Why did Jesus curse the Fig Tree?

[TheAnswer99]

I searched the forums but nothing came back for this topic...

I've heard various explanations for a deeper meaning of this story...as a parable. Can anyone explain?

thanks!

[Brother Mark]

The fig tree was not fruitful. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to the temple. Yet, the religious system of his day was not fruitful either. He was going to Jerusalem in the day and returning in the evening to another city. It was in the process of going back and forth that he passed the fig tree. He used the fig tree as an example.

The religious system of the day was not fruitful to God and presented a mountain of resistance to Christ. Yet, in faith, Christ removed the mountain. And he cursed the religious system too.

Matt 23:37-39

37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 "For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'
NASB

So Jesus used the fig tree to illustrate what was going to happen to the temple. That is one thing Christ was showing. There is a little more.

Grace and peace,

Mark

[billy-brown 2]

The fig tree was not fruitful. Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem to the temple. Yet, the religious system of his day was not fruitful either. He was going to Jerusalem in the day and returning in the evening to another city. It was in the process of going back and forth that he passed the fig tree. He used the fig tree as an example.

The religious system of the day was not fruitful to God and presented a mountain of resistance to Christ. Yet, in faith, Christ removed the mountain. And he cursed the religious system too.

Matt 23:37-39

37 "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her! How often I wanted to gather your children together, the way a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were unwilling. 38 "Behold, your house is being left to you desolate! 39 "For I say to you, from now on you shall not see Me until you say, ' Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!'
NASB

So Jesus used the fig tree to illustrate what was going to happen to the temple. That is one thing Christ was showing. There is a little more.

Grace and peace,

Mark

yep . . . what He said . . . ^^^^^^^^

This is a prime example of the power of faith in God (see Mark 11 for the context).

There is a thread entitled "the real truth about faith" that speaks of this also (in Bible Chat).

[TrustingFollower]

I agree with what Brother Mark said earlier in this thread. I would also like to point out that the cursed fig tree is also an example to all of us. We are not to look for fruit in only certain seasons, but rather we are to produce fruit regardless of season. Jesus explains it a different way in the gospel of John.

John 4

35 "Do you not say, `There are yet four months, and then comes the harvestī? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.
36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

We have to be on guard as to not be complacent on when we reap the fruits for the kingdom. With that I mean we are to preach the gospel to all when ever we have the opportunity and not just when the season says we should.

[slr]

Here we see both a miracle and a visual parable. One reason that Jesus cursed the fig tree was to show that he had the power to do so. In Jewish legends, very holy men cursed people or things. Those who have faith in Jesus have power to 'move mountains'.

But the main reason for the miracle was perhaps to show the need to produce the fruit of good works, rather than just outward religious show. Fig trees took time and care to nurture to maturity, and infertility was a major disappointment. Figs were then an important part of the diet (Roman slaves were often fed on them), and several times in the OT fertile fig trees are used as symbols of prosperity and safety, along with vines.

The fig tree in leaf in the gospels advertised fruit, but carried none. This barren tree has been likened to the leaders of the Jews, who occupied 'the seat of Moses' but whose example was not to be followed. It is an apt comparison, because figs produced a sort of 'proto-crop' with the leaves, small fruits that were of some use, though not as useful as the main crop that arrived later. While the Jews did not have the gift of the Holy Spirit, they were supposed to show the benefit of the Law of Moses to other nations, God's proto-crop. Trees that did not produce the first crop did not produce the second, either, and were rooted up, so Jesus did not waste anything useful. We may suppose that the bulk of the Jewish leadership did not bear fruit, either, and indeed Jerusalem and the Temple were destroyed soon after this event, and later, the whole of Judaea paganised. (There was at least one exception, Saul/Paul!) The lesson for us is that outward religion is of no avail, and the fruits of the Spirit are what God looks for.

[wtj]

Fig tree

One cannot liken the cursed fig tree to other applications that the context does not allow. It would have been sin to destroy that which was good – only that which led to evil and not good – possibly the tree of the knowledge of good and evil – that no man eat fruit of thee herever for ever.
Wtj

[dan p]

Fig Tree

I searched the forums but nothing came back for this topic...

I've heard various explanations for a deeper meaning of this story...as a parable. Can anyone explain?

thanks!

1) In Luke 13:6 , is my postion on this fig tree , the Father has a fig tree planted , and found no fruit thereon .

2) God the Father says to the dresser , which is Jesus , 3 yrs and Israel has produced no fruit , it is just taking up space , so cut it down .

3) In v8 , Jesus answers the Jehovah , let it alone this year also , I will dig around the tree and fertilize it .

4) And in v9 , Jesus says , if it bear fruit well , and if not , cut it down .

5) FACT #1 , it is talking about Jesus ministry to Israel .

6) FACT #2 , the fig tree is Israel .

7) FACT #3 , it is letting us know at this point in time that Israel , will be Temporarily be set aside , until the Fulness of the Gentiles be come in , Rom 11:25 .

8) FACT #4 , the common people were being saved , but in Luke 7:30 , the Pharisees and the lawyers rejected the counsel of God against themselfs , being not baptized of Him , while the people were in Luke 7: 29

9) Maybe this will help you , with the Matt 21:18 , passage .

[crawfish]

I like Dan B's post. In Mark, it is enlightening to view the whole episode with the fig tree as a statement on the story it "wraps". Read here:

15On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17And as he taught them, he said, "Is it not written:
" 'My house will be called
a house of prayer for all nations'[c]? But you have made it 'a den of robbers.'[d]"
18The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
19When evening came, they[e] went out of the city.

Before this scene, Jesus curses the tree. After the scene, the disciples see the withered tree on their way back. There is little question the incident is commentary on the event in the temple, and by relation on Israel as a whole.


Two other things are of interest here:


1) I have heard that, based on the time of year, the tree would not have produced figs no matter how fertile it was. If true, that just adds to the evidence that it wasn't the tree that Jesus was angry at but the situation he was about to walk into.


2) It is interesting to contrast the story in Mark with the episode in Matthew. In the latter, you get the idea that the tree withered before their eyes, and it seems as if the accounts conflict because Matthew places the curse after the temple while Mark does before. More evidence that Matthew is NOT a chronological account.

[DaveS]

I agree with what Brother Mark said earlier in this thread. I would also like to point out that the cursed fig tree is also an example to all of us. We are not to look for fruit in only certain seasons, but rather we are to produce fruit regardless of season. Jesus explains it a different way in the gospel of John.

John 4

35 "Do you not say, `There are yet four months, and then comes the harvestī? Behold, I say to you, lift up your eyes and look on the fields, that they are white for harvest.
36 "Already he who reaps is receiving wages and is gathering fruit for life eternal; so that he who sows and he who reaps may rejoice together.

We have to be on guard as to not be complacent on when we reap the fruits for the kingdom. With that I mean we are to preach the gospel to all when ever we have the opportunity and not just when the season says we should.

2Ti 4:2 Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.

Very good, TF. Thanks for that.

[Gulah Papyrus]

He was very hungry for figs, and was on very little sleep...so, when the fig tree was empty, he got mad and curse the fig tree...He even kicked it and hurt His toe(but that part was edited out of scripture).