On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it. Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers.” And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city. In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."
The word that stands out today is “forgive.” Among all the talk about fig trees and driving the money changers and merchants out of the temple, Jesus tells the disciples to forgive anything that you have against anyone.
The meaning of the cursed fig tree is strange. It almost seems that Jesus was "cruel" and unjustly condemning. To see a leafed fig tree, even at an unseasonable time, warranted the assumption that there would be fruit on the tree. But this tree was an oddity; the leaves were there, but it was fruitless. This phenomenon, therefore, served as a perfect “visual aid” for an important lesson that Jesus wanted to teach. Jesus has talked about fruit before and the responsibility to bear good fruit (referring to the believers obligation to spread the Good News). The fact that the fig tree did not have any fruit, and then was withered, parallels Jesus teaching about those that don’t bear any “fruit.” This was discussed on March 7, 2012
The fig tree incident surrounds Jesus driving out the moneychangers from the temple, saying that it is a house of prayer. The placement may have an indication of the importance of the use of money. If money or currency is used in a manner that doesn’t give glory to God, then it is accursed. However, if it is used to assist in the building up of the kingdom of God, to care for others, to provide for the needy, to bring about social justice, to make sure churches and temples represent the best we can offer, then we bring forth “good fruit” for the kingdom of God.
We should always use all that we have all the time to bring glory to God. That’s the call that I hear today. We have a responsibility as believers to express our faith by the way we live our lives. This includes how we use our resources. If we give a tithe (10%) to our churches, then our churches are able to operate and help society provide much needed support to those in need. This all boils down to what is in our heart. Do we have a thankful heart of forgiveness or do we have a selfish heart?
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