THE FIG TREE!
Shortly after my Mom and Dad moved to California with their family, they bought a small house and in the back yard was a garage. From the house and along side the garage was a sidewalk and next to it was a fig tree. At beautiful leafy tree! When the fruit became ripe the birds loved it and when the fruit was even riper it would fall from the tree and all over the yard and the side walk. Boy was it a mess!

I can’t remember if my Mom used the fruit of this tree for making anything. I have to agree that the fruit tasted good but had a bunch of little seeds. Our main problem was that either the birds got to them or they fell and got squished before we could entertain picking them.

The house we bought after Jim and I retired had a beautiful flowering tree that was on our patio, just outside of the sliding glass door. It’s fruit were little eatable plums. Again the birds were waiting for the plums to ripen and before we knew it we had squashed plums all over the patio. The ones that were not squashed had little holes that were caused by the birds tasting each one until they found the one they wanted. Sort of like chocolates!

Spring is always filled with beautiful flowering trees throughout our neighborhood. Cherry blossoms fill the mall and surrounding areas of Washington DC. Our main street in the community where we live, has flowering trees lining the sidewalks.. For the flowering season, nothing is more beautiful or spectacular.

A few years back we planted a young flowering Hawthorne. The first spring it bloomed and although it was young and reaching as high into the sky as it could, it showed us it’s potential beauty in our front yard. The next year we notice that a branch was obviously in trouble so Jim cut it off. The next couple of years, even though we would have some blossoms, more and more of the tree was dying. This was a fruitless tree with berries that the birds loved! Last year Adam, our #1 grandson, cut it down, root and all. You will know a tree by its fruit!

"And seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And He answered and said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again! And His disciples were listening." Mark 11:13-14 This verse has puzzled many theologians not to mention those like me. I always listen very carefully when this passage is preached from the pulpit and never am quite satisfied.

"And as they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. And being reminded, Peter said to Him, Rabbi, Behold, the fig tree which you cursed has withered. And Jesus answered saying to them, Have faith in God." The first part of this fig incident took place after the triumphal entry into Jerusalem and the second part just after Jesus cleanses the temple the second time. After they saw the withered tree Jesus talks to them about their faith. In Matthew he says that the tree withered immediately, right before their eyes.

Some believe that the withered tree is a prophesy about Israel. Because of her unfaithfulness she would be cut off. However, I believe Christ withered the fig tree to show His Apostles the power of faith and prayer. Jesus took every opportunity to teach, even if it was in the midst of something else that was going on. The fig tree was an opportunity for a object lesson.

Whatever the curse on the tree means, we can be sure that the lesson Christ gave His Apostles is also a lesson for us. Faith and prayer go hand in hand and it is something we should continue to learn about as we go. Jane Ann