Matthew 21.18-22

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.

 ²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
 ²¹ Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”


There is an unstated lesson that is found in this passage. Yet to truly understand this lesson, we have to see how Mark describes this event. In Mark 11, Mark divides this story up into two parts. The first part, Jesus sees the fig tree and curses it. The second part, the following day the disciples recognize that the fig tree had dried up and withered, and then Jesus teaches them about prayer. But what is interesting about Mark dividing up this passage is what he puts in the middle, the cleansing of the temple. 


For Matthew the events occur like this:


Jesus Cleanses the Temple
Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
The Disciples see the Fig Tree withered


In Mark, the first two are reversed:


Jesus Curses the Fig Tree

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

The Disciples see the Fig Tree withered

Mark is trying to make a theological point by arranging the story a bit differently. He wants to show as clearly as possible the connection between the cursing of the fig tree because it wasn't producing fruit and the cleansing/cursing of the temple because it wasn't producing any fruit. 

This is the unstated lesson, the temple was no longer the place where God's presence dwelt. 

This is HUGE!!!!

All throughout the history of the people of God, God dwelt among them. At first it was in a tabernacle, a tent in the desert that was mobile. Then, when they built the city of Jerusalem, Solomon built this massive temple. When the Babylonians destroyed it in 586 BC, the prevalent Jewish belief was that the Messiah, the anointed one, the coming King would restore the temple. This is why Judas Maccabaeus tried to restore the temple in between the Old and New Testament. Even at this exact moment, Herod the Great's project was trying to rebuild the temple, proving that he was the rightful king of the Jews. The wanna-be Messiah that came a hundred years after Jesus, Simeon ben Kosiba, minted coins declaring himself King and the Jews free from Roman rule, and one of the coins had a picture of the Temple, which had been in ruins since the Romans destroyed it in AD 70. At the very heart of Simeon's desire to be named the Messiah was to rebuild the temple. 

All of this to say, the Messiah, the King of the Jews, was always expected to take care of and restore the temple of God. The reason is because the temple represented the fact that God's presence was with his people. The temple was the house of God, where his presence dwelt. In the book of Ezekiel, God's judgment on the nation for their sin is him saying his presence left the temple. Because of this, when the temple is destroyed, the Jews believe that God's presence isn't with them anymore. But because they have the temple now, in Jesus' day, they believe that God is dwelling among them.

But not Jesus. 

Jesus says that the temple is just like the fig tree. The tree had the appearance of bearing fruit, it leaves were green and it should have had figs on it, but it didn't. So Jesus cursed it and it withers. The same is true of the temple. The Jewish leaders that were in charge of the temple had become corrupt, charging people interest on the "appropriate" lambs to be sacrificed, they became greedy and turned God's house into a dishonest business. Jesus is saying that the temple has the appearance of containing the presence of God, but it really and truly doesn't. 

This is the unstated lesson. We can have the appearance of spirituality, of being good christians, but unless we are truly bearing fruit, we will be cursed and dried up just like the fig tree and temple. 

So are you all about appearances? Are you focusing on doing the right things, coming to church the right amount of times, wearing the right clothes and uses the correct lingo and language? Are you doing all these things yet on the inside are you selfish, greedy, putting on a show, not bearing fruit? We are called to bear fruit, to do good works by following Jesus. The works are a by-product of your relationship with Jesus. 

Because you follow Jesus, read your bible, pray, do the things he does, your life and your actions will bear fruit. You will be God's presence here on earth, when you follow Jesus. Don't strive for appearance, strive for fruit.