“The Miracles of Lent:
Withering Fig Tree”
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen. The sermon series for our Lenten Vespers services this year is “The
Miracles of Lent,” focusing on miracles that are part of the Lenten story of our
Savior’s suffering and death. So far we have looked at the miraculous
darkness that enshrouded the earth for three hours while Christ hung upon the
cross, and the resurrection of Lazarus, the mighty miracle that prompted Jesus’
enemies to plot to kill him. We continue this evening with an unusual
miracle our Lord performed on Monday of Holy Week: “Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it
had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was
not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat
fruit from you again’ . . . In the morning, as they went along, they saw
the fig tree withered from the roots.” Mark notes that “it was not the season for figs,” and therefore the
church father St. Augustine comments on this miracle, “Isn’t there something
absurd about Jesus cursing a tree for not bearing fruit out of season?”
It’s true that WE still might do such an irrational thing, in a hysterical burst
of anger. But, Jesus says about himself, “Learn from me, for I am gentle
and humble in heart.” So, this incident couldn’t have been just an
outburst of anger on our Lord’s part. The other thing that is unusual about this miracle is that it is the
ONLY negative miracle Jesus ever performed. All his other miracles always
gave a positive, blessed benefit, on behalf of those for whom they were
performed. From his first miracle turning water into wine for the wedding
couple at Cana; to the feeding of the 5,000; to calming the storm on the Sea of
Galilee; to the last miracle he performed just before his crucifixion, when in
the Garden of Gethsemane he healed the servant’s ear that had been severed by
Peter. Except for this one, unusual miracle on Monday of Holy Week, all
Jesus’ other miracles were never miracles of cursing and withering, but always
of healing and restoration. As Matthew reports, “Great crowds came to him,
bringing the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others, and laid
them at his feet; and he healed them.” Because the miracle of the withering fig tree is so different from all
our Lord’s other miracles, St. Augustine concluded that it must be prophetic,
that our Lord performed this unusual miracle on Monday of Holy Week because it
has some symbolic significance. “Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it
had any fruit.” Throughout the Bible, fruit represents the works that we
do in our lives, either the good fruit of good works, or the bad fruit of evil
works. As Jesus said, “Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs
from thistles? Likewise every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree
bears bad fruit. . . Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down
and thrown into the fire.” So, that is first of all what this unusual miracle symbolizes.
The judgment Jesus pronounces upon the fruitless fig tree symbolizes the
judgment we all deserve, because of our lack of proper good fruit in our lives,
and the bad fruit that we so often bear instead. Like the fig tree, which
withers when our Lord curses it because of its lack of fruit, we all deserve to
be cursed in the final judgment, cut down, and thrown into the fire of hell. But, the Good News is the withered fig tree on Monday of Holy Week also
has another symbolic, prophetic significance, pointing a few days forward to the
events of Good Friday at the end of that fateful week. One of the Bible
verses our Confirmation students memorize is 1st Peter 2:24, “He himself bore
our sins in his body on the cross.” But, because the large crosses used
for crucifixion were made using the whole logs of trees, the words for cross and
tree became interchangeable, and what that verse literally says in Greek is, “He
himself bore our sins in his body on the TREE.”
The judgment Jesus pronounces upon the fig tree at the beginning of
Holy Week symbolizes the judgment all of us deserve, being pronounced instead
upon Jesus himself, as he hangs upon the tree of the cross at the end of Holy
Week. The withering of the fig tree symbolizes the excruciating suffering HE
endured in both body and soul as he suffered and died for our salvation.
Just as he cursed the fig tree on Monday because of its lack of fruit, on Good
Friday HE endured the curse, on the tree of the cross, in our place, as
punishment for of our lack of good fruit and the all the bad fruit our lives. Peter says in Acts, “They killed him by hanging him on a tree, but God
raised him from the dead on the third day . . . All the prophets testify
about him that everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through
his name.” That’s the Good News of the miracle of the withering fig tree.
Through the suffering and death of Jesus’ own withered body upon the tree of the
cross, your sins are all forgiven. His disciples probably thought back to this unusual miracle that took
place on Monday of Holy Week when a few days later at the Last Supper on Maundy
Thursday he told them: “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in
me and I in him, he will bear much fruit. . . I chose you and appointed you to
go and bear fruit. . . this is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit,
showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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