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BREAD FOR THE JOURNEY BLOG@ Rhythms of Grace: a Journey into RestSustenance for the journey into rest and peace
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THIS SERIES: SEASON OF NEW BEGINNINGS Holy Week starts on Sunday--the time of the year when Christians worldwide ponder the days leading up to the most monumental events in history. I just want to reflect on one of those episodes... The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples heard Him say it. In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” [Mark 11:12-14, 20-21] The story of the cursing of the fig tree needs a bit of pondering, as it makes Jesus appear irritable and vindictive. And we know that is not a true reflection of His character. FF Bruce gives this explanation in his book 'Hard Sayings of Jesus' (see below): Was it not unreasonable to curse the tree for being fruitless when, as Mark expressly says, 'it was not the season for figs'? The problem is most satisfactorily cleared up in a discussion called 'The Barren Fig Tree' published many years ago by W. M. Christie, a Church of Scotland minister in Palestine. "Now," wrote Christie, "the facts connected with the fig tree are these. Toward the end of March the leaves begin to appear, and in about a week the foliage coating is complete. Coincident with [this], and sometimes even before, there appears quite a crop of small knobs, not the real figs, but a kind of early forerunner. They grow to the size of green almonds, in which condition they are eaten by peasants and others when hungry. When they come to their own indefinite maturity they drop off. These precursors of the true fig are called taqsh in Palestinian Arabic. Their appearance is a harbinger of the fully formed appearance of the true fig some six weeks later. So, as Mark says, the time for figs had not yet come. But if the leaves appear without any taqsh, that is a sign that there will be no figs. Since Jesus found 'nothing but leaves' - leaves without any taqsh- he knew that 'it was an absolutely hopeless, fruitless fig tree' and said as much." Jesus' cursing of the fig tree was a prophetic enactment of a parable He had told earlier [Luke 13:6-9]. The leafy fig tree symbolised those of His compatriots who had the trappings of religion, but no fruit born of faith; in particular, they did not believe in the very One they had been supposedly waiting for. WHAT HAS IT TO DO WITH US? Fruitfulness is a big deal to Jesus: We do well to take note. Religious observance is of no consequence to Him, what He is looking for is some evidence of fruit in our lives. And what kind of fruit is He looking for?
And, crucially, all fuelled by love: 1 Corinthians 13: If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing. [1 Corinthians 13:1-3] Hmm.... How am I doing Lord? THIS WEEK’S GRACE RHYTHM:
NEXT WEEK: GRACE! GRACE! GRACE! Let's celebrate! GET IN TOUCH!
[Photo credits: Dengarden (fig tree); Tetiana Padurets (figs); John Schnobrich (laptop) @ Unsplash, with thanks]
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