“And he left them, and went out of the city into Bethany;
and he lodged there. Now in the morning as he returned
into the city, he hungered. 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. And when the disciples saw it, they
marvelled, saying, How soon is the fig tree withered
away!”–Matthew 21:17-20.
This is a miracle and a parable. We have books upon the
miracles, we have an equal number of volumes upon the
parables: into which of these volumes shall we place this
story? I would answer, put it in both. It is a singular
miracle, and it is a striking parable. It is an acted
parable, in which our Lord gives us an object-lesson. He
gets truth before men’s eyes, in this instance, that the
lesson may make a deeper impression upon the mind and heart.
I would lay great stress upon the remark that this is a
parable; for, if you do not look upon it in that light, you
may misunderstand it. We are not of those who come to the
Word of God with the cool impertinence of the critic,
thinking ourselves wiser than the Book, and therefore able
to judge it. We believe that the Holy Spirit is greater than
man’s spirit, and that our Lord and Master was a better
judge of what is right and good than any of us can be. Our
place is at his feet: we are not cavillers, but followers.
Whatever Jesus does and says, we regard with deepest
reverence; our chief desire is to learn as much as we can
from it. We see great mysteries in his simplest actions, and
profound teaching about his plainest words. When he speaks
or acts, we are like Moses at the bush, and feel that we
stand on holy ground.
Flippant persons have spoken of the story before us in a
very foolish manner. They have represented it as though our
Lord, being hungered, thought only of his necessity, and,
expecting to be refreshed by a few green figs went up to the
tree in error. Finding no fruit upon the tree, it being a
season when he had no right to expect that there would be
any, he was vexed, and uttered a malediction against a tree,
as though it had been a responsible agent. This view of the
case results from the folly of the observer: it is not the
truth. Our Lord desired to teach his disciples concerning
the doom of Jerusalem. The reception given him in Jerusalem
was full of promise, but it would come to nothing. Their
loud hosannas would change to, “Crucify Him!”
When Jerusalem was to be destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar a
former time, the prophets had not only spoken, but they had
used instructive signs. If you turn to the Book of Ezekiel,
you will there see the record of many signs and symbols
which set forth the coming woe. These tokens excited
curiosity, secured consideration, and brought home the
prophetic warnings to the homes and hearts of the common
people. Again, the judgments of God were at the gates of the
guilty city. Words–the words of Jesus–had been wasted; and
even tears–tears of the Saviour–had been spilt in vain; it
was time that the sign should be given–the sign of
condemnation. Ezekiel had said, “All the trees of the field
shall know that I the Lord have brought down the high tree,
and have dried up the green tree”; and herein was suggested
the very image which was employed by our Lord. He saw a fig
tree, by a freak of nature, covered with leaves at a time
when, in the ordinary course of things, it should not have
been so. Our Lord saw that this was a fine object lesson for
him, and therefore he took his disciples to see if there
were figs as well as leaves. When he found none, he bade the
fig tree remain for ever fruitless, and immediately it began
to wither. Our Lord would have used the fig tree to
excellent purpose had he ordered it to be used a fuel to
warm cold hands, but he did better when he used it to warm
cold hearts. No wrong was done to any man; it was a tree on
the waste, and utterly worthless. No pain was inflicted; no
anger was felt. In the object-lesson, the Lord simply said
to the fig tree, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for
ever”; and it withered away. In this our Lord taught a great
lesson to all ages at a small expense. The withering of a
tree has been the quickening of many a soul; and if it had
not been so, it was no loss to any that a tree should wither
when it had proved itself barren. A great teacher may do far
more than destroy a tree, if he can thereby give
demonstrations of truth, and scatter seeds of virtue. It is
the veriest idleness of criticism to find fault with our
Lord Jesus for a piece of fine poetic instruction, for
which, had it been spoken by any other teacher, the most
lavish praise would have been awarded by these very critics.
The blighted fig tree was a singularly apt simile of the
Jewish state. The nation had promised great things to God.
When all the other nations were like trees without leaves,
making no profession of allegiance to the true God, the
Jewish nation was covered with the leafage of abundant
religious profession. Scribes, pharisees, priests and elders
of the people were all sticklers for the letter of the law,
and boaster of being worshippers of the one God, and strict
observers of all his laws. Their constant cry was, “The
temple of the Lord, The temple of the Lord, The temple of
the Lord, are these.” “We have Abraham to our Father” was
frequently on their lips. They were a fig tree in full leaf.
But there was no fruit upon them; for the people were
neither holy, nor just, nor true, nor faithful towards God,
nor loving to their neighbor. The Jewish church was a mass
of glittering profession, unsupported by spiritual life. Our
Lord had looked into the temple, and had found the house of
prayer to be a den of thieves. He condemned the Jewish
church to remain a lifeless, fruitless thing; and it was so.
The synagogue remained open; but its teaching became a dead
form. Israel had no influence upon the age. The Jewish race
became, for centuries, a withered tree: it had nothing but
profession when Christ came, and that profession proved
powerless to save even the holy city. Christ did not destroy
the religious organization of the Jews: he left them as they
were; but they withered away from the root, till the Roman
came, and with the axes of his legions cleared away the
fruitless trunk.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”