The Unfruitful Tree

Read Mark 11:12-14, 20-21

And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.—Mark 11:13

While walking from Bethany to Jerusalem, Jesus became hungry. A fig tree full of leaves attracted His attention as a source of food. When He found no fruit, Jesus cursed the tree, which dried up from the roots. Yet, the passage points out it wasn’t the season for figs. So, why would Jesus seek fruit from a tree, and even curse it, when it wasn’t the season for figs?

While it wasn’t the season for figs, when leaves appeared on this particular fig tree, they were accompanied by a small, green, early fig called the taqsh, which dropped off the tree before the actual figs were produced. Hungry passersby gathered the taqsh as a source of nourishment as they traveled along their way. The problem: A leafy tree was the sign that taqsh was on the tree also. But if the tree didn’t produce taqsh, it wouldn’t produce figs either.

The fig tree’s leaves beckoned passersby to look for taqsh and later figs, but upon closer inspection, travelers found there was no fruit. The unfruitful fig tree misled hungry travelers by offering promises of fruit when all it had to offer was leaves. So, Jesus cursed the fig tree. Never again would passersby be duped into thinking those bushy leaves were the signs of a fruit laden tree.

What does Jesus see when He looks at us? Are we blossoming plants offering passersby nourishing words of encouragement and demonstrating acts of kindness and love? Or are we nice, leafy trees with no fruit to feed a world starving for love, mercy, and compassion?

As we produce the leaves that show the world we are Christ’s disciples, we must also ensure we produce the fruits of discipleship. When the world comes looking for fruit, we can’t let them go away starving.

Lesson to Remember:  You may attract people from a distance, but what do they find when they get a closer look?

“I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.”—John 15:5