The Curse of the Fig Tree

Sometimes scripture stories are repeated so often that we fail to see that they are really mindbogglingly strange.  Consider one of the oldest stories, Adam and Eve.  If God really didn't want Adam and Eve to partake of the fruit of the tree, why did he put it in the garden in the first place?  Why didn't he get rid of the snake?  Why were they only able to have children, AFTER they left the garden?  Didn't God kind of set Adam and Eve up to fail by giving them two commandments that were impossible to obey at the same time?

Consider Abraham who was promised a  posterity numbering greater than the sand of the seashore and a promised land to dwell in.  He lived his life as a nomad having left the idolatry of his father's people and land, wandering homeless.  Also, his wife couldn't get pregnant.  When she was finally given a son, Abraham was commanded by God to kill him.  Why didn't God just give him a lot of kids, and a homeland?  That would fulfill his promise and would have made sense, right?  Strange.

Then there is Isaac, the boy who was offered in sacrifice to God, was spared by an angel and dedicated to God as the birthright son.  His wife was not infertile.  She had twins.  Why make this so complicated?  Couldn't God have just sent one baby at a time?  Or a set of boy girl twins?  Then, why didn't he make sure that the boy who was supposed to be the birthright son came out first?  Strange.

Maybe you might think that these are anomalies in the way God interacts with mankind.  But when you look closer, you see a clear pattern.  A clear pattern of convoluted, confusing, backward events that eventually result in the promises and gifts of a loving God to his covenant people.  Not for nothing do they say that God works in mysterious ways!

It just gets stranger as you progress through the Old Testament.  Jacob marries two women, who also give him their handmaidens to be servant wives.  He has a staggering number of rowdy boys who do all kinds of horrible things and make their parents' lives hell.  The birthright son, Rueben decides to have sex with his Dad's wife in a misguided effort to show dominance over his father.  He looses the birthright.  Now who gets the birthright?  Does it go to Judah, first son of the first wife?  Rueben was technically Leah's first born since he was the son of her handmaid.  Technically the birthright would go to the first son of the second wife, Joseph, but one could definitely see that Judah had a claim to it, as did Rueben's next younger brother.  With this kind of raging testosterone competition going on, it is not so surprising that the brothers take out Joseph, and compete to take his crown.  What a mess!  There is all kinds of drama in the family including rape, murder, adultery, and deception.  Of course, we know the strange and convoluted way that God chose to save Jacob's family using the Egyptians led by Joseph, who was not as taken out as his brothers had hoped.  And so, the tribe of raucous and betimes disobedient, yet humbled and repentant Israel was taken into Egypt to be saved, only later to become enslaved, by the same Egyptians.....strange.

Let's fast forward to the birth of the Savior.  The Aaronic Priesthood is still held by the church of God which is at this time, practicing the Law of Moses, the prophet deliverer of Israel.  The Jewish people are enslaved by the hated Romans who find them an especially haughty, particular, and rebellious people.  The church of God has been over-run by "church people" who love to appear righteous and spend all their time and energy giving one another titles, making one another feel important, and enlarging their own power and influence.  They have created a thriving marketplace inside the temple courtyard which helps to finance their activities.  They seek to make the Law of Moses so complex and restrictive that only they are able to follow their interpretation of it- or at least they appear to.  This facade of righteousness solidifies their authority over the rest of the people and ensures that they remain in power, along with their children and children's children.  These church people are called Pharisees, Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, the Council of Elders, the scribes and various other names.  They lead in the synagogues, control the education system, control the temple, and oversee the ordinances of the law of Moses.

Overall, I imagine the people to be quite cynical.  They know, as all people do, when their leaders are being hypocritical.  Justice, prosperity, and freedom are only for the privileged or the lucky.  The Roman leaders are brutal and unconcerned with the human rights of those they rule.  The church leadership is corrupt and self-serving as well.  The poor and the widow are oppressed.  The faithful seekers of truth are despised or even killed if they become too outspoken.  Everything is pretty sad.  Suddenly, strange things begin to happen.  A descendant of Levi, of the original sons of Jacob, entered the temple sanctum to do his appointed duties.  He sees an angel of God who prophecies that his wife, a woman who has long been barren, will conceive and bare a son who would prepare the way for the Messiah.  What????  Then Mary, an obscure descendant of David has an angel appear to her, letting her know that she, a virgin, is going to give birth to the Son of God who is already growing within her.

And so begins the slow unraveling of the social order of the time.  Satan fights back.  Zacharias is murdered.  King Herod tries to kill the baby Messiah and succeeds in slaughtering all the boy babies in the land.  Thanks to the timely dream of his guardian father Joseph, the baby Messiah is saved.....in Egypt.  Of course.

