Passion week day two: Why does the Lord condemn the fig tree? Matt 21:18-19; Mark 11:12-14; Luke 13:6-9

John 12:47"And if anyone hears My sayings, and does not keep them, I do not judge him; for I did not come to judge the world, but to save the world.

 

John 12:48"He who rejects Me [does not assign Me my proper place], and does not receive [rejects the gift] My sayings, has one who judges him; the word I spoke is what will judge him at the last day.

 

John 12:49"For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me commandment, what to say, and what to speak.

 

John 12:50"And I know that His commandment is eternal life [1Jn 3:23]; therefore the things I speak [1Jn 5:11-12], I speak just as the Father has told Me [divine decrees]."

 

1 John 3:23 And this is His commandment, that we believe in the name of His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as He commanded us.

 

1 John 5:11-12 And the witness is this, that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. 12 He who has the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life.

 

 

Before we approach John 13, which begins with the final 16 hours of the life of our Lord during the first advent it would be prudent to examine the events of the days of the Passion week leading up to this night.

 

The first day was His entry into Jerusalem on the colt of an ass. We have studied this.

 

That night He returned to Bethany and spent the night with His disciples. Early the next morning He returned to Jerusalem.

 

The first event of note on the second day is the fig tree by the road. This was a strange fig tree because it was in leaf in the spring. It is well known in Palestine that the fig tree give fruit before it brings forth leaves. However, since it was spring it would have been rare to see a fig tree leaf this early. It was perhaps that it got more sunlight or a spring had watered it more than usual or that its soil may have been especially nutrient, but in any case, it had leaves and the Lord was hungry.

 

It seems odd that the Lord would condemn a fig tree that doesn’t bear fruit in the season when it usually doesn’t, but the leaves are telling. With leaves it should have fruit since the fruit always grows before the leaves.

 

The uniqueness of this tree represents the uniqueness of Israel. She is God’s client nation; therefore it is no surprise that she should bear fruit uniquely. She was blessed by God with His greatest gift - the prophets and the word of God.

She was to know her Messiah. Christ presented Himself to her and not to the Romans or any other people.

 

He came into His own. So we open up the day after the triumphal entry, which I’m calling the second day.  

 

Matt 21:18 Now in the morning, when He returned to the city, He became hungry [this is analogous to His hunger for Israel].

 

Matt 23:37-39

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 "For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'"

 

 

Matt 21:19 And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it, and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, "No longer shall there ever be any fruit from you." And at once the fig tree withered.

 

The gospel of Mark makes it clear that this is not the season for figs:

Mark 11:12 And on the next day, when they had departed from Bethany, He became hungry.

 

Mark 11:13 And seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

 

Mark 11:14 And He answered and said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.

 

 

 

Now, it was not so unusual to have an unpicked fig remain on the tree through the winter and these were good to eat. Also, young figs, though not fully ripe were also good to eat. And since the leaves had grown, whether there were last season’s old figs or this season’s young figs, they would have been hidden by the leaves and if there were no figs, this fact would also be hidden by the leaves. 

 

There were no figs on this tree, but the Lord would only find this out after He had approached the tree. He is in humanity and He is hungry.

 

We immediately think of the parable of the fig tree that the Lord told not long before this.

 

Luke 13:6-9

And He began telling this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it, and did not find any. 7 "And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' 8 "And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.' "

 

To Him, Who but yesterday had wept over the Jerusalem that knew not the day of His visitation, looking for the crown and not the cross, and over which the sharp axe of judgment was already lifted, this fig-tree, with its luxuriant mantle of leaves, must have caused Christ to recall, with pictorial vividness, the scene of the previous day.

 

Israelwas that barren fig-tree; and the leaves only covered their nakedness, just as they had that of our first parents after their Fall.

 

Therefore the leaves represent the religious system that was developed by the Pharisees and Sadducees in direct violation of the grace of God.

 

The religious leaders taught merit systems that ignored the total depravity of man. In grace God reveals the depravity of man and encourages man to reveal his depravity to God to which God sends healing by means of the cross.

 

The religious leaders were encouraging the people of Israel to conceal their sin as Adam and the woman did and to seek God through human merit systems. The merit system they employed was a distorted version of the Mosaic Law. This and all religious systems have the opposite effect than what they are advertised to produce. They make you hide from God like Adam and woman did rather than presenting yourself to God in all your nakedness as the grace plan of God does.

 

Why are the religious leaders motivated to do such an evil? They are ministers of satan who desire what he desired at his fall; power, influence, worship, wealth, etc…

 

Satan’s ministers continue and will continue in every dispensation. Paul was burdened with protecting his churches from them.

   

2 Cor 11:1 I wish that you would bear with me in a little foolishness; but indeed you are bearing with me.

 

2 Cor 11:2 For I am jealous for you with a godly jealousy; for I betrothed you to one husband, that to Christ I might present you as a pure virgin.

