Second Sunday in Lent
Mark 11:12-14, & 20-24
On the following day, when [Jesus and the disciples] came from Bethany, he was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. He said to it, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And his disciples heard it.
In the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. Then, Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea’, and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. So, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.”
Matthew 21:18-22.
In the morning, when [Jesus] 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.”
Luke 13:31-35
At that very time there were some present who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.
He asked them, “Do you think that because these Galileans suffered in this way, they were worse sinners than all other Galileans? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish as they did. Or, those eighteen who were killed when the tower of Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the other people living in Jerusalem? No, I tell you, but unless you repent you will all perish just as they did.”
Then he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came looking for fruit on it and found none. So, he said to the man working the vineyard, ‘See here! For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree, and still I find none. Cut it down! Why should it be wasting the soil?’
“He replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year, until I dig around it and put manure on it. If it bears fruit next year, well and good, but if not, you can cut it down.’”
At that very hour, some Pharisees came and said to [Jesus], “Get away from here, for Herod wants to kill you.”
He said to them, “Go and tell that fox for me, ‘Listen, I am casting out demons and performing cures today and tomorrow, and on the third day I finish my work. Yet today, tomorrow, and the next day I must be on my way, because it is impossible for a prophet to be killed outside of Jerusalem.’ Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing! See, your house is left to you. And I tell you, you will not see me until the time comes when you say, ‘Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord.’ ”
The Curious Case of the Missing Figs
I’ve always loved trees. I love the sound that the wind makes when it rustles through their branches. I love how when it’s really hot, you can hide in their shade. I love the way their trunks can get all weird and twisted, making them look ancient and wise, especially olive trees. It takes a long time for a tree to get like that. Trees can live so much longer than we can; a tenth of our lives could be 8 or nine years, but depending on which tree you’re talking about, a tenth of its life might be 200 years! And, when you look at an old tree, and you think about everything that it’s been through, it’s easy to get a sense that there might be some kind of wisdom there. Current research suggests that trees might actually communicate with each other, and even help each other, through their root systems, so maybe that sense of their wisdom isn’t so far off.
For those of us who are alive in 2025, it’s common knowledge that trees help to produce the oxygen that we breathe. And, we know that tree roots grow deep into the soil, holding it all together, helping to prevent erosion. And, when it rains, trees even help to prevent flooding because of all the water they catch with their leaves. As a species, human beings have taken full advantage of our tree friends. We plant them for their beauty, and for shade. We plant long rows of them to create windbreaks and sound barriers. We use their wood to construct our buildings and to make paper, and we harvest more fruit, nuts, and spices than I can even imagine.
So, you can imagine how shocked I was the first time I came across this text about Jesus cursing this poor fig tree because it didn’t have any fruit, especially when it says right in the text that it wasn’t even the season for figs! I mean, this isn’t the loving Jesus that we always talk about: the Jesus that teaches us about forgiveness and mercy. How could you get mad at a tree for not having fruit on it when it’s not even the season for fruit? Who would do that? Not to mention all of these wonderful things that trees do for us, even when they don’t have any fruit to eat.
I think part of what makes this text so difficult is that we are looking at it through a modern lens. We know about all the benefits of trees because of all of the scientific research that’s been done, you know scientific research that hadn’t been done yet when Jesus and his disciples were walking the earth. They didn’t know about oxygen 2000 years ago. A fig tree existed for one reason: to grow figs.
My family had fig trees when I was growing up; I loved figs as a kid. Every year, these trees would produce hundreds of figs, and we would just gobble them up. They were soft, and sweet, and juicy, and we looked forward to them every year.
