Matthew 21:18-22
In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”
This is a funny little passage. Not funny “ha ha,” but funny as in odd, a little out of place, and a tad challenging to make sense of in the larger story Matthew is telling. It differs a bit from other accounts in that the fig tree withers immediately, rather than later, and is connected with promises about faith and prayer. So what’s going on?
We don’t, of course, know for sure, but I’ll hazard these guesses:
1) The withered fig tree stands as a warning to those who do not bear fruit – that is, live lives of active faith in response to the Gospel. This warning is like directly to (and to some degree against) the Pharisees and scribes and others that did not believe in Jesus as well as to those in Matthew’s community who may have been either not living their faith or thinking of departing it. Faith matters. Even more, living your faith matters.
2) The disciples’ astounded question provides Jesus with the opportunity to talk again about faith, this time not negatively in warning but quite positively with regard to the power of faith to influence and change things. Faith is the source, Jesus contends, of all that we are able to accomplish, whether something relatively small like cursing this unproductive fig tree or something as large as moving mountains.
3) This, in turn, leads to the promise that faithful prayer is heard. It’s easy, and perhaps understandable, to get lost in wondering what kind of faith is required for prayers to be granted, or to muse or agonize over prayers that seem unanswered. But I’m not sure how fruitful – pun intended – those discussions are, as I’m not at all convinced that Jesus was setting out a recipe or mechanism by which we get what we want. Rather, I think he is offering counsel and encouragement to his disciples (and Matthew, in turn, to his community). The counsel: live your faith, don’t just think it. The encouragement: God is listening and responds to the prayers of the faithful.
Not bad advice for Jesus’ disciples today, either.
Prayer: Dear God, grant us faith to dare great things, strive for great things, and ask great things. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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