Matthew 21:18-22 18And early in the morning as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. 19And when he saw a fig tree by the road, he went to it and found nothing on it but only leaves, and he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” And the fig tree withered at once. 20When the disciples saw it, they marveled saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” 21And answering Jesus said them, “Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what happened to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will happen. 22And whatever you ask in prayer, if believing, you will receive.”
This story takes place the day after the triumphal entry and cleansing of the temple. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to do more teaching in the temple courts. Mark 11 separates the event from the later teaching while Matthew combines them into a shorter story. In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, this story illustrates Jesus’ identification with humanity by being hungry.
At first, it may seem strange that Jesus would take his hunger out on an innocent plant, but he did this intentionally to teach his disciples an important lesson about faith. Although he had power and authority as the Son of God over creation and could simply speak a word and something would happen, this story emphasizes more his humanity and provides an example of what disciples can do in his name.
Jesus was disappointed in the fig tree because it was not bearing fruit but only leaves, and we cannot eat fig leaves. The tree looked like it should have had fruit but failed to carry out its mission. Jesus already taught his disciples in 7:19 that a tree that does not bear fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire. The goal of a tree is to produce fruit, which contains seeds to grow another tree. We eat the flesh or seed (nut) of the fruit as food and do not think about the purpose of the fruit, which is to grow a new tree. The disciples only see the obvious, that the tree immediately withered at Jesus’ word. Jesus brings both healing and judgment. The one through whom the world was created and continues to exist (Colossians 1:16-17) has power to change it.
Jesus shows that the disciples, through faith, can tap into the power he demonstrated. He had power and authority over nature. Was that because he was divine, and thus, a simple thing to do, or because he was human with perfect faith? The story leans towards the second option, although the first may also be present.
Jesus makes it clear to the disciples (with a truly, I say to you statement), that the key is having faith and not doubting. Faith (pistin) is one of the most important words and concepts in the Bible, especially in the New Testament. It is the basic requirement for discipleship and the necessary human response to experience salvation through God’s grace. Faith is putting our trust in the promises of God. Faith is not simply thinking about something but is trust in God who can make something happen.
The word for doubt (diakrithēte) can also mean to judge or decide after making a careful evaluation of the facts or situation. The problem we often have is that we lean on our own understanding. We look at a situation and come to our own conclusions. Jesus repeats the same idea from 17:20 about mountain moving faith. The statement about moving a literal mountain into the sea is hyperbolic but gets the key point across. Even when something looks impossible based on human judgment, with faith, the impossible can be done. The action step we must take is prayer. There is no limit to the extent of faith: whatever you ask. The condition is if believing (pisteuontes, a present active participle with a conditional and a bit of instrumental sense to it).
For older posts, click here.