There is a hit TV show call Survivor. It’s an interesting show to watch in that it attempts to demonstrate how humanity will act when it is under stress and when there is an ultimate prize on the line. Every week, there is a part in the show called “the immunity challenge.” In it, the contestants are asked to do some crazy mental or physical activity to gain immunity from being voted off the show by their peers.
Jeremiah could have used this immunity necklace or ring. If you’ve read Jeremiah during this week, up to today’s scripture, you would have seen how he told the King that he’s a terrible leader, the priestly diviners that the country would be defeated in battle and the High Priest and all the other priests that they were frauds. It’s a shame he didn’t have immunity because in telling the priest off, he received a beating and a lecture to shut up but he doesn’t. He comes back saying I feel if my bones are on fire if I don’t preach the message. He is the ultimate biblical survivor and he’s up to any challenge.
I can remember one particular challenge on the show “Survivor” where they asked the contestants to eat these different types of bugs. They looked like tropical cockroaches and rolly bugs. It was gross, I had to turn away at one point but I kept turning back to see the faces of the people eating the bugs and the faces of the other contestants.
Its those contorted faces I see when envision Jeremiah’s face as the Lord asks him, “What do you see?” Jeremiah unfoundedly says, “I see figs?!?” The Lord then reveals to Jeremiah the fate of the nation through the figs. He tells him and us some of the people are good and ripe. They are the ones who have and do worship God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength. Then there are the rotten ones. These are the people who had potential, they even came to church every week but they just sat there. They hoped being in the building was enough. They looked the part but they never tried to discern God’s will for themselves or the kingdom at hand.
Do you know that figs are grown on trees that can reach 33 feet tall? The fig tree offers multiple crops of figs every year. In fact, it is the oldest recorded tree to be farmed. The Mediterranean fig is pretty unique among fruit because it does not ripen after it leaves the tree. Once it is picked, the process stops. This means the fruit can’t be picked early and then transported to market, ripening as it goes, the way say an orange or a tomato does. It must be picked or dropped from the height of its ripening process and used within three days for the best taste. After that, it’s not going to taste too good.
When I think of fig and the fig tree, I always think of Jesus in Mark 11:12. Do you remember this? Jesus is walking back to Bethany after a long day of parades and riding donkeys. He comes across a fig tree and looks for a fruit to nourish him. He doesn’t see any and curses the tree. The disciples looked on and were obviously a little confused. Why does he hate figs? Why would you curse a tree? Then the next day when the tree had withered and died, Peter excitedly decided to ask why he did that. In the explanation, Jesus never really answers other than to highlight the power of God. Now, theologians since then have surmised that the tree represented Israel at that time, the community of faith who believed in our God. As such, Mark’s account then becomes about their lack of ability to produce fruit even after the Messiah came. The Lord basically tells Jeremiah the same story 630 years before in that while the whole population of Judah may be fruit from the tree; they are not all fruit He can use.
So why did God show Jeremiah the bad figs? God wants us to warn us of the reality that there were and are people who looked like figs but they fell too soon from the tree or they were ripe and never decided to give of themselves freely. They held back. I think to some extent this is happening in the church today. For whatever reason, we have lost some of that wonderment of the transformation. Instead of being excited about seeing others grow, However, our ripening only happens when we come and study His word together and nourish each other’s growth but if we are really going to grow to our full potential we must drop to the ground and be the seed for others.
So how do we apply this today? First, we are the figs and the church (the small C – congregation and the big C – global church) is the tree.
We are first called to become apart of the faith and Paul equates this, in Romans 11, to us being grafted into the tree.
Afterward, we as a community are to grow. We do this by continuing to bloom, stretch and ultimately bear fruit that drops and grows elsewhere. To do this, we must take all that is offered us by the larger tree. The fruit is then a natural byproduct of us being in community. Over the years, the fruit continues to evolve into many different varieties of the same fig tree, all very similar but with slight differences depending on where they were eventually dropped. Did you know there are over 50 different varieties of figs today? However, the mission of the original tree never changes, it remains the same. It is to continually “bear fruit.”
We live in a time where the sheer amount of material to read and discern is ever increasing. Many bemoan the fact but it's a blessing for all those willing to learn. We might even go so far as to say it's our responsibility to continue to read and learn, serve and experience so we can be ready to defend the faith within us.
So will you to take up the challenge to ripen and not spoil?
