Lessons from a barren fig tree

 

Mk 11:12-14,20, “On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." ("May no fruit ever come from you again!" Mat 21:19) And his disciples heard it… As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.”

I used to have a lot of difficulties with this passage until I remembered that a causeless curse doesn’t alight; so, if Jesus’ curse worked and the fig tree withered, there was a reason for it. I researched a bit to understand what it was and avoid misjudging the Lord’s reaction as disproportionate.

The fig tree of Palestine (Ficus carica) bears fruits 2 or 3 times a year. The fig season (kermus) normally falls in August ; but at the end of June, there can be an early crop (bikkurah), or “early-ripe fig.” After August, it looses all his leaves, then small buds appear and grow during the winter. With them also come the green or untimely figs (taksh), which always appear before the leaves. Thus, even when it’s not yet the season for figs (August), the presence of leaves implies the presence of taksh. It is also a sign that the tree is not barren and will produce a crop during the summer.

The incident mentioned above took place around the Passover; i.e. around the month of April. The presence of leaves on that fig tree caught Jesus’ attention who naturally expected to satisfy his hunger; but He was unfortunately disappointed. So, since any branch supposedly in Him that does not bear fruit is taken away, withered and is burned (Jn 15.2,6), He cursed the tree. “…I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit and that your fruit should abide…” (Jn 15:16): For Jesus, it is unthinkable for a disciple abiding in Him not to bear fruits because He has given us ALL it takes and ALL we need to be fruitful.

Lk 13:6-7, “And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, 'Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?'...”

The Lord is patient; but let’s not abuse of it. The fate of this fig tree is a severe warning against barrenness, unfruitfulness and lack of productivity. Like with the parable of minas and talents, we must not bury or leave what God has invested in us dormant.

Mat 23:1ff, « Then Jesus said…2 "The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses' seat, 3…they preach, but do not practice… 28So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. »

2Tim 3:1, 2, 5: “…In the last days there will come times of difficulty. 2 For people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, proud…5 having the appearance of godliness, but denying its power. Avoid such people.”

The fate of this fig tree is also a warning against hypocrisy and false appearances.

The Church is increasingly filled with ‘Christians’ – i.e. little Christs – who outwardly look like Him and hence, fool those who naively believe that they can come to their help in times of need, just like their Master did.

The barren fig tree is the brother who only opens his Bible on Sundays (if he does at all) and who doesn’t know what to say to this relative, friend or colleague who needs an advice regarding an important decision; because he has no prophecy and no word of knowledge or wisdom for them: he only has his flesh...

The barren fig tree is the sister whose only link with Christianity is either the church that she attends from time to time; or her baptism certificate, or her good knowledge of all the prosperity and healing biblical verses; but who is nowhere to be found whenever the Lord is ‘hungry’ and needs her.

We are the Body of Christ: we are the members through which He can and wants to move today. We have no right to behave like incapables sending out to this lost and suffering world, an image of a limping and feeble Christ. May we never cause Him to wonder: “What more was there to do for my vineyard, that I have not done in it? When I looked for it to yield grapes, why did it yield wild grapes?” (Is 5.4) Let’s bear fruit; fruit that remains; a ten, thirty or hundredfold.

Have a ‘wonderblessed’ week in CHRIST JESUS!

‘Breads’ of life...

 

A few years ago, I kept having the same vision for days and sometimes, many times a day. I kept on seeing a loaf of bread hanging in the air and hands of different colours (races) were helping themselves taking pieces of it. The strangest thing is that I knew I was the loaf. A few weeks later, the Lord used John 6 to explain part of the vision to me.

Jn 6:24ff, “…When the crowd saw that Jesus was not there, nor His disciples, they themselves also entered into the boats and came to Capernaum seeking Jesus. 25 And when they had found Him on the other side of the sea, they said to Him, Rabbi, when did you come here? 26 Jesus answered them and said, Truly, truly, I say to you, You seek Me not because you saw the miracles, but because you ate the loaves and were filled… 30 Therefore they said to Him, What sign do you show then, so that we may see and believe you? What do you work? 31 Our fathers ate the manna in the desert, as it is written, "He gave them bread from Heaven to eat." 32 Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses did not give you that bread from Heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread from Heaven. 33 For the bread of God is He who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world. 34 Then they said to him, Lord, evermore give us this bread. 35 And Jesus said to them, I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes on Me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you also have seen Me and do not believe…48 I am the Bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and died. 50 This is the Bread which comes down from Heaven, so that a man may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the Living Bread which came down from Heaven. If anyone eats of this Bread, he shall live forever. And truly the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world… 57As the living Father has sent Me, and I live through the Father, so he who partakes of Me, even he shall live by Me. 58 This is the Bread which came down from Heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna, and died; he who partakes of this Bread shall live forever. »

All this took place right after Jesus had multiplied 5 barley loaves and 2 fish to feed 5000 men (without counting women and children) and it is a very good illustration of the versatility of human nature. Indeed, after witnessing such an event, they still had the guts to ask Him about the signs He performed that they could see and believe!!! Incredible! But Jesus was no fool: He knew that they really didn’t care much about the miracles and were only looking for Him because they ate the loaves and were filled. In other words, they only wanted their hunger to be appeased.