Let's fast forward again to the triumphal entry of Jesus Christ into his city, Jerusalem.  This is the time foretold by the prophets for hundreds and possibly thousands of years.  Jesus Christ, the Messiah, the great deliverer has come to his people.  He is healing the sick and the infirm.  He has revitalized the faith of the children of Israel who follow him joyfully proclaiming his gospel unto all who will listen. The children are proclaiming that he is the promised Messiah.  They are singing!  It is beautiful.  He enters the temple courtyard and scatters the merchants and money changers. The time of their corruption is over.  The King has come to claim his rightful place to rule and reign in righteousness forever.  Right?

It would seem so.  If I had been there, I would have thought so.  Anything was possible.  God is walking among men and sickness and death have no power.  The words of life come from his mouth.  How can the Romans oppress?  How can the apostate church leadership stand against this man, the Son of David, the half God, whose right it is to rule over mankind?

At this crucial moment in world history, the Savior passes a fig tree.  He looks for fruit and he finds none.   I imagine his piercing gaze falling over each branch and leaf, perceiving with his superhuman senses that everything about the tree is functioning properly, and yet there is no fruit.  No blossoms, no ripening orbs, no sign whatsoever of the thing he was seeking for.

Liken this to the Master's search these years of his ministry.  Entering synagogues, preaching the truth, beckoning men to come follow him, to spiritually nourish the precious souls fainting all around.  City after city, time and time again, he is cast out, reviled against, and rejected by the leadership of the apostate church.  He has searched high and low among the churches in Judea and has found no fruit.  No charity, no truth, no genuine connection to God.  Not a sign of it.  There are buildings, a temple, offices carried out with laser precision by the sons of Levi, lawyers and scribes that study the words of the prophets with zeal and know of the workings of God in past times.  And yet, just as the fig tree, the church is producing no fruit.

In the only instance that we know of in the New Testament, the destructive wrath of the Savior is released-onto the fig tree, the symbol of apostate Judaism at the time he came to the Earth.  That one destructive act was like a judgement/curse issued with power and authority upon those who claimed his title and yet failed to be good stewards.  And what a curse it was.  From that very hour, the tree wilted and died.

And what of the apostate Judaism?  Of course, we know that the Savior was murdered by the very men whom he had passed judgement on in the withering of the fig tree.  They killed him as he knew they would, but their fate was already sealed with the curse of the fig tree.  It wouldn't be many years before the Romans would kill them all and destroy their temple leaving not one stone standing upon another.  Such is the doom of all those who set their hand against the chosen vessels of the Lord.  Such is the fate of those who profess the authority and sanction of God and yet do not produce the fruit!  In fact, if you look back on some of the strange works of God in the scripture stories, you might find some not as strange as they appeared without this principle in mind.

Could it be that he wants chosen people, a chosen church, a blessed flock of obedient people, but at the same time, he doesn't want them to THINK of themselves as chosen?  That is the ultimate irony!  The moment the Lord begins to bless someone, to elevate them because of their obedience, then they lift themselves up in pride and bring upon themselves the curse of the Fig Tree because they don't prove themselves worthy of the blessings and elevated status he has given them.  The pride of their hearts makes them unable to produce the fruits of the spirit which was the whole point of the blessings to begin with.  And so the strange workings of God are not so strange after all.  He continues to put the last first and the first last.  And men, and churches, and nations who fail to produce the fruit- beware the curse of the Fig Tree!

God has said since ancient times, "Thou shalt NOT take the name of the Lord thy God in Vain."  Each of us has the gift and privilege of calling ourselves Christians, of taking his name upon us.  We, like the Jews at the time of the Savior, have a peculiar place in the world to show all men that by casting off the natural man and obeying the commandments of God, he can transform us from mortal to immortal, from sinful to sanctified, from death to life eternal.  But woe be unto us if we take his name in vain!  Woe to us if our churches are not filled with his love!  Woe to us if we use his name and his doctrine to inflate our own pride and serve our own selfish interests while despising those with broken hearts who seek after him for healing and grace.

The time has come to inspect ourselves.  Those who cry "America First," are our fig trees baring fruit?  If he came to our political rallys would he find a nation that fosters charity, mercy, and a connection with God?  Are we worthy of the privileged place we hold in HIS world, as HIS people?  What of our church?  If he came to our meetinghouse, would we recognize him?  Are we filled with humility and willingness to confess our need for the Savior in our lives?  Are we feeding the spirits of those with whom we worship, as he has commanded us to do?  The Master has said, "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples.  Ye shall have love one to another."  Does that love mark us as his own?  In our families, in our wards, in our communities, in our nation?  If not, it is time to repent.  It is time to return to him and bow ourselves before him in humility.  Imagine what might have happened to the leadership of the Jews if they had done that?  They and their children would not have perished at the blade of a Roman sword.  The stain of the Innocent blood would not follow them.  May we be more wise than they were and change the tide of our doom before it is too late.