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. \u00a0In this text, Jesus acts rather outrageously – in a good way. It makes me think, “man, I love this guy.”<\/p>\n
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.”<\/em><\/p>\n 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?”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.”<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Marvel at the outrageousness of Jesus.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 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. \u00a0In 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":685,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[382,495,551,562,679,803,1271],"class_list":{"0":"post-583","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-disciples","8":"tag-fig","9":"tag-glory","10":"tag-gospel","11":"tag-jesus","12":"tag-matthew","13":"tag-tree","14":"entry"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":3753,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/can-anything-good-come-out-of-nazareth-john-143-51\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":0},"title":"Can Anything Good Come Out of Nazareth? John 1:43-51","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"May 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Verse 43: Here we have a new day in the flow of the narrative in which Jesus decides to go to Galilee. As we saw in our passage last week, Jesus called his first disciples, Andrew, an unnamed disciple, and Simon Peter. As this new day begins, Jesus continues\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/05\/fd22c-philipcallsnathanaelunderfigtree.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/05\/fd22c-philipcallsnathanaelunderfigtree.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2019\/05\/fd22c-philipcallsnathanaelunderfigtree.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":4881,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/breakfast-on-the-shore\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":1},"title":"Breakfast On the Shore","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"March 21, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"After this Jesus\u00a0revealed himself\u00a0again to the disciples by\u00a0the Sea of Tiberias, and he revealed himself in this way.\u00a02\u00a0Simon Peter,\u00a0Thomas (called the Twin), Nathanael of\u00a0Cana in Galilee,\u00a0the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his disciples were together.\u00a03\u00a0Simon Peter said to them, \u201cI am going fishing.\u201d They said to him, \u201cWe\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/pescuireastmichaellouisville.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/pescuireastmichaellouisville.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2022\/03\/pescuireastmichaellouisville.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3646,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/lord-of-the-waves-commentary-on-matthew-1422-33\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":2},"title":"Lord of the Waves: Commentary on Matthew 14:22-33","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"November 6, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Immediately he\u00a0made the disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds.And after he had dismissed the crowds,\u00a0he went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When\u00a0evening came, he was there alone,\u00a0but the boat by this time was a long\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/11\/060404_walk_hmed_11a-grid-6x2-1.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1216,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/the-means-of-sovereignty\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":3},"title":"The Means of Sovereignty","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"November 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cWhen he saw the crowds, he had compassion for them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, \u2018The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Gospel"","block_context":{"text":"Gospel","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/gospel\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4400,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/how-to-be-hated-by-the-world-and-win-the-world\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":4},"title":"How to Be Hated by the World (and Win the World)","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"March 22, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"18\u00a0\u201cIf the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you.\u00a019\u00a0If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because\u00a0you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.\u00a020\u00a0Remember the word\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Commentary"","block_context":{"text":"Commentary","link":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/category\/commentary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/03\/boniface.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/03\/boniface.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/03\/boniface.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2021\/03\/boniface.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":3750,"url":"https:\/\/themajestysmen.com\/joshuajenkins\/we-have-found-the-messiah-john-135-42\/","url_meta":{"origin":583,"position":5},"title":"We Have Found the Messiah, John 1:35-42","author":"Joshua Jenkins","date":"May 7, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Introduction \u00a0 Upon an initial reading of this passage, it may seem to be just a mundane text that narrates us from one point to the next without any real significance to us beyond just explaining the first disciples of Jesus. 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