The fig tree which You cursed has withered.

Mark 11:1-26 from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

As they approached Jerusalem, at Bethphage and Bethany, near the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples, ² and said to them, “Go into the village opposite you, and immediately as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, on which no one yet has ever sat; untie it and bring it here. ³ If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ you say, ‘The Lord has need of it’; and immediately he will send it back here.” ⁴ They went away and found a colt tied at the door, outside in the street; and they untied it. ⁵ Some of the bystanders were saying to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” ⁶ They spoke to them just as Jesus had told them, and they gave them permission. ⁷ They brought the colt to Jesus and put their coats on it; and He sat on it. ⁸ And many spread their coats in the road, and others spread leafy branches which they had cut from the fields. ⁹ Those who went in front and those who followed were shouting:

“Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord; ¹⁰ Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David; Hosanna in the highest!”

¹¹ Jesus entered Jerusalem and came into the temple; and after looking around at everything, He left for Bethany with the twelve, since it was already late.

¹² On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. ¹³ Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. ¹⁴ He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening.

¹⁵ Then they came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; ¹⁶ and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. ¹⁷ And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” ¹⁸ The chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for the whole crowd was astonished at His teaching.

¹⁹ When evening came, they would go out of the city.

²⁰ As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. ²¹ Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.” ²² And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God. ²³ Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. ²⁴ Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. ²⁵ Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. ²⁶ But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”

Look again at the last paragraph of today’s text:  As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”  And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God.  Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”    Many will read or hear this and focus on the power of the promise that we have, that:  all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you, even to the point of casting a mountain into the sea. Certainly that is a great encouragment and a great exhortation for us to have faith and believe that we will receive what we pray for.

Let’s look first at the importance of what happened to create this teaching experience.  Previously the text said:  On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry.  Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and 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 were listening.  This raises the question of why Jesus would curse the fig tree even though it was not the season for figs. In Revelation 22:1-2 we see that when Jesus returns and establishes the kingdom of heaven on earth, it will be different:  Then he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month.   Like that tree that bears continually, Jeremiah 17:7-8 says that we too should bear fruit contiually:   “Blessed is the man who trusts in the LordAnd whose trust is the Lord. For he will be like a tree planted by the water, That extends its roots by a stream And will not fear when the heat comes; But its leaves will be green, And it will not be anxious in a year of drought Nor cease to yield fruit.”   We are blessed and not cursed when we bear fruit for the kingdom. In John 15:5-8 Jesus says:  “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in Me, he is thrown away as a branch and dries up; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire and they are burned. If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. My Father is glorified by this, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples.” 

Look again at what the text says:  Peter said to Him, “Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered.”     This should give us pause. It is visable evidence of the principle of Proverbs 18:21:  Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.    We need to take very seriously the power of our words and so the responsibility for what we speak. We can speak death to things both physical and spiritual. In Matthew 12:36 Jesus says:  “I tell you that every careless word that people speak, they shall give an accounting for it in the day of judgment.”   Just like our unrighteous actions, we need to submit our careless words; the words of death and cursing that we have spoken, to the cleansing redeeming blood of Christ. We cannot take back careless words, but we can submit them to the cross, bury them in the grave and ask that they too would receive the power of resurrection to bring life back to that which died.

Finally, look at what else Jesus says:  “Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions. But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father who is in heaven forgive your transgressions.”   A key aspect to the power of our prayer is forgiveness. Jesus taught us to pray: Forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.   We are forgiven as we forgive. In Luke 23:34, on the cross, Jesus said:  "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."   That should be the model for our forgiveness of others. It is not that we should go to them to point out why we need to forgive them. It is that in prayer we should forgive them and ask that they be forgiven by the Father. If we want to have the power of the promise Jesus spoke of; the power that: all things for which we pray and ask, believe that we have received them, and they will be granted us, we need to walk in the forgiveness of Christ and the cross.

Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come.
Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.  Amen.