Jaw-dropping Jewels about Jesus
Rarely does Jesus, God the Son, do exactly what we expect of Him. It seems odd that He so frequently surprises us, given that He never changes. Hebrews 13:8 makes this absolute statement: “Jesus the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Still, though He is blessedly consistent in His goodness, Jesus does unforeseen things. Even when He does what is expected, He does not always do it in the way that we anticipate. Let us join with Jesus on a jaw-dropping journey. (I will be using this opening paragraph for each of the brief messages in this series. The following material will change daily.)
In Matthew 21:18-22, we find an occasion when Jesus did not display anger. However, some interpret this passage wrongly and accuse Jesus of being petulant and petty. A fig tree with leaves on it should have also had ripe figs, but this one had “leaves only” (verse 19). Thus, Jesus cursed it, and it soon “withered away” (verse 20). Given man’s present worship of the earth and the environment (in keeping with Romans 1:25 – “worshipped and served the creature [creation] more than the Creator”), it is predictable that some people would criticize Jesus for the destruction of a tree. Even if we looked at this event from an ecological viewpoint only, we would see the rightness of Jesus’ action. A figless fig tree takes up valuable space in an orchard, space needed for a fruitful tree. Moreover, a fruitless tree would still use up precious nutrients and scarce water. Its removal was a necessary and beneficial act. Of course, we know that Jesus was doing much more than removing a wasteful tree from limited land. He was also teaching spiritual lessons. A leafy but barren tree was like the hypocritical religious leaders that we studied last week. Verses 21-22 make a direct application to the power of prayer, which we considered yesterday. Jesus knows what He is doing, and He is always working on multiple levels to bring about the best possible outcome. We can trust Him to do the right thing.