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| A fig tree in early spring. |
Early one spring morning, just before Passover, Jesus walked with his disciples up the Mt. of Olives toward Jerusalem (Matt. 21:18). They followed the same trail on which he had ridden a donkey the day before surrounded by enthusiastic pilgrims, the day Christians call Palm Sunday.* But on this, the next morning, there is no mention of crowds. It seems they had not yet reached the campsite on top of the hill where many pilgrims were gathered for Passover. Instead, they were still passing the quiet orchards on the far side of the Mt. of Olives, near the small village of Bethphage.**
**Here Jesus’ disciples had found a donkey for him to ride on
Palm Sunday (Matt. 21:1-2).
As they walked along, Jesus became hungry and noticed a
lonely fig tree standing beside the road. To find a fig tree here was no
surprise. Even today, wild figs can be
seen growing here and there on the Mt. of Olives. The village of Bethphage [bet-pah-GHEE] itself
also hinted at the presence of figs: its
name means “House (or Place) of the Unripe Fig.”
When Jesus approached the tree, he poked around among the branches
looking for fruit. But he didn’t find
any, since as Mark correctly reminds us, it was not yet the season for figs
(Mark 11:13).* So Jesus cursed the tree
(“No longer will there be fruit from you forever”), and it withered (Matt.
21:19).
*In Israel, figs usually ripen after Passover. They are one of the species that
ripen during the fifty days of agricultural uncertainty between Passover and
Pentecost (the time of the Counting of the Omer).
To us, this seems shockingly harsh and inappropriate. Why would he curse a tree just because it
lacked fruit, especially when it wasn’t the season for figs? It’s an unexpected action, like those the
rabbis would sometimes use to get the attention of their students. So what was the message he wanted his
disciples to understand from this?
Jesus wasn’t ignorant of the seasons. The late fruit and leaves of the fig is the
whole point of his parable in Matthew 24:
“Now learn the
parable from the fig tree: when its
branch is already tender and it puts out its
leaves, you know that the summer is near” (Matt. 24:32). The leaves of the fig tree appear
later than other trees. So when the fig tree puts out its
leaves, you know that summer is right around the corner.*
* Jesus
uses this image to talk about events that will take place immediately before
his return, especially the signs in the heavens (Matt. 24:29). When we see these things taking place, it means
that he himself is about to appear (Matt. 24:30).
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| Unripe figs |
Normally,
tiny leaves first appear on the bare gray branches in March, together
with unripe figs.* This fruit is hard and tasteless, liable to fall off the
tree in a late winter storm (Rev. 6:13). Those that ripen, usually in May or June,
become the bikkuroth [bik-ku-ROTE],
the first-ripe figs that were so highly prized in Israel (Isa. 28:4, Jer. 24:2,
Hos. 9:10, Micah 7:1).**
* The unripe pagee [pah-GEE]
figs mentioned in the name Bethphage.
** The transition between these two types of figs is
described in the Song of Solomon in a beautiful passage about the blossoming of
spring: “The fig tree has made its
unripe figs (pagee) spicy” (Song
2:13). The pagee figs, in other words, have ripened into bikkuroth.
But when Jesus approached this fig tree, there were leaves, but
no figs (Matt. 21:19, Mark 11:13). This
was unusual, but not unheard of. In some
years, some trees will not put out any fruit at all. Jesus mentioned just such a situation in a
parable he told earlier, when he and the disciples were still making their way
up to Jerusalem.
The occasion was a discussion about some Galileans that
Pontius Pilate had killed in Jerusalem (Luke 13:1). Some in the crowd thought this happened
because they were especially bad sinners.
But Jesus’ response was sharp and clear:
“No, I say to you; but if you don’t repent, all of you will perish in
the same way” (Luke 13:3).* To reinforce
the point, he told a parable about a fig tree that bore no fruit for three
years (Luke 13:6-9). So the owner
decided to cut it down. But the gardener
asked him to wait another year. He would
fertilize and care for it. But if after
another year it still didn’t bear, he would cut the tree down. The central point of the parable is clear: a tree without fruit will eventually be
destroyed. Those who don’t repent will
be cut off, just like the fig tree.
