Bible Trees

The fig tree is often mentioned throughout the Bible.  Today we consider how Jesus used the fig tree as a lesson for his followers. (You may wish to read Mark 11:11-25)

This is one of the odder miracles in the New Testament. Why was Jesus looking for fruit if it wasn't the right season? And when He found none, why did He blame the tree and curse it? Was this some sort of divine temper tantrum?

Actually, no. Common fig trees produce at least two crops of fruit. The "breba crop" appears in the spring, with the first leaves. You could say it isn't really a proper fig crop at all; the breba figs aren't that great, and a lot of people don't bother to harvest them. The main crop comes later and will taste much better.

But Jesus was hungry. So He went looking for the early breba figs, which should have been there if the leaves were out -- and there was nothing.

That's a bad, bad sign. A common fig tree that doesn't produce brebas around Passover isn't going to produce real figs at the right time either. The early failure is a sign of the much greater failure to come. And Jesus knew that. The words He said confirmed the disaster that was already on the way: "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And within a day, the tree was withered up.

There are things like brebas in our own lives, too. Every day we live our lives in Jesus, growing in faith, and receiving His gifts of Word and Sacrament. And every so often the challenge comes -- are we producing the fruits that show that Christ is living in us? Do we have figs, or just leaves?

To be sure, most of the fruit we Christians produce is like breba figs -- small, relatively tasteless, not particularly good quality. Jesus must be really hungry if He wants our fruit! And yet He does. He is. And He rejoices when He finds an early fig, even a breba -- because it shows that the Holy Spirit is living in us, doing God's will through us. It shows that we belong to Jesus -- and one day, we will rejoice together with Him, at the real harvest time.

What did Jesus see?

• He saw a useless tree, drawing from the soil but giving no fruit: a parable for those who take out more than they put in. Not like Abraham Lincoln: “Die when I may, I want it said of me that I plucked a weed and planted a flower wherever I thought a flower would grow.”
• The owner looked at the tree as property, judging the investment by its return. The gardener saw an opportunity for growth and recognised that effort, nourishment and time were called for. Perhaps I should  consider how God looks on me lovingly, 'digs around me' and is patient with me. I humbly lay the fruit of my life before God.
• Knowing how difficult I sometimes find it to be patient with the others, I consider how through the attitude of the gardener they help me not to judge too quickly.