Mark 11:12-14,22-24 NASB95
On the next day, when they had left Bethany, He became hungry. [13] Seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. [14] He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And His disciples were listening. [22] And Jesus answered saying to them, “Have faith in God (Have the faith of God)”. [23] Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. [24] Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you.
On Holy Monday, Jesus cursed the fig tree, and on Holy Tuesday, Jesus and the disciples stopped at the withered fig tree, and Jesus taught them about living by the faith of God.
HWhy did Jesus curse the fig tree for not having figs when he knew that it was not the season for figs to yet be on the trees? I love that it says in the last part of verse 14, “and His disciples were listening.” I imagine that Jesus’s disciples were always listening but it was important to the Holy Spirit to emphasize that they were really paying attention to what Jesus was trying to say to them when He cursed the fig tree. When you read what Jesus said to them the following day about living by the faith of God that releases the supernatural activity of God, it becomes clear that Jesus cursed the fig tree, even though it was out of season because He was trying to teach the disciples that He has the right to make demands on us that are impossible for us to produce. The whole Christian life is an “out of season life” for us apart from our union with Christ. Only Jesus can live the supernatural Christian life, and we have been grafted into His walk with God. We have been grafted into His ability and His capacity and adequacy for all things. As long as we think we can produce fruit for God, we will stay bent towards ourselves, confronted with our barrenness, but as we abide in His faith and His adequacy for whatever we’re facing, or might be required of us then we will live a lifestyle of supernatural holiness and ministry. One of my favorite parts of the story is when Jesus said, “whoever” says to this mountain Be lifted up and cast into the sea , and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says is happening, it will be granted him. This “out of season” supernatural kind of life is not just for the super deluxe model famous Christian who writes about or preaches about faith and has amazing testimonies to share. It is for the whosoever’s. Jesus invites all of us to live by His faith. The supernatural lifestyle that is the life of Christ is dependent on one person’s adequacy and faithfulness, and that one person is Jesus Christ Himself. There is only one Christian superhero, and that is Christ, and all of us “whosoever’s” have been fused into His life. We should all expect Jesus to be Jesus in and through us. We should expect the miraculous wonder of His victorious life over the reign of sin being lived out in us, and His supernatural victorious ministry over the reign of Satan in the lives of others being lived out through us. Nothing that Jesus ever requires of us, no matter how impossible it might be, seems unreasonable to God because everything that Jesus requires of us, He is prepared to perform through us, the “whosoever’s” in union with His “out of season” life.