A friend of mine shared this picture on facebook (thanks, Joanie!). With the news that a certain hate group will be picketing in front of some churches in the Indianapolis-area this week (I believe they should wear this as a badge of honor, by the way – kinda shows these loving churches are doing something right), coupled with today’s reading about Jesus’ encounter with the fig tree, I just had to share it.
Why does Jesus do this to the fig tree, though? He tells his disciples that they (we) will be able to do such things with a tiny amount of faith. But I’m wondering if there’s another reason, too. Jesus has just left the Temple and he was disgusted at what he saw. The place that was meant to be a house of worship had been turned into a hiding place for robbers and thieves. It wasn’t serving its purpose. It wasn’t doing what it was made to do. So Jesus cleaned it out.
The fig tree wasn’t serving its purpose either. It wasn’t doing what it was made to do. It was created to honor God by producing figs. There was no fruit in sight. So Jesus showed his followers what happens to us if we don’t do what we were made to do by worshiping our Creator with everything we have and everything we are. We shrivel up and die.
Just a thought. I could be very, very wrong.
Of course, it could just be that Jesus really doesn’t like figs very much. 😉
The Tale of Anakin Redeemed 