This tells us that people are hungry. Many of those who come to church do not come for the miracle of the transforming and regenerating Word of God; they don’t come to see resurrections, healings etc, –even though they are happy to enjoy them from time to time- they come in hope to satisfy their hunger for marriage, employment, housing, children…

After feeding the crowd, there were 12 baskets of leftovers: 12 like the 12 apostles who could each represent a basket. The Bible tells us that as He is, so also are we in this world (1Jn 4.17)… and I would say, so are we called to be. As He is the Bread of life, so are we ‘breads’ of life: our lives must be broken and shared for the sake and salvation of the multitudes.

Heb 10:5-7, "When Christ came into the world, he said, "Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body have you prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure. Then I said, 'Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of me in the scroll of the book.'"

He is the bread of God who comes down from Heaven and gives life to the world. And He came down not to do His will, but to do the will of the One who sent Him. We also came down from Heaven to do God’s will and give life around us: that’s the reason why He prepared and formed a body for us. Let us allow ourselves to be eaten!

Let’s die that souls may be saved. Let’s die to give life. Unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it will not bear much fruit. Paul told the Corinthians: "We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed… So death is at work in us, but life in you." (2Cor 4:8,11) We then need to ‘die’ and accept to be eaten. This has nothing to do with physical death -the bread we have to offer is spiritual- but it’s rather a life that inspires others and serves as a model. We have to use our gifts and talents to satiate the hunger and give life to people around us.

We are loaves of bread that came down from Heaven to give life to the world and save souls. If we eat of the Lord’s flesh as He encourages us to do; if we daily feed on this Bread, then, just as the same sap flows in the Vine and the branches, His life will infuse ours to the point that those who imitate us, eat us and live of our life will not fail to resemble Him and live of His life as well.

Jesus incarnation helps us understand God’s mind for man. By imitating the Christ and living of His life, we show forth the "perfect man". As He is, so are we in this world: He is the Light that enlightens everyone and we are also called the light of the world. He is the Prince of Peace and as His children we are dispensers of peace (Mat 5:14, 9). He is the Christ, i.e. the Anointed One; and we have received the anointing that teaches us everything (1Jn 2:20, 27). Thus, He is the Bread of Life and we are ‘breads’ of life.

Funny enough, Jesus gave this teaching after multiplying a few loaves of bread to feed the crowd. Even today, there is still a hungry crowd in front of us and we are loaves that have been multiplied and now need to be broken and distributed for the salvation of many: ‘breads’ of life! And even today, the Lord is still asking us to feed them ourselves. The task might seem immense; but if we accept the challenge by faith, just as in the past, we will witness a miracle of multiplication.

I pray that our lives may be so Christ-like that they may be relished like a succulent meal. I pray that our lives reflect His to the point that people will want to ‘eat’ them… to live!

"I beseech you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, pleasing to God, which is your reasonable service." Rom 12:1

Have a ‘wonderblessed’ week in HIM who can do all things.

Why do we lie?

 

A little less than a year ago, somebody lied quite stupidly and it got me thinking about the reasons why people lie.

Myth mania (or mythomania, US)

Myth maniacs (mythomaniacs) cannot help lying; but their problem is spiritual:they are under the control of a lying spirit which makes them lie. There is fortunately not that many of them. Their only cure is deliverance.

Ignorance

“Every truth is not good to say.” ‘‘I didn’t want to hurt him…’’ Many people think there are pious, white, small and big lies. They don’t realise that from God’s point of view, a lie is a lie, no matter what they cloth it with. It’s a bit like cancer: as soon as you have a cancerous cell in you, you don’t know it but devastation has already begun. And those with the smallest external appearance like melanoma are often the most dangerous.

Continuing with this analogy, it’s when the cancer (lie) is still very small that we have to deal with it in the most aggressive way (surgery, chemo and radiotherapy) to prevent it from spreading and killing the patient. Furthermore, prevention is the key (smoking, sun exposure…); likewise, lying can be prevented if parents would realize that they are usually the first to teach their children how to become professional liars: “Say that I am not there.” Whereas we are in the room...

“If you don’t do this, I’ll do that to you…” And we don’t do anything thing because we didn’t really mean it in the first place...

“No, it’s not bitter; it’s very nice, you’ll see. Open your mouth…” And then we pour in some Nivaquin®!

The funniest thing is that these same parents are usually very offended when their child starts serving them the same kind of lies: “What are you taking me for? An idiot?”