But, even though I grew up with figs, I never really paid attention to the time of year that they showed up. I just ate them when they were there. I was a kid; I had more important things to do than keep track of the figs. So, I never noticed that in the spring, fig trees produce an early crop of figs on the previous year’s growth, the old wood. These are called Breba figs, and even though there aren’t that many of them, they’re usually a lot bigger than the figs that come in during the regular season. And, not only did I never notice this on the fig trees we had growing up, I had never even heard of this before. At least, not until I moved to Marin, and I was living at a house that had this enormous, ancient fig tree, the crown of the three had to be thirty or forty feet across, even though it was probably only about fifteen feet tall. One spring, I saw the Breba figs on the tree. They were like twice the size of normal figs. And, they just sit there on the ends of the branches, getting fat and juicy, way before any other fruit from any other tree starts to come in.
These were probably the figs that Jesus was looking for. He saw a fig tree in full leaf. And, I have to assume that the people of that time were a little more attuned to the seasons than I was as a child, and they knew when food was supposed to be available. This fig tree, with all of its leaves, was basically advertising to the world that it had figs hidden amongst its branches. But, when Jesus went to look for them, there were no figs to be had. The fig tree was putting on a good show, but in the end, it had nothing to offer. And, if it didn’t have Breba figs, chances were that it wouldn’t produce a normal crop either. So, Jesus cursed it, saying no one would ever eat figs from it again.
It’s still shocking, right? It still doesn’t really make sense why Jesus would do this, at least the Jesus that I know. But, we have to remember who we’re talking about. Jesus was a teacher. Everything that he did, at least everything that was recorded about him, he did for a reason. This was a man who spoke in parables, he told stories that were meant to teach lessons. And, it seems to me, that in at least this one instance, Jesus was acting out a living parable for the disciples to see, a parable that the disciples could live through, that they could experience in the real world.
In the Mark version, after Jesus cursed the fig tree, he went with his disciples to the temple, where venders and moneychangers had set up their booths, turning the temple into a marketplace. He said they had turned what was supposed to be “a house of prayer” into “a den of robbers!” So, Jesus chased them out! And later, when they passed by the fig tree that Jesus cursed, they saw that it had died.
What I think is going on here is that the fig tree was being used as a metaphor for what was happening at the temple. Pilgrims were coming to the temple to be spiritually nourished. But instead, they were being distracted by this marketplace of vendors and moneychangers. The temple still had all of the trappings of a place of worship, “a house of prayer.” It still had the big stone walls and the curtains, it still looked like the place where you would go to encounter God, to pray, and to learn. But, like the fig tree with all of its leaves, promising fruit, there was no nourishment to be found there.
When I look at this story, I can’t help but think about our lives, and all of the ways that we have been distracted from the truth. We’re bombarded with advertising telling us that we’ll be happy if we just lose some weight, or if we could just get a bigger house, or a more expensive car. Where are the ads telling us to spend more time with our families? Or the ads telling us that the most meaningful thing we can do is build strong communities, where we can find belonging, where we can find help in times of need. Where are the ads telling us that the most important thing we can do is take care of this planet that we’re living on, so that the people who come after us can have a beautiful world to live in, instead of one ravaged by pollution and climate change?
And then, we have the prosperity gospel, which tells us that those who God loves most, have the most. We all know that God doesn’t work that way. We’re caught up in this never-ending race towards what is bigger, better, shinier, but like the fig tree that’s was all leaves and no fruit, this message is a false one, and it only leads to destruction.
So, how do we find a path that leads us towards the truth? In Matthew 22, Jesus says, “Love God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your mind. This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law of the prophets.” We know these commandments; I’m not telling you anything you haven’t heard before. But so often, Jesus’ voice is drowned out by all of the noise that’s coming at us every day.
It might feel like everything is falling apart right now, that we have gone completely off the rails. But, we know that the Holy Spirit is at work, moving us towards greater and better things. Despite all of the voices out there telling us to do the wrong things, God’s voice will always be there, leading us back to the truth. The truth of love and friendship. The truth of family and community. The truth of creativity and possibility. The world can only deceive us if we let it. Don’t let it. Trust in God and remember what is truly important. Amen.
~ Rev. Charles Wei