* Many of those listening to Jesus were in fact killed in
the war with Rome forty years later.
Jesus wasn’t the only prophet to mention a fig tree without
fruit. Jeremiah said, “I will make an
end of them, declares the LORD; there will be no grapes on the vine, and no figs on the fig tree, and the leaf
will wither, and what I have given them will pass away” (Jer. 8:13). Jeremiah’s tree without figs is a picture of
destruction: a destruction that would
come because of Israel’s apostasy (Jer. 8:5).*
* This destruction took place in Jeremiah’s own lifetime,
when the Babylonians invaded and conquered the nation.
The prophecy of Micah is even closer: “Woe to me!*
For I have become like the gatherings of summer fruit; like the
gleanings of a grape harvest. There is
not a cluster of grapes to eat; a
first-ripe fig my soul desires. The
godly one has perished from the land, and the upright among man is not” (Micah
7:1,2).** Micah laments the lack of good
fruit, a picture of the lack of godly people in the land.
* The land of Israel itself is speaking.
**The key to these lines is the timing of the fruit harvest
in August or September. This is two to
three months after the ripening of the bikkuroth
(the first-ripe figs) in May and June. At
the harvest, the season of first-ripe figs has passed, and none can be
found.
Jesus, too, was searching for a first-ripe fig and couldn’t
find one: the tree he was looking on had
no fruit at all. It deserved to be cut
down and replaced with a fruitful tree. So
Jesus cursed the tree. He didn’t give
any explanation of what he was doing. But
for those who knew Biblical prophecy, the meaning was clear. It was a prophecy of God’s coming judgment
and destruction of an unfruitful generation.
Both Matthew and Mark confirm this understanding by the
events they place just before and after it in their gospels. The first of these is the cleansing of the
Temple, when Jesus cast out all those who were buying and selling in an area that
should have been for worship (Matt. 21:12,13).*
This was a public rebuke to the priestly leadership, who allowed these
people to be there for a price: an
unholy bribe paid to the leadership of the Temple.
* In Matthew, the cleansing of the Temple took place the day
before, on Palm Sunday. In Mark, the
cleansing of the Temple is placed between the cursing of the fig tree and its
withering to emphasize the connection between the two events (Mark 11:15-26).
The second is his debate with the high priests and elders.* This is when Jesus told a parable about some
tenant farmers who refused to give the landowner his part of the harvest (Matt.
21:33-41). The penalty that would come from this injustice was clear
to those listening. They said: “Wicked men!
He will destroy them completely and rent out the vineyard to other
farmers who will pay him the fruit at the proper times” (Matt. 21:41). Then Jesus explained the meaning: “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God
will be taken away from you, and be given to a people yielding its fruit” (Matt.
21:43). Who was he talking about? “The high priests and the
Pharisees…understood that he was speaking about them” (Matt. 21:45).
* The high priests and the elders (some of whom were
Pharisees) made up the Sanhedrin Council, the highest religious and political
assembly in the land. The high priests
(sometimes translated “chief priests”) were those who had held the honor of the
high priesthood previously together with the current high priest.
The cursing of the fig tree was another expression of this
same message. The leadership of the nation
would be destroyed, with terrible consequences for the entire nation, and the
kingdom of God given to those willing to be obedient. All this took place forty years later in the
Jewish war with Rome.
There is no hint in Matthew or Mark that the disciples
understood what Jesus was doing at the time.
It seems to have taken years of reflection to understand so much of what
Jesus said and did (Luke 18:34, John 12:16).
They were simply amazed by the miraculous withering of the fig tree.* So Jesus took the opportunity to teach them
about faith—the very faith that was lacking in the nation’s leaders. “If you have faith and do not doubt, not only
will you do what happened to the fig tree, but if you say to this mountain, ‘Be
taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen” (Matt. 21:21).
* “At once” in Matthew (Matt. 21:19), the next day in Mark
(Mark 11:20). The difference reflects
the way each of them explains the cursing of the fig tree by placing it with
other similar events. They are concerned
with the meaning of what happened, not with an exact chronology.
