Strength from Thorns

Holy Monday

Jesus Curses The Fig Tree

A few years ago I gave my Dad a fig tree for Fathers Day. It has grown bigger since he first got it and is definitely starting to look more like a tree than a twig . Everyday he tends to it but it still hasn’t produced a single piece of fruit. On Holy Monday, Mark 11:12-14 tells us “Jesus was hungry. He noticed a fig tree in full leaf, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” Mark 11:18 “The next morning the disciples walked passed the fig tree, “Look Teacher, the tree you cursed had withered”

Jesus was always calm and gentle, so I wondered what would make Him so upset that He would curse a tree? Fig trees produce small fruit before the leaves develop, so when He saw this tree had leaves, He assumed it had fruit. But this one didn’t. It appeared to be healthy, but there was nothing beneath the surface.

Much like a religious life with no substance, going through the motions of faith without putting in the work, eventually withering without ever bearing fruit for God’s kingdom. That is why Jesus was so upset.

It wasn’t about the tree. It was about the warning. Faith isn’t meant to be something that just looks alive on the outside.

It’s meant to grow roots and to bear fruit.

Because leaves can give the appearance of life but fruit is the evidence of it.

Suffering can sometimes feel like the opposite. It feels like we are doing everything right but nothing happens.

I ground myself in the sun every day. I eat extremely healthy, I go to all my drs appt, I research treatments, I take all my vitamins at the same time every day, I am actually the perfect patient. My Dad waters his tree. He tends to it, prunes it, cares for it. Yet month after month… nothing. No fruit. No visible progress. Just waiting…. Waiting for the storm to pass. Waiting for a diagnosis. Waiting to feel better. Waiting to feel different… to just be happy.

I think of all those tears we have all cried. God is using every single tear to water our roots because he doesn’t waste a single thing, not even tears. Because just like trees, growth doesn’t always happen where we can see it.

Sometimes the most important work is happening below the surface where roots are forming, strengthening, and reaching deeper.

And maybe this season of suffering isn’t about the fruit yet…

Maybe it’s about the roots.

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