Believe and Receive

 DAILY READING

Matthew 21:18-21

REFLECTION

The Cursing of the Fig

by Dan Kidd

It was morning in Jerusalem, and Jesus was ready for breakfast. Walking towards the city, Jesus spotted a fig tree, and his mouth watered. As fruit goes, a fig is a hearty choice—honey sweet with a subtle tartness; juicy and syrupy. Exactly the kind of textures one looks for in a breakfast. And the fiber in figs is good for the gut. If any one item is perfectly suited for a first meal, the fig is a top contender. 

I can sympathize with Jesus’ bitter mood when he found the tree barren. Though, admittedly, it wouldn’t occur to me to curse the tree to death; at least not with the expectation that it would actually die because of my cursing it. Me of little faith. 

It’s a peculiar scene. So much so that despite having seen Jesus walk on water, the disciples found it curious enough to ask him about it. Perhaps because they continued to marvel at his miraculous abilities. But also, maybe, because they didn’t understand the purpose of the cursing. After all, cursing a fig tree to death simply for being barren one morning may register as an overreaction. Jesus’ response, that all it takes is faith to curse fig trees or cast mountains into seas answers the “how?” but not the “why?” 

Matthew, being the clever evangelist that he is, clues us in. In the passage directly before this one, we read of Jesus repossessing the temple courts from the money changers and dove merchants, upending their tables and driving them out. Once these robbers were ejected, he invited the blind and lame to be restored back into full health; their eyes and limbs regenerated to work as they were first created. 

Might the cursing of the fig tree have something to do with the repossession of the temple courts? It’s odd that, in discipling his followers about the power of faith, Jesus would tell them they could cast a mountain into a sea. As a lover of mountains, it’s hard for me to reckon why anyone would want to drown one. 

Did Jesus have a specific mountain in mind? Maybe a mountain with a city built on top of it that was meant to serve as a beacon of God’s light to the world? And what if that city failed to be that beacon it was created to be? Could he be talking about Jerusalem? Might it be that when Jesus encountered a fig tree, barren of the lush fruit it was created to bear, he was reminded of Jerusalem’s failure to be God’s beacon? If such a mountain utterly failed its purpose it might ought to be thrown overboard. 

“If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” If you believe that the Messiah can put an end to barren fig trees, lightless mountains, spoiled vineyards, and sick bodies—and replace them with objects of light and life—then, says Jesus, pray and you will receive.

 

PRAYER PRACTICE 

Jesus, thank you for not letting the corrupted things of this world remain lightless and lifeless. Thank you for showing us that you make darkness into light and dead things into living things. Increase our faith, that we would pray for, hope for, and trust in your saving, resurrecting power.