Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 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.
Matthew 21:18-19
Continuing to think about Holy Week, this is my thought to ponder for today: What’s the deal with Jesus cursing the fig tree? While he goes on to talk about faith, but I want to focus on the tree itself.
Figs ripen during the summer. Why would Jesus expect to find figs at this of year? We’ve seen fig trees throughout the trip. Actually, some of them had small figs on them. If there are leaves, there is hope for early figs. Therefore, Jesus’ expectations weren’t unfounded.
There is a common motif that describes life as it should be as every man sitting under his own vine or fig tree (Micah 4:4, Zechariah 3:10). On the flip side, if the vine is dried up and the fig tree is withered (Joel 1:12), times are bad. It is God calling people to repent and turn back to him in obedience. This fits with Jesus weeping over the city as he entered on Palm Sunday that the people didn’t understand his coming. It also fits with his later prophecy of Jerusalem’s impending destruction forty years later. It is the same message as the prophets’: repent or face God’s wrath. The message is for us, too.
(As a side note, I have arrived safely home. I’m going to continue to write about Holy Week each day through Easter and then will continue with more stories from the trip next week! There is a lot more to write about.)