Context No. 3752 of 4322 · Matthew

Matthew 21:17-22: in context

17He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and camped there. 18Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry. 19Seeing a fig tree by the road, he came to it and found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, “Let there be no fruit from you forever!” Immediately the fig tree withered away. 20When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree immediately wither away?” 21Jesus answered them, “Most certainly I tell you, if you have faith and don’t doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but even if you told this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ it would be done. 22All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”

Hungry, Jesus comes to a fig tree full of leaves but bearing no fruit, and it withers at his word. The leaves promised fruit that was not there, a picture of the appearance of life without its reality. When the disciples marvel at how quickly it withered, Jesus turns their attention to faith: if you have faith and do not doubt, you can do far more than this, and whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.

Two things stand out. There is a warning in the fig tree against fruitless religion, the show of leaves, the appearance of faith, without the fruit God looks for. God seeks real fruit in our lives, not mere outward display. And there is a call to genuine, believing prayer, a faith that trusts God enough to ask and to expect him to act. The barren tree and the promise about prayer belong together: God calls us away from empty appearances and into a living faith that bears fruit and trusts him in prayer.

Does my faith bear real fruit, or only the leaves of outward appearance, and do I pray with the genuine, trusting confidence that Jesus calls me to?

Sources

Matthew 21:19: "Seeing a fig tree by the road... he found nothing on it but leaves. He said to it, Let there be no fruit from you forever! Immediately the fig tree withered away."
Matthew 21:21: "If you have faith and don't doubt... even if you told this mountain, Be taken up and cast into the sea, it would be done."
Matthew 21:22: "All things, whatever you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."