Observation: Jesus and his disciples are walking into Jerusalem for the day and they pass a fig tree that Jesus cursed the previous day. It has withered. Jesus uses this as an object lesson, that if you ask for something in prayer, and believe you have received it, God will grant it to you. As Jesus continues to talk about prayer, he also includes forgiveness alongside faith as an essential ingredient. God forgives us when we are able to forgive.
Application: Whew, there's a lot to unpack here. What troubles me about this passage is not so much the bold assertion about the power of faith, but the object lesson Jesus uses. In the previous passage, the fig tree was not in the wrong...Jesus was hungry, and wanted figs, but it wasn't fig season! The tree was living the natural course of its life, and Jesus struck it down! Even though the words about forgiveness seem to be tacked onto the end of this passage about prayer and faith, maybe they're more connected than I realized. Maybe Jesus' action, which is shocking and hard to understand for me, is a lesson about forgiveness. I will never understand exactly why others do what they do. If I had to understand them to forgive them, I wouldn't forgive often. It's strange, and a little uncomfortable, to think that I would have to "forgive" Jesus, who has forgiven me of so much. But in the short term, while his behavior is a mystery, that's where I have to start. I may have to let go of this story for a while, to speak to me some other day.
Prayer: Jesus, I don't get it. I don't know why you cursed that poor tree, and it makes me mad. It sounds presumptuous to say "I forgive you," but if I don't say it, this will just bounce around in my brain for too long. So let me just say it. I forgive you. I want to let go of this story until you show me what it means. Help me, Lord. Amen.
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