be religious, but because they are not bearing any the fruit produced by God in their lives, they will in fact wither, or be without the grace of God. Yet this also applies to our lives today. We cannot just seem religious, doing the church thing. We cannot simply profess we are Christians but then not bear any fruit. It is evident that we need to be deeply connected to Jesus in order to bear fruit. We have to have our roots deeply implanted into the stream of living water, which is Jesus and that we also know is the word. If we are consulting with the world’s system of living, if we are living in the same manner as the world, if we are simply giving God lip service, then we are not going to bear fruit and we are in fact going to wither away and not experience the grace of God, the divine influence upon our heart, and how that is reflected in our lives. Due to that kind of withering we will be fruitless, or we could say because we are fruitless we will experience that type of withering. This goes back to Jesus being the vine and we are the branches. We cannot do anything apart from him. If we are not connected to Jesus we cannot bear fruit and if we cannot bear fruit we wither. Trying to live our lives without being completely rooted in Christ, is fruitless. When his disciples remarked about this tree withering he tells them they can do more. This idea of moving mountains has been misused by some groups of believers. The idea here is not that we can be earth movers simply by saying so. The mountains are references to those things which become large obstacles in our lives. We have heard that idiom about making a mountain out of a mole hill. Here Jesus is saying we can make a mole hill out of a mountain, if we live our life believing and trusting in him. Our faith in Jesus should bring his peace and contentment in the face of any difficulty we encounter in life. Our faith in Jesus should bring the fruit in our lives. When we bear love, joy, peace, patience, or endurance, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control, those mountains become mole hills and we simply walk right over them, moving them out of our way. But doubt destroys faith, lack of faith results in being without fruit, lack of fruit results in withering. Doubt leads to the road to destruction, but faith leads to the road to paradise. Should we not desire to be the tree which bears much fruit? We cannot be content simply being a church attender, but we desire to live life to the fullest extent God desires for us. We desire to trust him, not just for salvation, but for every aspect of our lives, so that we plant our roots deep within his word, Jesus, and draw our nourishment from him, thus bearing much fruit and flourishing rather than withering. Whenever any difficulty presents itself, move mountain, we are coming through, we are overcoming because we are connected to Jesus.