 

2 Cor 11:3 But I am afraid, lest as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds should be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ.

 

2 Cor 11:4 For if one comes and preaches another Jesus whom we have not preached, or you receive a different spirit which you have not received, or a different gospel which you have not accepted, you bear this beautifully.

 

2 Cor 11:5 For I consider myself not in the least inferior to the most eminent apostles.

 

2 Cor 11:6 But even if I am unskilled in speech, yet I am not so in knowledge; in fact, in every way we have made this evident to you in all things.

 

2 Cor 11:7 Or did I commit a sin in humbling myself that you might be exalted, because I preached the gospel of God to you without charge?

 

2 Cor 11:8 I robbed other churches, taking wages from them to serve you;

 

2 Cor 11:9 and when I was present with you and was in need, I was not a burden to anyone; for when the brethren came from Macedonia, they fully supplied my need, and in everything I kept myself from being a burden to you, and will continue to do so.

 

2 Cor 11:10 As the truth of Christ is in me, this boasting of mine will not be stopped in the regions of Achaia.

 

2 Cor 11:11 Why? Because I do not love you? God knows I do!

 

2 Cor 11:12 But what I am doing, I will continue to do, that I may cut off opportunity from those who desire an opportunity to be regarded just as we are in the matter about which they are boasting.

 

2 Cor 11:13 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.

 

2 Cor 11:14 And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.

 

2 Cor 11:15Therefore it is not surprising if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their deeds.

 

Back to the parable in:

Luke 13:6-9

And He began telling this parable: "A certain man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it, and did not find any. 7 "And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' 8 "And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; 9 and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.' "

 

And the judgment, symbolically spoken in the Parable, must be symbolically executed in this leafy fig-tree, barren when searched for fruit by the Master.

 

In the parable, the vineyard keeper says to the owner, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'

 

The owner is God the Father and the vineyard keeper is the Lord in hypostatic union. The owner commanded that the tree be cut down, but the vineyard keeper interceded.

 

This is what our Lord did when He hung on the cross and when He uttered His first saying from the cross:

 

Luke 23:33-34

And when they came to the place called The Skull, there they crucified Him and the criminals, one on the right and the other on the left. 34 But Jesus was saying, "Father, forgive them; for they do not know what they are doing."

 

If the Lord does not pray this prayer then Jerusalem would have been destroyed soon after the Lord’s ascension, but as it was, they would have another 40 years of the Lord’s call to believe and become sons of light.

 

And the vineyard keeper promised to dig around it and place fertilizer and this is what our Lord did when He commanded the disciples not to leave Jerusalem, but to take the Gospel to Jerusalem and Judea first.

 

Acts 1:6-8

And so when they had come together, they were asking Him, saying, "Lord, is it at this time You are restoring the kingdom to Israel?" 7 He said to them, "It is not for you to know times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority; 8 but you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.

 

Back in:

Mark 11:12 And on the next day, when they had departed from Bethany, He became hungry.

 

Mark 11:13 And seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

 

Mark 11:14 And He answered and said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again!" And His disciples were listening.

 

It seems almost an inward necessity, not only symbolically but in reality also, that Christ’s Word should have laid it low. We cannot conceive that any other should have eaten of it after the hungering Christ had in vain sought fruit thereon.

 

We cannot conceive that anything should resist Christ, and not be swept away. We cannot conceive, that the reality of what He had taught should not, when occasion came, be visibly placed before the eyes of the disciples. Lastly, we seem to feel that, as always, the manifestation of His true Humanity, in hunger, should be accompanied by that of His Divinity, in the power of His Word of judgment.

It would not be until the next day, day three in our buildup to the final 16 hours of Christ’s first advent, that the disciples would notice that the tree had completely withered.

 

As you skip down to verse 20, you bypass the cleansing of the temple which we shall note.

 

Mark 11:20 And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up.

 

Mark 11:21 And being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, behold, the fig tree which You cursed has withered."

 

In the parallel passage in Matthew, Matt 21:19 states that the fig tree withered at once, which shows us that the disciples didn’t notice it. This shows that they are still unprepared for their mission. But not to worry, the Lord will prepare them in two ways, and to some of you, you might recognize this.

 

First, in the upper room and in the vineyard, on the night before the cross, the Lord will introduce them to the mystery doctrine for the Church. Second, the Lord will send to them the filling of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost. Thus, through the divine power, which can only come from the Lord by means of grace, these disciples will lay down their lives to be the fertilizer for Jerusalem and to be the writers of scripture, and to be His witnesses all over the world.

 

This brings out a principle that should not be passed by. If you are being called by the Lord to fulfill your personal destiny and you feel you are not prepared or ready, you can trust that God will have you prepared, and sometimes, just in the nick of time.