Matthew 21:19 And when he saw a fig tree in the way, he came to it, and found nothing thereon, but leaves only, and said unto it, Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever. And presently the fig tree withered away.
A friend of ours sent us this very interesting anecdote and it really touched us.
“You know, I never understood why Jesus cursed the fig tree in Matthew 21. As I was reading this week it hit me. The fig tree, they say, is supposed to have fruit at the same time as it has its leaves. Jesus came to the fig tree expecting to find figs and found nothing; the tree was merely offering the “appearance” of fruitfulness. It was saying, ‘come eat’ when it had no food to offer. It was being deceptive.
That is the same reason why Jesus called the Pharisees white-washed tombs full of dead men’s bones. They had only the “appearance” of righteousness. They were saying ‘come to us for life and righteousness’ but they had no life to give. They were bound up in legalism.
The fig tree is symbolic of the Pharisees and all of us Christians if we have only the appearance of Christianity but have not the Spirit of life as the fruit of God flowing from us. Jesus said they have a form of Godliness but deny the power. If we don’t have the power then we are being deceptive; we have leaves but no fruit; we have religion but no life; we have on the fancy robes and pray fancy prayers – we look good and sound good but it is all show”.
Hmmm. Good one, eh? We need the fruit! We can’t go on without it! Let’s give our hearts to the Lord once again ask for the sweet fruit of His Spirit to grow in us in a new way today. There’s so much work to be done!