So, let’s dig in, shall we?
Body
Jesus withers the fig tree
Found in gospels of Matthew and Mark
I’ll begin by reading Matthew’s account:
Matthew 21:18–22 “Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.””
So, the set-up here is:
We’ve already seen the Triumphal entry into Jerusalem, and the people crying “Hosanna”
Jesus cleansing the Temple
Jesus and disciples left Jerusalem, returned to Bethany
Going back to Jerusalem
Matthew 21:18 “Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.”
We again see the fully human person of Jesus. He was hungry
But when we read verse 19, he wasn’t merely hungry.
Matthew 21:19 “And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away.”
He was “hangry”
But the anger was directed @ the fig tree. It just happened to be the recipient of His anger!
A few months back I came home “hangry”. I wasn’t angry with Lisa, it was something about work, but she was the recipient of my anger!
I quickly realized it, and immediately apologized.
Jesus wasn’t angry with the fig tree, I believe He was angry with the nation of Israel, they had become a fruitless people!
Is this us? All beautiful in full bloom on the outside, yet barren and fruitless on the inside?
Verse 20 continues my amazement of the disciples:
Matthew 21:20 “And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?””
I understand that probably every disciple was not present @ all the @ least 34 previous miracles, but they are amazed @ the withering of a fig tree!
It’s interesting, as we examine the miracles, as a body of work, there are only 2 recorded miracles of Jesus destroying something.
This one, and the herd of swine that ran off the cliff, into the water and drowned.
I believe Jesus was teaching the disciples the importance of being fruitful, or facing the consequences of being barren!
Next, we see Jesus heal the severed ear of the servant.
Although we see events surrounding the miracle, the miracle itself is recorded only in Luke.
Luke 22:50–51 “And one of them struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his right ear. But Jesus answered and said, “Permit even this.” And He touched his ear and healed him.”
To gain a little better grasp of the circumstances, let’s look @ a couple of verses prior.
Luke 22:47–49 “And while He was still speaking, behold, a multitude; and he who was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them and drew near to Jesus to kiss Him. But Jesus said to him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?” When those around Him saw what was going to happen, they said to Him, “Lord, shall we strike with the sword?””
Remember the raising of Lazarus had this long 37 verse set-up to the miracle?
This one was like 3 verses!
Just a few remarks about this miracle:
verse 50 says “and one of the them”.
In John 18:10, we see who “one of them” was.
John 18:10 “Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was Malchus.”
When we examine verses 50-51, it is so “matter of fact”. Just another night in the life of Jesus!
No hoopla from the crowd
No gratitude from the recipient.
But, it truly was anything but just another night in the life of Jesus!
Let’s look @ everything recorded in Luke 22, prior to this miracle.
We see the plot to kill Jesus and Judas’ plan to betray Jesus.
A few verses prior, we see Jesus telling Peter that Satan was trying to sift Peter like wheat.
We also see that Satan had “entered” Judas!
Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper
Disciples dispute who should be called the greatest of the them
Peter denies Jesus 3 times
Judas betrays Jesus
It occured to me, sometimes a lot has to happen before the miracles in our lives, show up.
I wonder what that servant Malchus, who’s ear had been slashed of, had been going through?
Was this miracle, especially for him to believe who Jesus was?
In this miracle, we see Jesus having compassion, even on His enemies.
Let’s finish up with the last recorded miracle of Jesus.
All the previous 36 were pre-resurrection.
This is after the Resurrection.
It is found only in gospel of John, chapter 21.
This is the last chapter of John, and just a few verses before the conclusion of the gospels.
Growing up, I fished a lot with my grandfather. I’m not sure if I loved fishing all that much, but I sure loved my grandfather.
When I was “done fishin’ for the day”, he would almost always say “just 10 more casts, and if we don’t catch anything, we’ll go in”!
This week, I saw a meme that said something to the effect of “I don’t want to live with the regret of not making one more cast that could have been the catch of a lifetime.
This miracle, was the “catch of a lifetime” for the disciples.
