Episode Transcript
[00:00:24] Speaker A: Hello.
[00:00:24] Speaker B: I'm Josh.
[00:00:25] Speaker A: And I'm Gabriel.
[00:00:26] Speaker B: And today on reading the Gospel, we are studying the event, the cursed fig tree. This is found in Matthew, chapter 21, verses 18 through 22. It's also found in the book of Mark, chapter eleven, verses twelve through 14 and 20 through 26. Follow along with us in the Book of Mark as we read on the.
[00:00:53] Speaker A: Following day, when they came from Bethany, Jesus was hungry and seeing in the distance a fig tree in the leaf. He went to see if he could find anything on it.
When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
And he said to may no one ever eat fruit from you again.
And his disciples heard it as they.
[00:01:23] Speaker B: Passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, rabbi, look. The fig tree that you cursed has withered.
And Jesus answered them, have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, who ever says to this mountain be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive if you have anything against anyone, so that your father also, who is in heaven, may forgive you your trespasses.
All right, a little background behind this story. This is taking place as the next day after the triumphal entry. And Jesus is hungry. He's going in, and he sees this fig tree. This is in early April.
He sees this fig tree which has leaves. Now, this is not the time when figs would be ripe. Figs, ripenous, late May, early June in.
[00:02:39] Speaker A: Israel, all the way to September.
[00:02:42] Speaker B: Yeah, and there's two fig trees produce twice, and so they produce again in the fall. But figs take 45 to 60 days to ripen.
And when there's leaves, there should be evidence of fruit. And so as jesus comes to this tree, while it's he's not expecting, or while we would not expect to see ripe fruit at this time, we would expect to see some fruit. And so as he comes and sees this tree, there is no fruit on this tree.
Then he makes this curse. He goes into Jerusalem, cleanses the temple, and then coming back, we have the second part of this where the disciples see the tree.
What lessons can we learn from this encounter?
[00:03:35] Speaker A: I think the main lesson is related to Jesus expectation to find fruit, even if it was not the season of figs, because of the abundance of leaves. That tree communicated the message that it should be some fruits.
And this is reality in our life. And we always connect the promise with delivery.
And any promise creates expectation.
And if we do not deliver, there is disappointment. And that is the basic structure of this event.
The leaves promise some fruit even before its season, but it does not deliver. And Jesus Christ is disappointed and curses that tree.
[00:04:30] Speaker B: We can liken this to us.
God has created us for some basic things.
And when we don't live up to the ideals God has created us, we are not doing what he created us for.
You know, when we don't forgive others, when we don't have the fruit of the spirit in our lives, when we don't share Jesus with others, when we're not loving and kind, when we don't visit those in prison or care for the widow and orphan, when we don't clothe the naked and feed the hungry, we're not doing what God created us to do.
[00:05:13] Speaker A: By assuming this title, sons and daughters of God, we kind of promise to God that we are going to behave like his children, as being part of his family.
And every time we don't do that, little by little, we stray away until we reflect the character of the enemy. For instance, a small, tiny little white lie. Half white lie.
[00:05:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:05:43] Speaker A: Every time we do that and we repeat it, little by little, we display the character of the enemy, because Jesus says in John chapter eight that Satan is the father of lies.
He's a liar from the beginning. And every time we lie, we kind of side with God's enemy. And little by little, we reflect his character.
At the same time, being Christians is not just a promise to God, it's a promise to other people. When you go to work and say, hey, I'm christian, people have some expectations. You cannot behave exactly the same way you have behaved before.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: So continuing on this thought, this story, this event is sandwiched between another event that takes place, Jesus cleansing the temple. Is there an application, possibly, that goes beyond just individuals?
[00:06:43] Speaker A: So Jesus Christ is at the end of his ministry, and Jesus came to seek and save the lost, starting with the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
And as we'll see later, the next day is the cleansing of the temple. The next day, after cursing the tree, the fig tree, and later, we have a number of parables, as well as we have a very direct conversation with the jewish leaders in Matthew chapter 23. So all this point to this idea that the fig tree represents the people of Israel, and they were planted as an olive tree, like a vine. And in this parable like a fig tree. And it was taken care by God and at the right time.
The master who planted it comes back, expects some fruit, the return of investment, and it was nothing in it.
And the fig tree was cursed in the same way. We will see that Jesus Christ later talks about Jerusalem, how he invested himself into Jerusalem, how he protected Jerusalem, how he planted and grown Jerusalem. And now he came and expected some fruits. And because there are no fruits in Jerusalem, their house would be left desolate.
