Week 5: Jesus the Son of Man
Matthew 21:18-22, Mark 11:12-14, 20-26
Let’s get one thing straight from the beginning. Jesus is NOT telling us that we have the power to go and curse people or things left and right. That is not the purpose of this passage.
Now that we’ve cleared it up, what is Jesus saying? Why curse a tree to teach His disciples something?
Jesus is talking about fruitfulness. It can be easy to read this passage with unbelief and think Jesus is being petty, that there is no fruit on this tree. We do know that it is not the season for figs, according to Mark. We also know that according to Matthew and Mark, the tree indicated leaves which would signal a full bloom tree….a tree with fruit.
He cursed the tree that tantalized Him with fruit yet had nothing to offer. Jesus is SERIOUS about bearing fruit. It’s all over the gospels and the scripture. He teaches what happens to those who bear bad fruit (or, in this tree’s case, no fruit at all):
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will recognize them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Thus you will recognize them by their fruits” (Matthew 7:15-20).
Jesus isn’t letting His anger get the best of Him; He is taking Kingdom work seriously. He is taking disciple-making seriously. He is taking the building of His Church and Bride seriously. There is no room for bad fruit or no fruit that comes from hypocrisy or false prophets. Jesus is not referring to the person laboring their heart out. He is talking about the person who comes to do work for their own glory, who acts not of God’s will but their own, who lives outwardly for praise of man, not service towards God. He is talking about the one who comes to perform religious duty in man made structures rather than whole-hearted devotion to God. Jesus is calling out the fakes of our world. There are people out there who use Christiainty for their own glory and self satisfaction. Those are cursed fig trees.
Jesus is teaching here that we should be just as serious and that we should trust the Spirit to lead us to do so. The power is not to be petty when we don’t get our way, but to take the responsibility of bearing good fruit for the Kingdom seriously. We see this in action in Acts 5 when Peter calls out Annais and Sapphira for lying, and they drop dead (Acts 5:1-11).
Church, do you take fruitfulness seriously? Not that you play a numbers game, but does your life produce fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23)? Does your life leave traces of the Kingdom? Does your life point to Jesus? Does the gospel easily come out of your mouth by the way you leverage your life to treasure Christ? Are you a person others want to follow because of how you follow Jesus?
That is fruitfulness. Those are signs that you are a fig-full tree, not a fig-less tree showing off barren leaves.
