LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Lessons of the Fig Tree
A day has passed since the Lord's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. The Lord is now leaving Bethany, and he is hungry. Then he sees a fig tree, but finds no fruit on it, only leaves. So he curses it, although it is not the time for figs (Mark 11:12-14). This, no doubt, is a surprising response from the Lord. Therefore, this passage has been interpreted in various ways. Probably all of them have their value and application. But let us see what it says to us today.
God represents his people in the fig tree. Israel first, and also, in some sense, us. In what? Leaves make a tree look good. They make attractive foliage to the eye. It can be so pleasing that a painter is inspired by it to create a great painting. Or it can be a reason for a poet to write wonderful verses. This is the visual, aesthetic value of a fig tree. But in the hour of hunger, the leaves are of no use.
The fig tree, full of leaves but without fruit, is a life with an external religiosity, without interior life. The Christian life can sometimes become a decorative matter, an external expression of morals and good habits, or a correct formal teaching for the children. It can be a healthy custom, or a tradition transmitted from parents to children, but if it is only that, it is like a fig tree with leaves, but without figs.
The Lord Jesus was very severe with the Pharisees, who had only an outward appearance, but no inner life. He compared them to whited sepulchers, which outwardly look beautiful, but inside are full of dead men's bones. Or like a vessel clean on the outside, but filthy on the inside. "Ye outwardly appear righteous unto men, but within ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity" (Matt. 23:28).
The primary function of the fig tree is to nourish, just as that of salt is to salt, and that of light is to enlighten. Thus, the Christian's primary function is to be a torch in the midst of a dark place, which not only shines, but burns (see John 5:35). Not only with an outward glow, but with an inward commitment. The Christian is called to bear fruit for God: "I have appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain" (John 15:16).
The Christian should not only bear fruit occasionally (like the fig tree), but at all times. That is what the fact that the Lord cursed the fig tree even though it was not the time for figs tells us. Figs or leaves? Appearance or works of true righteousness?
This episode of the fig tree also teaches us that there is spiritual hunger, that there are needs to be met. In such a case, an aesthetic, useless Christianity is of no use, but an eminently practical one. Men are thirsty, and only those who have a river flowing within them can give them to drink. Men are hungry, and only those who have fruits, and not leaves, can satisfy them. These are the lessons of the fig tree for us today.