Word of Salvation – Vol. 26 No. 06 – November 1979

 

The Barren Fig Tree

 

Sermon by Rev. P. Koster, B.D. on Mark 11:12-14, 20-22

Scripture Readings: John 15:1-11; Mark 11:1-26

 

Beloved congregation of our Lord Jesus Christ,

Today we are going to look at one of the stories about Jesus that seems to be out of character with the things that we would usually associate with Jesus. Jesus is the One who was the Helper always willing to help those who were in need. He was the comforter uplifting the oppressed and healing the afflicted. Full of love and compassion. He was the master not only of the wind and the seas, but also of Himself.

And here, on the way to the Passover Feast, where he was to destroy sin and death by His crucifixion, we find Him, CURSING A FIG TREE. On their daily walk from Bethany, where they were lodging, to Jerusalem, (a distance of some two or three miles) Jesus and His disciples had seen a fig tree. Jesus was hungry. He looked for figs. There were no figs – they were not in season. So He curses the tree. The next day the tree is dead withered to its very roots.

The Bible tells us very clearly that it was not the season for figs. Was the Lord Jesus unreasonable when He expected to find figs on that tree? The clue to understanding this apparent truculence of Jesus is in the information that the fig tree was in leaf, for in Palestine a fig tree in leaf was a fig tree in fruit. Whether it be early or late, the leaves were a sign that there was fruit on the tree. Perhaps not very much fruit, nor very good quality, but fruit there should be.

That is why Jesus had every right, judging by the leaves on the tree, to expect some fruit there to assuage His hunger.

And when that fruit is not there then Jesus curses that tree.

Some people say that Jesus lost his patience with that tree. He was angry and disappointed that there was no fruit. And in a sudden, uncontrollable burst of anger He uses His divine power to curse the tree and make it wither away.

We can easily understand this way of behaving, because it is all too often the way that we do things when we are frustrated in our plans and desires. Only our words do not usually have such startling results (for which we ought to thank God).

Now there is some truth in this way of looking at the event. Jesus was angry and disappointed when He found no fruit. But not so much because His hunger had not been satisfied. Rather because of what this fig tree represented. His cursing was a result of this anger, but certainly it was not uncontrollable like our cursing and swearing. Jesus did it deliberately and with no regrets. He saw in it an important teaching opportunity.

In a sense it is a parable that Jesus acts out in order to illustrate a principle. He does this to impress the truth of the principle upon the minds of His disciples, to make it real and meaningful to them.

You see, here was a fig-tree, full of promise, full of show, but devoid of fruits. Here was Israel, God’s holy nation in the midst of a crooked world. Like the fig tree, Israel displayed the leaves of righteousness and holiness. Israel was saturated in God’s law. Every action of man or woman, and even of beast, was regulated by that law. Every part of life was filled with an apparent piety, as Israel strove to serve their Lord in obedience to His word. While the nations around about it were sunken in crass idolatry and sensualism. Worshipping gods of wood and stone instead of Jehovah of Hosts, while the nations were engaged in unholy rituals and sacrifices Israel was worshipping the One Only True God, Maker of heaven and earth. Ruler of the nations, invisible to the human eye, who could not be represented by wood or stone, who was Lord of all the nations, not just of His chosen race. Who could not be manipulated as the heathen idols. Who required chastity, faithfulness and single-hearted love from His people, who was indeed the One Only True God.

Israel’s religion was truly spiritual, whereas the other nations were material in their religion. Israel was to serve the living God, while others tried to enlist their gods to serve them. Israel knew this, was proud of this, boasted of this. They were God’s chosen people. All others were Gentiles, a name that Jews used to insult people.

Especially at the time of the Passover was their worship of God evident. It was the central feast in the Jewish year. Many made the pilgrimage to Jerusalem, to offer their sacrifices and to renew their covenant vows before the Lord. On their way to the holy city they would sing, “I was glad when they said to me, ‘Let us go to the house of the Lord’. Our feet have been standing within your gates, O Jerusalem” (Ps 122:1,2). And they would sing, “As the mountains are round about Jerusalem, so is the Lord round about His people, from this time forth and forevermore” (Ps 125:2).

