Jesus And The Fig Tree

One thing I really enjoy about listing to the Daily Prayer podcasts based on the New Zealand Book of Common Prayer is that I hear the Bible stories in a new light–as stories. I give credit to the narrator (David Guthrie) for his rich storyteller’s voice, and also to the fact that I’m listening in a different environment–not in church, but in my home (or car). Instead of listening for the “messages” in the readings, I experience them as retellings of what the prophets, apostles and Jesus said, did and felt.  I visualize them as Technicolor movies we might watch on a quiet Sunday afternoon. 

Last week one reading included the story of Jesus and the fig tree. This story comes right after Jesus’ triumphant entry into Jerusalem that we celebrate at Palm Sunday and, the way Mark tells it, bookends Jesus’ tirade in the temple.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

When I heard this story, I couldn’t help but think that Jesus was having a bad day and took it out on the helpless fig tree. Jesus was hungry. He had just been hailed as the presumptive king, but He still didn’t have anything to eat. He saw a fig tree from afar, and thought a few figs would make a perfect snack. He trekked over to the tree, and probably was even more hungry by the time He got there. When He finally reached it, He was disappointed to see that there was no fruit on the tree–and so He cursed the tree! So loudly that his disciples heard Him!

When I heard this story last week, I also noticed that “it was not the season for figs.” That made me chuckle even more. This was not a fig tree that was planted in poor soil or suffering from drought–it just was not its time to bear fruit! (That tidbit is not in Matthew’s version of this story.)

So, here we have Jesus, hungry, grumpy, and cursing a fig tree for not bearing fruit out of season–I can relate!

After throwing the money changers out of the temple, Jesus had to face up to what he did to the fig tree:

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
“Have^] faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.  And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.”

I call that a nice save–Jesus turned his outburst into an example of what can be accomplished through prayers asked in faith.

(Of course, the fig tree might wonder why Jesus didn’t just pray for some figs!)

Have you read a Bible story as a story lately?