A couple of years ago, we discussed this in the book of Daniel, chapter nine, about those 70 weeks of years which ended exactly with God through Jesus Christ, keeping his people accountable for not fulfilling their mission. So there is also a reference to the people of Israel.
[00:08:36] Speaker B: Yeah.
So again, as we mentioned in Matthew, this story is all linked together. In Mark, we have it, the cleansing of the temple. In between. The second part seems to be a second lesson, a second object lesson crisis. Pulling from this as they're going back by, Peter seems to be awestruck or marvels that what Jesus said actually happened, that this fig tree is withering.
[00:09:05] Speaker A: And he was with Jesus for so many years.
I'm amazed that he's surprised.
[00:09:11] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. But again, Jesus said, may no one ever eat from you again. And maybe he just thought, well, he'll never produce fruit again. But to come back and actually see, wow, this tree's dying, I think I would be amazed. And Jesus now links this lesson to faith and how we can have faith. And I'll tell you, I do not have faith to say to this mountain, long's peak, get up and go into the sea.
I don't know if you do. I don't know anyone who has enough faith to just tell Mount Everest to get up and walk into the sea.
[00:09:59] Speaker A: So faith in the Bible is a gift that comes from above. It's God's gift.
Faith is not your own initiative. That is presumption.
Having faith means being called by God to do something and saying those kinds of words to a mountain. That means being a spokesperson for God. Every time you speak for God, it is not your power. It is the power of God that will fulfill that promise. I do not doubt the power of God.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: Yeah, no, I don't doubt the power of God. And I think you hit the nail on the head that faith does come from God.
And so if it is not God's will for the mountain to be moved, I'm not going to have the faith to move the mountain.
It just. It doesn't work that way. You know, so often we take this metaphorically.
We're facing a big thing, an impossible task, and God will give us the ability to do that. And I do believe that applies here. But I think, as you said, God gives us the faith we need to do the things he wants us to, to do.
And this finishes with something God wants us to do.
Wherever you stand, praying, forgive, you know, it's easy to ask for forgiveness of God, but it's hard to forgive others, especially when it means we lose out.
[00:11:29] Speaker A: And how do you know that we are forgiven by goddess. So how do we know that we have the faith to be forgiven when we have works?
[00:11:38] Speaker B: And those works are when we forgive others.
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Exactly.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: And forgiveness often comes at a loss to ourselves. You think of the parable of the debtors.
One debtor, he owed God an insurmountable amount of money, or the king.
And another debtor owed the first debtor a little bit. And when he's the first debtor who owes so much is forgiven, he goes out and tries to collect on this tiny little debt. Sometimes we are owed by someone else. And if we're forgiven by God, we need to forgive them, which means we might not receive what we deserve.
[00:12:15] Speaker A: When we are forgiven by God, that should change us, should transform us, and we should behave like a forgiven person, that servant, behave like he was never forgiven.
So in the same way, I really like how Jesus Christ uses a practical way, like a thermometer. Do you want to know that you have faith? Ask God to forgive you. How do you know that you are forgiven if you have a forgiven spirit for those around you?
[00:12:52] Speaker B: Yeah, I like those thermometers that God gives us that helps us to see our connections, see where we are with God. And I know I have many in my life that just gives me that.
I call it a spiritual gut check to see if I'm online. And I think what we're doing here, encouraging listeners to read their bible every day and to pray to God, those are one of those spiritual gauges.
[00:13:21] Speaker A: And don't forget, the Lord will test you once in a while the way he tested the people of Israel and Abraham and all people of faith.
There are quizzes once in a while, or tests. And the purpose is not for God to know something about us, but it is for us to realize where are we at in our spiritual journey.
[00:13:45] Speaker B: I like cars. I work on cars a lot in my spare time.
Yeah, I do safety checks on my cars, on my bicycles. I go around and test all the bolts, make sure they're tight, make sure the brakes work, make sure everything's working as it should, because I don't want it. I don't want to find out something didn't work when it fails and I crash.
And I think this is something that God does. As you said, he brings us through these safety checks so we don't get to a place where we realize we've crashed, we've fallen out, and we no longer desire God. So we shouldn't be afraid. When we come to these times where God draws us to reflect and to realize where we're at. Let's pray. Father God, you have created us to worship you, to serve others, and to be selfless.
And just like this fig tree, Father, if we turn our eyes away from you, we can lack the fruit. And so right now, we ask that your spirit will be present in our lives, that your spirit will do the work in us that we need. We pray, Father, that we will produce fruit, and that we will live as you have called us to live.
I pray that you will strengthen our faith, that you will help us to forgive, and that you will supply everything we need. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen.