Immaturity

Most liars fall into this category. They lie out of fear, the fear to face the consequences of their actions. They are running away from their responsibilities: ‘‘I don’t want them to have a bad opinion of me’’; ‘‘I was afraid that they would do this or that to me…’’ However, whatever our age may be, when we lie and refuse to take our responsibilities, it only shows undoubtedly that we are still a child because it’s only kids who are afraid of the rod. And many of us remain ‘eternal’ babies… Let’s look at two biblical characters:

Rahab (read Joshua 2): She hid the Israelites spies on her roof; but when the king’s envoys came to ask her to bring them out, she said: “True, the men came to me, but I did not know where they were from. And when the gate was about to be closed at dark, the men went out. I do not know where the men went.” This is a perfect example of a ‘pious’ lie. She was not Jew; today, one will say she wasn’t a Christian. She didn’t know that it was bad to lie and God, who overlooks the times of ignorance, forgave her: He spared her during the destruction of Jericho and she is later found in the Lord’s genealogy; meaning that after following the Israelites, she must have adopted their faith and changed her life. Things are entirely different when it comes to God’s people, those who have already known the truth, as we’ll see with the second example.

Abraham: Running away from famine, he went down to Egypt and told his wife: "I know that you are a woman beautiful in appearance, and when the Egyptians see you, they will say, 'This is his wife.' Then they will kill me, but they will let you live. Say you are my sister, that it may go well with me because of you, and that my life may be spared for your sake." Many years later, he did it again. He settled in Guerar and introduced Sarah as his sister – which wasn’t false by the way (Gen 20:12). However, this ‘half-truth’ would have terrible consequences. Indeed, thinking she was free, Pharaoh took Sarai as his wife and the Bible tells that the LORD afflicted Pharaoh and his house with great plagues because of Sarai, Abram's wife. Similarly, Abimelech, king of Guerar also took her and was nearly killed by God, because she already belonged to someone else. When Abimelech enquired about the reason for that deception, this is what Abraham replied: "I did it because I thought, There is no fear of God at all in this place, and they will kill me because of my wife. Besides, she is indeed my sister, the daughter of my father though not the daughter of my mother, and she became my wife. And when God caused me to wander from my father's house, I said to her, 'This is the kindness you must do me: at every place to which we come, say of me, He is my brother.'" He lied because he was afraid to be killed. You can read the details of these stories in Genesis 12 and 20.

There is no such thing as a small, a half or a pious lie when you are Christian. Jesus said that the devil is a liar and the father of lies and whoever lies only does what his/her father the devil does (Jn 8:41,44). If you say that your little lies have nothing to do with the devil, then you are actually saying that Jesus is wrong and you are right; but the Bible teaches us that in situations like these, God should always be true and every man a liar... So, the devil is the instigator of ALL our lies; and since his only mission is to steal, kill and destroy, this means that no lie is ever as trivial and insignificant as we may think. Abraham’s ‘half-lie’ or ‘half-truth’ almost destroyed two nations. Let’s not forget it.

“…The true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.” (Jn 4:23-24)

 

Read or re-read “the power of vision”: http://www.lifeflowingpen.com/2011/10/power-of-vision.html

God bless you and give you the courage to live in light and in truth.

Enjoy your week!

God's time

 

I guess many of us are familiar with the story of Joseph -Genesis 37 to 50. In chapter 40, Joseph skilfully used the gift God had given him to interpret the dreams of two royal officers who had ended up in jail. To the one who to whom he had predicted a favourable outcome, he pleaded: "…remember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house." (Gen 40:14)

Then things came to pass as he predicted and the guy was released from prison and reinstated in his former job; only, he did not remember Joseph and forgot him (vs. 23).

How many times have we not been deeply disappointed and hurt because someone on whom we were counting to get us out of a difficult situation; people who had promised to act on our behalf had ended up turning their backs and totally forgetting us? Usually, when people want you to do something for them, they will promise you anything; but how many really keep their promises?

If you remember that we do not fight against flesh and blood, you’ll soon find out that Joseph would have been deeply wrong to be angry with this man. The guy did not forget him out of malice, ingratitude or selfishness as we will find out.

Indeed, two years after (vs. 41:1), Pharaoh had some dreams that nobody could explain and the butler remembered Joseph. He told the sovereign: "I must confess today that I have done wrong… You were angry with the chief baker and me, and you put us in prison… A young Hebrew was there with us, a slave of the captain of the guard. We told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us" (vs. 9, 10 & 12). Pharaoh sent for Joseph who interpreted the dreams, made some very wise suggestions and was catapulted on the spot from common prisoner to the second in command in the most powerful kingdom of his time.

I am convinced that it is God Himself who shattered Joseph’s hopes and made the cupbearer forget to mention his name earlier. Indeed, if the guy had not forgotten, Joseph would have probably been released, but he would have never become the Prime Minister of Egypt. He could have ended up as a slave to Pharaoh or someone else. It was first necessary that there be a crisis of such a scope that people would be desperate for a saviour in order for everyone to realize that salvation could only come from him. This is how God wanted to reveal him to Egypt, for the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God (Rom 8:19).

Let’s be patient. Many of our problems, blockages and difficulties are for the glory of God and our promotion. Let’s not get discouraged and murmur against men and God because those on whom we were counting have let us down. We have to remember that: "Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength.” As for the Lord, "He has made everything beautiful in His time"; but we usually do not figure out what He is doing (Jer 17:5; Eccl 3:11). Let’s trust Him: He has a wonderful plan for us.

Have a wonderblessed week!