Fruitless Fig Trees

Author: Joseph

Date: December 31, 2023

On His way into Jerusalem, Yeshua spotted a fig tree that had nothing on it except for its leaves. The leaves’ presence indicate that there should have been fruit on the tree, but Yeshua found no figs upon the tree and so He cursed the tree that it would never bear any fruit again. The tree, having received its curse, withered and died.

At this time, Yeshua had also made His entrance into the temple where the merchants were profaning the holiness of the place of worship. Instead of finding meaningful sacrifices and service to God in the temple, He found merchants abusing the holy site for their selfish gain and the priests also seemingly cooperative in the endeavor as they had not opposed the merchants (and may have perhaps benefited from their profits). The temple, which was meant to be a holy place for prayer and repentance to God had become empty of its purpose. It appeared as a place of worship, but it contained no righteous deeds within its walls. It was a fig tree by appearance without any fruit of repentance or holiness.

"...a fig tree by appearance without any fruit..."

Just as the holy temple of God was purposed for the worship and prayers of repentant people, so now people have created churches and other places for this same purpose. However, do they bear fruit as they should? Fruits of repentance, seeking after righteousness, and having a holy fear of God. Or have the places of worship within our own communities become fruitless fig trees: only by their appearance do they pretend to be a place of worship to God.

The same can be applied to individual believers. Do we simply have the appearance of living our lives for God, but are in fact fruitless in our obedience to God or in our performance of kingdom works? Do we actually produce good for God’s kingdom in how we live and in the things that we do? Or are we content with labeling ourselves as believers without actually bearing any fruit for God’s glory? If we are found to be fruitless and our outer appearance proves false then we come under the same curse as the fig tree: that we should never bear fruit. God expects from us that we bear fruit, that we advance His kingdom, that we perform the good deeds of righteousness that He has given us to do.

When we do not bear fruit, we waste the good soil that God has given us, having been firmly planted for His purposes. As any good caretaker of soil would do, God removes the bad plants so that the good soil can be used by others that will produce fruit and make good use of the soil.

There are many examples of this in the Scripture. Esau was found to be careless and lax-hearted, so Jacob would take the birth right from him and carry on the blessing of God (Genesis 25:29-34). King Saul was found to be swayed by the love of man’s approval, so David was raised up to replace him (1 Samuel 13:8-14). Esther was warned by her uncle, Mordecai, that God would use another in her place if she did not act for the deliverance of the people from genocide (Esther 4:13-14). God’s plans are unstoppable, but our involvement is only as good as our obedience and our willingness to bear fruit for His kingdom.

Seriously reflect on your life and see if you are not bearing fruit where you should be. Bearing fruit doesn’t always mean successes, but it does mean doing that God has called you to do and giving all your efforts to His will. Change the way you think about God’s calling upon your life and instead of being a fruitless tree that He will curse, be a tree that God will gladly find producing good fruit.

Matthew 21:18-19 (Mark 11:12-14, 19-21)

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.lockman.org