Matthew 21: 18-22
Jun 18
I did a talk at the 8am service at church on this passage… it’s a pretty weird passage… but I don’t think it’s that complicated when you look at it with the theme of faith in your head…
Faith and Fruit
- Leaves on a fig tree are a sign of fruit… but there is none – outwardly looks good, but no fruit!
- Mark says that it wasn’t the right time… but clearly Jesus expected there to be fruit (even if not ripe)
- A miracle of judgement - not creation but destruction! Why did Jesus do this? Surely he could of used his power to create fruit??
BUT, he was teaching, making a spiritual point!
Jesus has just cleared the temple… he’s exposed that while the Jews have ‘leaves’ they have no fruit
Jeremiah 8:13 - I will take away their harvest¸ declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.
This is God acting in judgement on his people… Jesus is God! The temple was dead… and ultimately it was ‘withered’ in AD70 when it was sacked by the Romans
- What about us? Are we all leaves and no fruit?
- Do we do the right things externally… without true faith?
READ John 15 I am the Vine REMAIN IN JESUS!
Faith and Prayer
- “If you have faith and do not doubt” - v.21
- “If you believe” - v.22
You can… Make a fig tree wither, Tell a mountain to jump in the sea, Receive whatever you ask…
Is Jesus talking about the Mount of Olives? (Zechariah 14:4 – being split in two)… Or about the mountain where the temple stood? Probably not, and it doesn’t matter… just an expression of hyperbole… (Matt 17 [small faith], 1 Cor 13)
Job 9 – It’s God who moves the mountains…
So… We are not talking about GREAT Faith, but simple faith, in a GREAT God
It’s not that you can do anything, and you will be given everything… BUT, God is great, powerful, able to do amazing things… This is God… it’s God who can do amazing things, like causing a tree to wither!