The faith Jesus spoke of was not just a zealous boldness. The word itself (pistos) implies trust: a
trust in God. This is stated directly in
Mark, where Jesus says (literally in Greek), “Have the faith of God” (Mark 11:22). Our faith should not be our own, based on
belief in our own power or righteousness.
This is what leads to religious hypocrisy, which in the end turns
religion against God himself and religious institutions into dens of theft and
immorality awaiting judgment. Instead we
must have God’s own faith, the perfect trust that God himself has and earnestly
desires to share with us.
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This story and Matt 7:21 are the two pieces I thought about constantly as a child. How could G_D destroy something that wasn't ready, out of season? Because the fig tree said no. Like us we have complete ability to do His will but we claim this isn't a good time, I'm not ready, I'm too tired and we hang with others who 'believe' just like us. A little later when Peter wanted to know how did you do that, disappear a fig tree that fast, He answered, some faith and zero doubt.... Faith, a mustard seed of the stuff plus NO DOUBT moves mountains. All the faith in the world with a mustard seed of doubt keeps you stuck, lets you say no. May you discover how to remove all doubt. You won't wither any fig trees or move any mountains until you do....
ReplyDeleteThis interpretation of the withered fig tree is the very common one. But I'm not sure I buy it. Here are some questions:
ReplyDelete1. Is this really Jesus attitude towards Israel? Jesus is clearly pissed off with the religious leaders and speaks to them directly in no uncertain terms of their hypocrisy and ultimate demise. But to Israel we see Christ heartbroken, weeping over Jerusalem, deeply distressed that they will would be soon "surrounded by enemies" and destroyed.
2. What is Jesus telling his disciples? This message of doom would be unique to Christ's otherwise encouraging, motivating, intimate instructions to the disciples. As you noted, at least at first they didn't get it. This doesn't fit Christ's message to his inner circle.
3. Is Christ really that cryptic? Jesus often told confusing parables hidden to the spiritually blind but he then clarified and explained stuff to his baffled disciples. In this case, by contrast, he apparently pointed them in another direction altogether. Instead of warning them of hypocrisy, instead of reminding or assuring them that he will ultimately judge Israel, Jesus invites them to partake with him in God’s spectacular power. They are to do the withering rather than live in fear of being withered.
In short, this interpretation offers a uniquely damning message for the Jews, but was told in private to the disciples who didn’t get its meaning. Instead of helping them understand it, Jesus gives them to a secondary unrelated message about faith which throws them off the trail.
Is it possible that Christ was just trying to teach his disciples about faith, as he states? I'd love to hear your thoughts...
You are right that Jesus' anger is directed primarily against the religious leaders. Their misleading of the people is the reason that the people were being kept from a more meaningful relationship with God (Matt. 23:13). But as Jesus also taught, the blind leading the blind ends up with both in the ditch (Matt. 15:14). There are consequences for disobedience, and when God punishes, often innocent people and true believers suffer as well. These consequences are something that Jesus deeply regreted, which explains why he wept over the city. He deeply wanted to save them and help them, but in large part because of the leadership, they had refused (Matt. 23:37). And so the terrible destruction of the city loomed near.
ReplyDeleteThis is not the only place that Jesus prophesied the destruction of the city. He also did so at the time of his entry of the city the day before on what we call Palm Sunday (Luke 19:41-44), and later that same day in the Temple when he told the parable of the vine-growers (Matt. 21:33-45, Luke 20:9-19). He also did so after they left the Temple and were sitting on the Mt. of Olives as part of his end-times prophecy (Luke 21:20-24; also see Matt. 23:37-38). So Jesus had a clear prophetic agenda that week to announce the coming destruction of Jerusalem. This successful prophecy, by the way, is one of the things that establishes him as a true prophet of God, like the prophets of the Old Testament. So it's incorrect to think that Jesus avoided difficult subjects like this in his teaching.
As far as being cryptic, it depends on who is listening, and whether you catch the allusion or not. You're right that Jesus told many parables in public that he then explained to his disciples. But many he never explained (Matt. 13:31-35, 13:44-46). In this case, I don't see that the message of faith is unrelated to his warning of destruction. In fact, that is exactly his point: a lack of faith leads to destruction, while a life of faith leads to great victories.
Thanks for your thoughts.