Jesus wants breakfast. The fig tree is covered in leaves but there are no figs. He tells it that it will never bear fruit. It dies immediately. The disciples are amazed at the power Jesus displays. He says that they can do it. He ends by saying “If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
I’ve summarized Matthew 21:18-22. The story is also told in Mark 11:12-25. There, it takes 24 hours for the tree to die, and Mark adds that it wasn’t the season for figs.
Which is most troubling to you in the synopsis above?
- that Jesus killed a fig tree because, it seems, the tree inconvenienced him,
- that it wasn’t even the season for figs, so it was an irrational act,
- that Jesus says if you believe enough, you’ll get what you pray for, or
- that the accounts can’t agree about the very timing of the events.
Each point can be challenging to those of us who are following Jesus, who want to be like him. Either he is cranky, agriculturally clueless, out of touch with our experience of prayer, or part of textual conflict that we have to ignore or reconcile.
I understand the challenge. But just because it makes no sense to our sensibilities doesn’t mean we can avoid this passage.
At the time, the disciples weren’t concerned about why Jesus was killing a tree; they were stunned that he could make a tree die. Though we are familiar with Roundup, we would be stunned, too. In response, Jesus invites the disciples to believe that their words, with God’s affirmation, do things.
I know that we often pray and nothing happens. But what if Jesus is right? What if we could move mountains?
What if we asked with confidence…that it was what Jesus wanted?
300 words a day 
jim cooke
I am so often amazed at how God works as well as how things that you think should happen don’t happen. Well, everything is a part of His plan, and whether we believe it or not He has us in the palm of His hands if that is where we will place ourselves. I have been trying to educate young people for over 20 years now and as a 46 year old married now for nearly 22 years with a beautiful wonderful wife and 2 very special children I can’t seem to get life right enough but I can’t really tell if getting life right really matters in the big scheme of things. I mean I had a time this summer where I felt closer to God than at any time ever in my life. I consider myself even right now as a brother of Jesus and because He is my brother I have equal access in things that He does. I mean I can pray to God without having to go through some other source but I can also pray in Jesus name when I pray. I have been a Christian for 30 years and like I said this summer was something quite different. And God opened a door that is still open as I am pursuing with people the production of a movie, entitled Gold Score that could literally bring more people to Christ than any other movie ever. I want to see people all over the world come to a saving faith in Jesus, and that is to me the most important thing to live for in a way. I know that we are here on earth to have a relationship with God our creator and His Son Jesus Christ, and for now that is enough, b/c one of my students just walked in and I have to tend to his business. God bless, Jim Cooke
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