My Walk Through the Book of Matthew by Annette Godtland

The Fig Tree Withered (Matthew 21:18-19)

18Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away.

Footnotes in my Bible tell me that on a fig tree the fruit forms first, then the leaves. So a fig tree that has leaves would be expected to have fruit. A fig tree with all leaves and no fruit, would be all show and no results.

Is Jesus showing a temter tantrum? He is hungry and the tree doesn’t have anything for Him, so He curses the tree? I don’t think so. I think this is an enacted parable of what is expected of each of us.

How are we in our mission of bearing fruit? Are we also all show and no results? Do we try to bear fruit? The chief priests and scribes who worked in the temple were all show and bore no real fruit. Maybe the lesson here is Jesus’ response to those who are all show but bear no fruit. Will He curse them so they cannot bear fruit? Actually, I don’t think God ever makes it impossible for us to bear fruit in our lifetime. But our time is limited. Show counts for nothing. At some point we will reach our final judgment and then it will be too late to start trying to bear fruit. No fruit will ever grow on you again.

But I wonder if the more significant lesson here is what happens to one that will never bear fruit -- they will wither away into nothing. You’ve heard the all important question asked, “What is the meaning of life?” Maybe it is to simply bear fruit. For without bearing fruit, we will simply wither away.