John 21:6 “And He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.” So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.”
I love the details of God’s word, verse 11 tells us this:
John 21:11 “Simon Peter went up and dragged the net to land, full of large fish, one hundred and fifty-three; and although there were so many, the net was not broken.”
153 large fish! That’s some good eatin’ right there.
This week Pastor Tony said “y’all do it right for fellowship potluck. Y’all eat good!
I’d like to look at a few verses surrounding this miracle.
It is such an illustration of human life, as well as life with Jesus.
At the beginning of John 21, we see the disciples are in disarray.
Especially Peter. He is living with the reality that he promised Jesus, he would be with him until death, but the words are hardly out of his mouth, and he denies Jesus 3 times.
Peter decides, he is going back to his old life, and the others decide to join him.
They fish all night and catch nothing.
For me, this represents the fact that once Jesus is in our lives, the old life is empty!
They catch nothing, then Jesus says “cast the net on the right side of the boat”.
Kind of like Jesus is saying “you are on the wrong side of life, move over to the right side”.
Verse 12 is intriguing to me.
John 21:12 “Jesus said to them, “Come and eat breakfast.” Yet none of the disciples dared ask Him, “Who are You?”—knowing that it was the Lord.”
Ok folks, open your bibles to John 21:12...
ask others what their bible says
ventured (boldness-courageousness)to ask Him
Dared to ask Him
In fear of putting the question to Him
fear in this context means “awe”
It’s funny, these disciples have seen people ask Jesus questions, and heard His responses, so maybe they think the question may result in a tongue lashing!
But maybe, just maybe, they were so in awe of being in His presence that mere words would spoil the moment, or complicate the fellowship with Jesus!
We’re all pretty familiar with verses 15-19, where Jesus restores Peter.
This week, I wrote this mash-up of a couple of things I’ve heard people say.
“Jesus met Peter on the shoreline of his sin, and removed the cloud of denial.”
Jesus is always teaching us how to be disciples and disciple others.
I believe this miracle is 3 fold:
Importance of obedience- cast on the right side of the boat
Nothing without Jesus- Fished all night and caught nothing, Jesus in their presence, they had abundance
Discipleship-One thing I’ve never caught before this week.
Jesus had just fed Peter and the other disciples, and now He is instructing Peter to feed His sheep.
Jesus is always teaching us how to be disciples and disciple others.
Just a quick recap:
We began this study with the intent of examining the purpose of the miracles, and what they mean to us today.
We looked at over 70 passages!
37 miracles categorized by:
Raising of the dead- 3 recorded
Demon possession- 4 recorded
Nature- 4 recorded
Food- 5 recorded
Healings- 21 recorded
Only 1 miracles was recorded in all 4 gospels:
Feeding of the 5k+
Some of the miracles were recorded only in 1 gospel:
Mark- 20 miracles recorded, but only 2 were unique to Mark
Matthew-21 miracles recorded, but only 2 were unique to Matthew
John- 8 miracles (signs) recorded, and 6 of those only in John
Luke- 21 miracles recorded, 6 were unique to Luke
Breaking the gospels down by type of miracles:
Raising from dead: Matthew, Mark and John recorded 1 each, and Luke recorded two.
Demon possession: Mark recorded 4, Matthew and Luke recorded 3, John recorded none.
Nature: Matthew and Mark recorded 3, Luke and John recorded 1
Food: John recorded 3, Matthew, Mark and Luke recorded 2 each
Healings: It didn’t surprise me that Luke the physician recorded the most miracles of healings with 13. Matthew had 12. Mark had 10, and John had 3.
I believe this purpose of Jesus’ miracles are to:
Show God’s glory
Show God’s power over everything
Show God compassion for people-even His enemies
Power of faith in our lives
On April 27th, I’d like y’all to share with us,
what you’ve learned in this study
what miracles you’ve seen in your life,
and how this impacts your daily walk with Jesus.
Also, we had some folks experience Tres Dias recently, and I’d like you to share with us, how that went!
-close in prayer-
