Figs and Faith
February 7, 2022
Matthew 21:18-20, NRSV - In the morning, when he
returned to the city, he was hungry. And
seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at
all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you
again!” And the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed,
saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?” Jesus answered them, “Truly I tell you, if you
have faith and do not doubt, not only will you do what has been done to the fig
tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the
sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask
for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”
This
passage is a mixed bag for me. On one
hand, I love it. What Jesus does with
the fig tree endears Himself to me. Feeling
a bit, as we say these days, “hangry” (hunger that causes a heightened sense of
irritability), Jesus spots the fig tree and He thinks He’s getting
breakfast. Finding the tree without any
fruit, he curses the tree and makes it fruitless forever. In other words, he takes out His frustration
on the tree. I am somehow comforted that
Jesus got frustrated like I often get frustrated. I read this little episode and I know that
Jesus knows how I feel when I smash a project I’m working on when it’s not going
my way.
But
then, the story changes. The disciples
see how the tree literally withers before their very eyes and they are
amazed. For the life of me, I cannot not
understand their amazement because these guys have witnessed Jesus resurrecting
the dead. They have seen hundreds healed
of every possible disease, the blind receive their sight (as recently as the
day before this fig tree incident), the lame begin to walk again, and other miraculous
displays of power. Why would they be
impressed by their Rabbi simply draining the life out of an insignificant tree? Perhaps it is because they are familiar with
Jesus performing life-giving miracles, not life-taking miracles. I don’t know.
In any
case, Jesus uses their question about it as a teaching moment. He informs them that they could do the same miracles,
and anything else for that matter – even command a mountain to be thrown into
the sea.
“Whatever you ask for in prayer
with faith, you will receive,” Jesus concludes.
Here’s where I (and millions of others) get hung up. Here’s the problem. This statement is not literally true. Since Jesus uttered these words, I suspect
that millions of requests/commands uttered in complete faith have not resulted
in the specific miracles requested/commanded.
To clarify, I have personally witnessed dozens of miracles that I
absolutely attribute to prayers lifted in great faith. What I can say with conviction is that, while
faith does change what is possible in any given situation, it does not always conjure
the specific result that we want. And if
we’re honest, this is a good thing.
I have
wished “unpleasantness” (I’m intentionally using ambiguous word) upon people
who have hurt me and people I cared about.
I have done so, having complete faith that God is indeed capable of
granting my ill-conceived wish. Furthermore, I’ve made such wished with at
least part of me willing that God would use that omnipotence to do me the favor. It’s only later that I am relieved that God
did not act on my anger and frustration.
I feel pretty sure most of us have had similar experiences.
There
are other circumstances though where my faith-filled intentions and requests are
good, at least in my own estimation. I
truly believed God could have removed my aunt’s cancer and my brother-in-law’s
brain tumor and I prayed with all the mustard seeds I could muster for God to
do exactly those things. They were both
incredible people and the world would certainly have benefited from them
continuing to live here on this earth. It
was not to be and now, they are both in Heaven.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not
bitter about that. On the contrary, I
celebrate that my loved ones have been delivered from the miseries they endured
and now know complete joy. I also celebrate
that I have not said goodbye to them forever.
Because the same faith that I exercised to pray for the removal of their
cancer, I know I will see them both again.
Praise be to our God who conquers even the power of bodily separation
and death!
So, I
return to what I said earlier about what my best guess is as to what Jesus is
trying to teach His disciples and us.
What is possible in every situation we find ourselves is changed when we
possess faith. I do not believe that God gives us everything we want because we
have faith. But in faith, we gain access
to God’s unmatched and equally mysterious power. Our wish is not God’s command, but our faith
brings hope that God will somehow bring about goodness from situations where
all the news seems nothing but bad. I aim
to keep asking for specific miracles, but also simultaneously trusting that God
knows what miracle is needed. This doesn’t
mean that I will always understand or even like the result. But my greater aim is to keep trusting God
even when I don’t understand or like what God does.
Question: How has
faith changed what is possible in your life?
Prayer: Omnipotent
God, we seldom understand your ways and that is frustrating at times to say the
least. Help us see our circumstances
through the lens of a faith that changes those circumstances by inviting you
into the equation. Amen.
Prayer: Pray for
people that you know are angry and/or frustrated with God.
Song: Yet I Will
Praise – Melissa Boraski
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