Jesus is not tame, boring, or white. The Jesus of the Scriptures is uniquely fascinating. In a peculiar way, Matthew 21v18-22 stirs my affections for Jesus. In this text, Jesus acts rather outrageously – in a good way. It makes me think, “man, I love this guy.”
Here’s the text: “In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he became hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves. And he said to it, ‘may no fruit ever come from you again!’ And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, ‘How did the fig tree wither at once?’ And Jesus answered them, “truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.”
How awesome is Jesus here? Jesus gets hungry, like any dude does, walks over to a fig tree, finds nothing on it, then proceeds to curse the fig tree. It is almost a hilarious incident. The disciples seem to agree with me. I love their reactions. The disciples marveled at what had happened and they begin to ask among themselves, “how did the fig tree wither at once?”
This story is great! Jesus, the man who needed food to survive shows that He is also the self-sustaining God of the universe who needs no fig tree. This is a major glory punch.
If Jesus could not act more outrageously here, he does. After cursing the tree, he turns to his disciples as if to say, “what are you looking at?” Then basically says, “actually you guys could tell a mountain to be lifted up and thrown into the sea if you had faith.”
Now, I certainly don’t believe that this verse is implying any sort of “word of faith” mumbo-jumbo. But a point is made here by Jesus: I have more authority and power in a single strand of hair on my head than you all have collectively. Jesus was showing his disciples that his authority and power is unparalleled.
But this wasn’t an arbitrary cursing of a fig tree by Jesus here. In the next section of verses, 23-27, they go to the temple. There the authority of Jesus is challenged by the chief priests and elders. In cursing the fig tree, Jesus was preparing his disciples for the moment his authority would be challenged. The disciples were ready, for they knew the power to wither a fig tree comes from God.
Marvel at the outrageousness of Jesus.
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