I WOULD SHOW YOU MY FRUIT, BUT ALL I HAVE ARE LEAVES…
Today as I was reading through a bit of Matthew I re-read a scripture that is interesting to me to say the least…here it is:
“18 In the morning, as Jesus was returning to Jerusalem, he was hungry, 19 and he noticed a fig tree beside the road. He went over to see if there were any figs, but there were only leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” And immediately the fig tree withered up.
20 The disciples were amazed when they saw this and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?”
21 Then Jesus told them, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you can do things like this and much more. You can even say to this mountain, `May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. 22 You can pray for anything, and if you have faith, you will receive it.”
Matthew 21:18-22(NLT)
Now at first glance it seems as if Jesus is hungry and gets a little ticked off when there is no fruit on the tree and he just pulls the Jesus card and curses the tree. Wow…wanna talk about hungry. Sometimes I wish I had the power when I stop somewhere to eat and they are closed. So I decided to read some thoughts written by some folks about this scripture. Here is one of my favorite thoughts I have read:
The usual focus is on verses 21 and 22 while vs 19 is skimmed over. However, here we see how passionate the Lord is for us to “be fruitful.” In fact, what is crucial here is that the tree only had leaves and no figs. The problem wasn’t the leaves, but the absence of figs, simply being alive and having leaves (life) was not enough. A fig tree isn’t a fig tree without figs. Likewise, a disciple of Christ isn’t a disciple without fruit, a specific fruit of which it was created to bare. Because of the price paid for us to bear this fruit it is offensive for us not to go and bear fruit, this what we were made to do! — And John 15:16 backs this up with Jesus saying, “You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to you.” — But good soil is necessary to produce good fruit, according to Jesus we must be in the vine to produce the fruit that is lasting, the real fruit we where made to produce, and the vine is Him. (John 15:4). And we must be in good fertile soil, for it is from the soil that a tree gets all its nutrients. And out soil is the word Mat 13:23, being filled, walking in the spirit, Gal 5:22. Be in a bible teaching body of passionate lovers of Christ, Heb 10:25, 1Th 5:11, 2Ti 4:2. It is from these that God gives us the nutrients we need to produce fruit in our lives. — It should always be on our hearts and minds to bear fruit. We need to allow the master gardener to do what is necessary to produce the fruit He desires from us, do the proper pruning as needed, giving the correct amount of watering and to till and weed the soil. Whether or not we produce fruit in out lives and the amount will never exceed the level of our oneness, our relationship with Christ.
Ok…so there you have it…I am still wrestling with this text, but would love to hear your thoughts as well. Please discuss and give me your feedback.
This morning this verse made me realize what a baby Christian I still am. Today was the first time I read it and caught the significance of the absence of fruit. Seriously blew through this passage every time thinking it odd for Jesus to get so upset at a tree.
My tree definitely could use some root stimulator! Not too proud of its current state!
I like Spurgeon’s interpretation which I will abridge here, “What a lesson this is to nations who make a loud profession of religion(He references Israel here, but I think more of our own nation.)yet fail to exhibit righteousness; and are adorned by the leafage of civilization with art, progress and religion but there is no inner life of godliness and no fruit of righteousness. What a lesson this is to churches which stand prominent in numbers and influence, but faith, love and holiness have not been maintained..But I do not want you to consider it only in the gross, in its relation to nations and churches; but my heart’s desire is that we may learn the lesson in detail, and take it home each one to his own heart.”
I could go on, but this isn’t my blog.
The goal of fruit is to feed someone else – not ourselves. Our faith produces the fruit that feeds others. We focus so much on our own nutrition that we forget others. There are people that are hungrier then we are.
I want to be a fruitstand!
mgh