Angry Figure

Just one short thing on Anger and Figs. Apparently, a non-fruit bearing fig tree can be justifiably the victim of righteous wrath.

Seriously, can anybody read the story of the Fig tree and completely understand it the first time? I mean, it makes you wonder which side of the bed Jesus got up on that day? It's just a fig tree! Don't you think he over-reacted? Not really...

Matt 21:18-19 "In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside he went to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once."

Our preconceptions, I think are, of course, the problem. We hear fig tree and we think we know about trees so we think we understand. In this case, we imagine an object as "only a fig tree" when really it symbolizes something more. Perhaps it is obvious to some but given the general sub-theme concerning Jesus' condemnation of Israel as unfaithful and unfruitful, do you think this might be relevant? I think so, and following a hunch, I found something interesting.

Figs are the flowers of the tree. They aren't the fruit, the vegetable or the nut. Although, they kinda are the seeds... This only matters because my experience has shown me that flowers grow alongside the leaves on deciduous plants. The fig tree just happens to be deciduous too. Fig tree pictures on the net also seem to confirm this theory.

Although, having never grown a fig tree, I really can't confirm or deny this, but I suspect that seeing a fig tree with leaves on it is the same as seeing it in some stage of bearing fruit. If that was the case then seeing a fig tree with leaves but no fruit, not even budding ones or, as in this case, just leaves alone would have been exceptionally unusual. It would be much like encountering "God's chosen people" and instead of seeing people turned towards God, encountering people who have hardened their hearts. Which is, of course, the main message here.

Although the following verses do certainly show that faith can kill fig trees just as effectively as it can move mountains. (tongue in cheek guys, tongue in cheek!)

Be the spark, Go and set the world Ablaze.