Prayer: Lord Jesus keep us true to our faith, true to love, and true to you. Amen
Why Curse the Fig Tree?
Jesus could do without food. He fasted for forty days in the wilderness, resisting temptation. He fed 5000 with a couple of loaves and a few fishes. If Jesus commanded the fig tree would have produced abundant fruit. So, why did Jesus curse the fig tree?
Even though it was out of season, the fig tree was full of leaves and the splendor of those leaves promised it would be full of fruit. That is the way fig trees are in that part of the world. The tree promised to be fruitful, but bared no fruit. Comparing it to a person, it would have been a hypocrite, putting on a false appearance. So, Jesus cursed it.
Cursed means He passed judgement. "May no one ever eat of your fruit again!"
Jesus was cursing hypocrisy. The hypocrisy of the fig tree was all leaves and no fruit. The hypocrisy of humanity is all show and no love. Many speak and boast but bare no fruit.
Hypocrisy is not that we are sinners; but, we pretend NOT to sin and are too proud to be humble, honest, or human. Like the people Jesus found in the temple that would speak and boast of their relationship with God but bared no fruit. They had made the promise and splendor of God’s temple, a house of prayer, into a den of thieves.
The priests and scribes heard Jesus was there and feared him…, they were all show and no fruit; hypocrites in faith, all show and no love.
And, Jesus passed judgement on them, driving out those buying and selling, overturning the tables of the money changers, and the seats of those selling doves.
When evening came, He went out of the city.
The next day, the fig tree was withered and dead. The next day, the priests and scribes withered and died in conspiring to put Jesus to death.
Friends turn away from hypocrisy. Lead a life that is an authentic and genuine worship of God. If you preach, preach the words of God. If you serve, serve with the strength God supplies. Let your love for one another be true and intense.
More than anything else as Jesus said, "Have faith in God.”
In other words, be good, be holy and preach the gospel by the way you live and love. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment