March 17, 2025 | Be God's Family
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree & Defends His Authority
Scripture: Matthew 21:18-27(NIV)
18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.
21 Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. 22 If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. “By what authority are you doing these things?” they asked. “And who gave you this authority?”
24 Jesus replied, “I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?”
They discussed it among themselves and said, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ 26 But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.”
27 So they answered Jesus, “We don’t know.”
Then he said, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things.
Devotional
In today’s Scripture reading, Jesus leaves Jerusalem and travels to Bethany with His disciples. In the morning, they return to Jerusalem. En route, Jesus sees a fig tree. Being hungry, He checks the tree but finds only leaves and no fruit. Jesus curses the fig tree. He declares, “Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward forever” (v. 19, KJV). When the disciples see that the tree immediately withers, they are amazed and ask Jesus how the tree withers so quickly. “How could the fig tree wither away so fast?” and “By what power, or by what name, have ye done this?” (Acts 4:7, KJV). Jesus says, “If you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.”
Jesus teaches His followers to be fruitful and not pretend to have fruit. He tells them to be fruitful because that is why they are put on Earth. He said, “He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch that does bear fruit He prunes so that it will be even more fruitful” (John 15:1-5).
In her hymn about the parable of the figs, Mrs. H.S. Lehman writes: “The Master is seeking a harvest/ In lives He’s redeemed by His blood;/ He seeks for the fruit of the Spirit, / And works that will glorify God.” And she writes in the refrain: “Nothing but leaves for the Master, / Oh, how His loving heart grieves, / When instead of the fruit He is seeking, / We offer Him nothing but leaves.” She continues her hymn with our lives’ purpose: “He looks for His likeness reflected…that are yielded and true;/ He’s looking for zeal in the winning /Of souls He’s entrusted to you.”
In this parable, Jesus denounces our fruitless worship of God and those who profess to be Christ followers but have no evidence of a relationship with Christ. “Christ’s …withering of the fig tree is a symbol of God’s sentence on all that is fruitless” (C. S. Lewis). Jesus wants His followers to sow and bear much fruit for the Kingdom of God. “He is yearning for someone to carry/ The life-giving word far and near;/ He is waiting for hearts that are willing, / For ears that are open to hear” (Lehman).
How are you bearing fruit for God’s kingdom today?
Poem
Creation's Response
Psalm 47
For God is the King of all the earth; sing to him a psalm of praise.
Psalm 47: 7
Just as the dog obeys its master
And sits or stays at his command
So all the trees and beasts on earth
Respond to God’s almighty hand
With praise they clap their limbs and leaves
With song they bellow loud and low
According to Authority
Obedience their Master show
God’s is the voice whose sound declares
The fruit to swell and full ripen
God’s is the pow’r o’er all the earth
His people’s ways thus enlighten
So bow before this Holy One
Clap hands, applaud His righteous name
For no one else sits on the throne
Allegiance from you thus to claim
