A Tree, A Fish, Some Bread And Water

Scripture: Mark 11:12-14, 20-22; Jonah 1:17; Mark 6:38-44; John 2:1-11

Theme: Obedience – Working With God

Title: A Tree, A Fish, Some Bread and Water

Mark 11:12-14; 20-22

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he (Jesus) was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

What a joy it is to be with you this morning.

I want to talk to you today about the subject of obedience – especially obedience in working with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

I want to start with a rather strange passage in the Bible – we find it in Mark 11:12-14; 20-21. It takes place as Jesus is going up to celebrate Passover for the final time before His arrest, trial, crucifixion, death and resurrection.

As he and his disciples are walking along the road they come upon this fig tree. There is nothing odd about the fig tree. It looks like one of the hundreds of fig trees that you would find anywhere in Israel at that time.

That is not where the story gets a little strange. What is strange is that Jesus goes up to the fig tree to get a fig. And again, that is not a strange thing to do. Fig trees produce figs just like apple trees produce apples and lemon trees produce lemons.

But this fig tree didn’t have any figs on it. And again, not something strange at that time of the year. It was not time for fig trees to have figs. It was out of season.

What is rather strange is Jesus’ reaction to this tree. He looks at it and seeing no figs proceeds to be rather upset and then does something that seems unfair in that Jesus curses the tree. He pronounces judgement upon the tree and the next time that the disciples come by the tree they are at first amazed for the tree has in fact died (withered to its roots).

What? Why?

Why was Jesus so upset that this tree didn’t have fruit when by all accounts according to nature it should not have any fruit?

Was Jesus merely throwing a temper tantrum.

Was Jesus expecting too much?

Was Jesus being cruel?

Looking at this passage in only the natural, may in fact cause us to think that way. It may cause us to wonder what is wrong with Jesus. I mean to expect a tree to produce fruit out of season seems a little odd or out of place. And then to be so upset with the tree that you curse it to die sounds rather harsh doesn’t it.

So, what do we make of all of this?

One of the best ways to understand Scripture is to do a few important things:

1. Read it – Read it over and over and perhaps if they are available to read the passage in a couple of different versions.

2. Study it – Be Still and allow your heart and mind to be under the direction and will of God’s Holy Spirit. After all the Holy Spirit was the one who inspired the words to be written down, so we need the Holy Spirit to understand what scripture means.

3. Put it into the full context of the Bible – look and see if there are other scriptures that can help us understand what is exactly going on.

If we do all of that when we look into our passage I believe we can find some wonderful truths that will not only help us understand this passage but can also help us live a better life in Christ.

What is going on with this tree is vitally important.

The question we must ask is not if the tree is in season but why did the tree refuse the wishes of the One who made it in the first place.

John 1:1-3 tells us that in the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Hiim nothing was made that was made.

What that means is when Jesus stood in front of this tree, as Maker of all and as the Word, the Son of God and the Anointed One, He expected the tree to obey Him. The tree already possessed the ability to have figs. It had produced figs in the past and in front of Jesus, it’s maker it was expected to bring forth figs.