It was a pilgrimage that Jesus Himself had made. The city of Jerusalem at this season was full of God’s people doing God’s will and bringing God His due in sacrifices and offerings. It was a time of joy and gladness as the people remembered the Lord who had redeemed them from Egypt with many signs and wonders.

The focal point of all this activity was the temple, where the people were to bring their sacrifices, where the priests laid the offerings upon the altar, where the holy vessels were kept, where there was the Holy of Holies, entered only once per year, and by the High priest alone. This was Israel, Jerusalem, the temple, at the Passover. This is the time when Jesus, too, came to the Passover. And what He saw there was this ……….it was all show. All ceremonies, all rituals and sacrifices, holy vessels, holy garments, holy priests were show. It was all show. There was no mercy, no kindness or compassion, no love except self-love.

The priests and the temple hierarchy did not live by the love of God, and they did not reveal the love of God to His people. Each person was interested only in satisfying God’s legal demands for himself. Thus it was that the temple courtyard was full of money changers and vendors of animals for sacrifice. Israel was a fig tree with its leaves, but without the fruit. It was an empty, hollow and hypocritical show. It was a great display of righteousness and holiness and Godliness. When Jesus came to that nation, to the descendants of Abraham and David, to pick the fruits of faith, there were none. “When the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?” (Lk.18:8). No, He had found no fruits, despite the great display, despite the promise.

And this display of righteousness, without the fruits of faith, became nothing better than a base hypocrisy. Jesus condemns this hypocrisy of Israel, and His condemnation of the fig-tree is parabolic of the fate of Israel.

The speed with which the fig tree withers indicates the speed with which Israel will be judged. Swiftly does the Son of Man come. In a few days from now, He will hang on the cross in judgment against a nation that had no fruit. It was because Israel rejected Jesus, that they had no fruit of the Spirit, no “love, joy, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control”.

It was because of their sinful and self-centred rebellion against the God whom they pretended to serve that they had no alternative but to nail the Prince of Peace to the cross. It was in that bitter agony of the cross that Israel judged itself, and revealed to all the world that it had not the fruits of faith. For when the giver of faith came, they did not recognise Him They did not know Him, but they rejected Him. Instead of the joyful reception that should have been accorded to Jesus the Son of God there was bewilderment, opposition and rejection.

In hardening their hearts against the Lord and His anointed, God’s covenant people condemn themselves. And the voice of Israel, instead of shouting about the glories of God’s grace, tries rather to drown out the sound of grace by shouting about self-justification. And eventually Israel tries to still the voice of God altogether, when they take the Word, and nail Him to a cross, Israel had prostituted the religion of grace by using it for self-gain.

When Jesus throws out the money changers in the temple He is making the same judgment as that against the barren fig-tree. The Lord has come in anger against His people, for He hates sin and despises hypocrisy. The cross of Christ is God’s judgment against sin, just as it is also the way of redemption. In the midst of judgment we find grace. The cross is judgment and grace – Judgment against sin, grace for the sinner.

And just as that judgment comes with speed, so does it also come with power. The words of Jesus are not idle talk. When He curses the fig tree, it is not cursed merely in word, but in deed. So in His judgment against sin and hypocrisy it is not just word but also deed. How this lesson of the power of Christ’s word must have impressed itself on the minds of the disciples. He not only taught with authority, as the crowds of Israel recognised, but He also cursed and blessed with authority. Later, when Jesus would say to His disciples, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me,” they had ample reason to believe what He said. Had He not demonstrated this clearly? His power to judge, as in the barren fig tree – and His power to bless, as in His many miracles of healing – but most clearly of all in His death and resurrection, for here judgment and blessing meet. And when, having stated His demonstrated authority, He then goes on to say, “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you”, do the disciples not have ample reason to go on in confidence of the victory over evil, sin and death?

Jesus came not only to save sinners, but to destroy sin and death and all evil, and in this our hearts rejoice. The lesson of the fig tree is this – that Jesus is Lord, and that His victory over sin and death is swift and complete.

The Judgement against the fig tree is parabolic of the judgment against Israel, but the judgment against Israel is in its turn parabolic of the judgment against all sin, against Satan himself. This is Jesus, who sees through the sham of hollow life. This is Jesus, who’s word is God’s word of power, who speaks and it is done. This is Jesus, who on the cross defeated all the hosts of wickedness. This is Jesus, our Lord.

Amen.