Mark 11:12-14,20-25 TPT
The next day, as he left Bethany, Jesus was feeling hungry. [13] He noticed a leafy fig tree in the distance, so he walked over to see if there was any fruit on it, but there was none—only leaves (for it wasn’t yet the season for bearing figs). [14] Jesus spoke to the fig tree, saying, “No one will ever eat fruit from you again!” And the disciples overheard him. [20] In the morning, they passed by the fig tree that Jesus spoke to and it was completely withered from the roots up. [21] Peter remembered and said to him, “Teacher, look! That’s the fig tree you cursed. It’s now all shriveled up and dead.” [22] Jesus replied, “Let the faith of God be in you! [23] Listen to the truth I speak to you: If someone says to this mountain with great faith and having no doubt, ‘Mountain, be lifted up and thrown into the midst of the sea,’ and believes that what he says will happen, it will be done. [24] This is the reason I urge you to boldly believe for whatever you ask for in prayer—believe that you have received it and it will be yours. [25] And whenever you stand praying, if you find that you carry something in your heart against another person, release him and forgive him so that your Father in heaven will also release you and forgive you of your faults.
Jesus cursed the fig tree on Monday of holy week, and on Tuesday morning of holy week he and the disciples once again passed by the fig tree and the disciples called attention to the fact that the fig tree was completely withered, shriveled up, and dead.
Over the years, I used to feel sorry for the fig tree because it wasn’t the fig trees fault that it had no figs to offer Jesus, in light of the fact that verse 13 makes it very clear that wasn’t the season for bearing figs. In that part of the world, leaves on the fig tree, were simply a sign, that figs would be coming sometime later. I finally came to realize that the fig tree did not have its feelings hurt (unless you are a fruitarian, and then you believe that Jesus murdered the fig tree?)
Jesus was the author and the perfecter of faith, and every step He took on earth, He took in absolute and utter dependence on the life of the Father who indwelt him, by the Holy Spirit. Jesus knew that after Pentecost His disciples would be in union with Him, by the indwelling Holy Spirit, and they too would need to take every step of their life on earth in absolute dependence on Him, just as He had lived in total dependence on His Father. Because of that, Jesus was continually teaching His disciples about the life of faith, and about how to be completely confident in Him, as He had been in His Father. Having said that, what lesson was Jesus trying to teach his disciples by requiring a fig tree to give figs out of season..
I believe, by requiring a fig tree to produce figs out of season, Jesus was teaching his disciples that they will often be placed into situations that will be out of season for them. They will often be put into circumstances, and be given opportunities that will appear, and feel to be impossible to them. As believers, everything that the Lord ever demands of us, He has already imparted to us, so that nothing He requires of us, seems too difficult, or ridiculous, to Him. How many times have each of us found ourselves in circumstances and situations, that were so overwhelming that we would say to the Lord “this is just too much Lord, “ forgetting that the bottom line of Christianity isn’t “how much we can deal with,” BUT HOW MUCH CAN HE DEAL WITH! Jesus is reminding them that there will be many times when it will feel like they are in over their head, but just like the lesson he taught them when He was walking on the water, “everything that ever threatened to be over their head, was already under His feet.” Don’t be surprised when the Lord puts you into places that are out of season things for you, where it feels like God is requiring of you what is impossible for you to produce. He will often do that to remind you that you are called to live utterly dependent on his life within, and nothing is impossible to Him. That’s why the story is picked up, the next day as they were passing along the road towards Jerusalem, and they walked by the withered fig tree. When they remarked to Jesus about the tree, Jesus began to speak to them about faith, because the whole story of the withered fig tree, was about trusting Jesus, and his ability, when you are placed in the situations that expose your inability.
He tells them, in light of the fact that He Jesus had just cursed the fig tree, that there were going to be times when they would faced mountains, and by faith they could move even mountains. Jesus performed no miracles on his own according to John 14:10, because he said that it was the father doing the works in him, and in acts 2:22 Peter reaffirms that truth, when he declared that Jesus was a man approved by God through whom God performed miracles and signs and wonders. Jesus did not perform them; God performed them through Jesus. That’s what made him a God approved man.
Jesus spoke to the fig tree in faith; in absolute and utter confident dependence on His Father, and it was the Father, and the Father’s activity through him that performed the small miracle of cursing the fig tree. Jesus was letting his disciples know, that not only could fig trees be dealt with, but also those things that feel like mountains; and then very strategically at the end of the story, Jesus listed one of the biggest mountains that he knew his disciples, and every disciple will face in every generation; the mountain of forgiveness. One of the most difficult things for a Christian to walk in, is forgiveness, and to be able to forgive someone who has hurt you, or abused you, or betrayed you, or in some way rejected you, is one of the biggest mountains, one of the most out of season things, we will ever face. But there is good news; as believers, we don’t face anything apart from God; but instead, we are in union with God, through our union with Christ, and from that place of being one with Jesus we can do the impossible, and forgive the unforgivable. True forgiveness from the heart is a supernatural thing, and for many it will be the biggest out of season test they will ever face. It is so hard for us to forgive, because we feel so wounded, and we believe somehow the person who hurt us or betrayed us, in some way, soiled our life story and it can never be undone. Here is the glorious, liberating, and supernatural truth. In those moments where unforgiveness, resentment, and bitterness set in, ask Jesus, (the one that you are in union with), what is in his heart towards them. Ask Jesus if He believes your life story is ruined forever because of what they did. Jesus will tell you that He e loves them fiercely, and that He has already forgiven them, just as He was already forgiven you of everything you’ve ever done wrong; and then He will remind you that you no longer have an independent story, but that your story has been placed into His story, and that He is now living out His story through Your life, which redeems everything about your life, and your story. Therefore, He will answer, “No, nobody can ruin MY STORY lived out through you.” He would say to you, “Not only did they not ruin your story, but if you will just trust Me, I will use everything anyone’s ever done to you, to advance My STORY in and through your life.”