Matthew 21 The End of the Beginning (3)
Pray Psalm 92.1-4.
It is good to give thanks to the LORD,
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning,
And Your faithfulness every night,
On an instrument of ten strings,
On the lute,
And on the harp,
With harmonious sound.
For You, LORD, have made me glad through Your work;
I will triumph in the works of Your hands.
Sing Psalm 92.1-4.
Sweet Hour: Sweet Hour of Prayer
How good it is to thank the LORD and praise to God Most High accord;
by day to let His kindness ring, His faithfulness by night to sing.
With ten-stringed lute, resounding lyre, and sweetest harp we’ll lift You higher.
For You have made our souls rejoice; we sing Your praise with blended voice!
Read Matthew 21.1-19; meditate on verses 18, 19.
What “fruit” is Jesus expecting of you today?
Prepare.
1. What was Jesus seeking?
2. What happened to the fig tree?
Meditate.
I suppose to some readers, Jesus’ action here might seem a bit petty. He came looking for something to eat, and when He didn’t find anything, He cursed the tree, and it withered away “immediately”. To understand what’s happening here, and what the lesson is for us, we need to take a few steps back and look at this passage from Jesus’ perspective, rather than our own. We only see a momentary action; Jesus sees an eternal truth. We see a kind of petulance; Jesus sees an opportunity to spare us from withering before Him.
Locked as we are in our materialistic view of the world, we tend to think that whatever the order of things is, that’s the way things are supposed to be. Mark tells us (11.12-14), that the reason Jesus didn’t find any figs on this tree was that “it was not the season for figs.” It was “unreasonable” for Jesus to expect otherwise, we might think.
But when the Lord comes looking for fruit, not even that excuse will hold up.
A day is coming when Jesus will identify those who truly believe in Him by the abiding fruit they have borne in their lives (Jn. 15.4-6). If we abide in Him, nothing can prevent us from bearing fruit. Whatever excuses we might use today for failing to bear fruit for the Lord, simply won’t hold up when Jesus comes again, looking for fruit.
Let the lesson of the fig tree sink deep into your soul. Abide in Jesus, and bear fruit for Him day by day, in all you do.
Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
This passage also shows us Jesus’ humanity. Jesus was hungry.
And in the vernacular of today combining hungry and angry—He was hangry.
He suffered all the same things we do; but without sin (Heb. 4.15).
Do we understand that His death was heinous?
He suffered that.
He felt all the whips and thorns and nails and sword;
the cursing, the humiliation, and the separation—just as we would feel it.
Yet He did it for us.
Then, of course, there was the negligently unfruitful fig tree.
But that tree, for all the world, looked luscious and fruitful (Matt. 21.19).
It gave off vibes of such great potential that its barrenness was even more disappointing.
All the fluff but no fruit.
“The vine has dried up, and the fig tree has withered;
the pomegranate tree, the palm tree also, and the apple tree—
all the trees of the field are withered;
surely joy has withered away from the sons of men” (Joel 1.12).
Goodness sakes, do we ever give off those vibes? No joy, as we extemporaneously:
wear our crosses, carry our Bibles, dress in a churchly appropriate manner, keep our overt swearing to a minimum, at least in public, don’t rampage about killing our neighbors, don’t steal from the local grocer, we keep our whoppers covertly masqueraded, and the other no-no’s we keep mostly mental.
So well, yes, we do give off those vibes.
We are extremely leafy but bereft of the fruits of the Spirit (Gal 5.22, 23).
OK, maybe not you, but frankly, I’m convicted.
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
nor stands in the path of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of the scornful;
but his delight is in the law of the LORD,
and in His law he meditates day and night.
He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water,
that brings forth its fruit in its season,
whose leaf also shall not wither;
and whatever he does shall prosper.
The ungodly are not so,
but are like the chaff which the wind drives away” (Ps. 1.1-4).
“Preach the word!
Be ready in season and out of season” (2 Tim. 4.2).
Most of all, we never want Jesus to come upon us, outwardly leafy and green but bearing no fruit, and hear
Him say, “Let no fruit grow on you every again” (Matt. 21.19) and we up and wither away.
When Jesus comes seeking fruit from us, we had better be producing:
love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.
But, if we should experience a moment or two of hangriness—Jesus understands.
Reflect.
1. What has to happen for you to bear holy spiritual fruit unto the Lord?
2. How can believers help one another bear such fruit?
3. How does bearing such fruit help us in working our Personal Mission Field?
This cursing of the barren fig-tree represents the state of hypocrites in general, and so teaches us that Christ looks for the power of religion in those who profess it, and the savor of it from those that have the show of it. Matthew Henry (1662-1714), Commentary on Matthew 21.18-22
Pray Psalm 92.5-15.
What’s before you today? Pray that God will make you fruitful for Him and His Kingdom in all you do.
Sing Psalm 92.5-15.
Sweet Hour: Sweet Hour of Prayer
How sweet Your works, Your thoughts how deep. The fool cannot such knowledge keep.
Like grass the wicked rise each day; in judgment they are swept away.
But You, O LORD, abide on high; Your enemies shall surely die.
All those who sin shall scattered be, but, LORD, You have exalted me!
My eye my vanquished foe shall see; my ears hear those who threaten me.
Yet in God’s house, where he belongs, the righteous like a tree grows strong.
Then let us green and fruitful be and flourish like a mighty tree,
to tell God’s righteousness abroad: He is our Rock, our sovereign God!
T. M. and Susie Moore
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment to give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Cor. 4.15).
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Other columns of interest: This week: Our Read Moore podcast continues readings from the book, The Joy and Rejoicing of My Heart. Our Crosfigell teaching letter is pursuing a series on the spiritual poetry of the Celtic Revival. The ReVision column is working through a study of the role of reason in the life of faith. Click here to see all the other columns and writers available to you.
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter.
