Matthew 21:18-22
As he returned to the city early in the morning, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. He said to it, “May there never be fruit from you again!” Immediately the fig tree withered away. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed and asked, “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” Jesus answered them, “Amen I tell you: If you have faith, and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it would be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer, as you believe, you will receive.”
Dear Lord Jesus,
When you entered Jerusalem on that Tuesday of Holy Week, you gave the disciples a real-life parable. There, you demonstrated both your natures as the Son of God and the Son of David. On that Holy Tuesday, you revealed what we could do through faith. Thank you for giving us this example.
You knew what that week would entail, and you were prepared to go to the cross at the week’s end. It was God on that cross suffering for all our sins. The enormity of the world’s sin was something no ordinary person could do. So even if we lived the perfect life, we would only be doing what your law had demanded of us, and it would only be to our own credit. Lord, you came as both God and man, two natures in one person. Sin was a God-size problem that only you could overcome. So although you veiled your divine nature, you also allowed it to be seen through miracles and the withering of that fig tree.
Becoming hungry, you also demonstrated that you were a true man. Subject to the needs we have, and as the writer of Hebrews wrote, “tempted in every way, we were tempted yet without sin.” So when you would go to another cursed tree—the cross—as our Lord and Savior, you would give up your life to pay the price for all our sins. And your gift of forgiveness is ours through faith alone.
Through faith, we believe that you have forgiven us, and through your forgiveness, we have life and the promise of salvation. You told the disciples that we will receive whatever is asked in prayer and is believed. Faith moved our mountains of sin and will make our requests reality. Was it a coincidence that you had shared a parable with your disciples just a few days before this happened? It was about a man with a fruitless fig tree similar to the cursed tree. The gardener nurtured the tree to give it additional time to produce fruit. This example demonstrated how quickly our faith could go dead. Lord, always remain with us and feed us through your word, so we stay in you by faith; never let us go. Amen.
Written through Pastor Roger Emmons
One tree was cursed for being fruitless, while another cursed tree brought salvation to all the world. We have life through faith in Christ and his death on the cross. In faith, we can move mountains.