Self-Portraits of God

Studies in the Life and Work of Jesus

Lesson 2: Pictures from the Parables

Parable 3

This withered fig tree parable, parable # three in our study, is a story that is not a story! It is in fact one of the few parables Jesus not only spoke but acted out.

This unique parable is in parallel to the story of the woman hiding the leaven in the meal in several ways; but first, the account of what happened! Notice the record as found in Matthew 21: 18, 19.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it,” let no fruit grow on you ever again.”

Notice the parallels to the leaven story—in both parables the agent of change comes from without that which it affects; it is invisible; when introduced, its presence is made known by the results seen. In these parables, the results are parallel—the fig tree withers while the meal is leavened.

In the story of the leaven the presence of the leaven as the agent of change is stated, though the identification of what the leaven represents as an actual agent in the setting up of the Kingdom of Heaven is not given.

In the acting out of the withering of the fig tree no agent of change is introduced, but the withering of the tree is tied to the words of Jesus; He speaks, the result follows. In this parable of the fig tree the changes which are the object lesson of the parable are close followers of the words of Jesus. Notice, “Immediately the fig tree withered away.” This means that the setting up of the Kingdom of Heaven follows Jesus words; is intrinsically tied to the words of Jesus.

Jesus’ words are here the outside force which, though invisible, produces the seen result. But you say, this act seems to be strange! So, let’s look at the circumstances surrounding this event.

This story appears near the middle of the chapter in Matthew’s record of these events (chapter 21). Jesus had just a ridden a donkey into the city accompanied by large crowds of people. (This was the first time that we read of Him riding; He always walked.)

Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, It is written, My house shall be called a house to prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves.

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple and He healed them. But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant and said to Him, Do You hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, yes. Have you never read, Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise? Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, let no fruit grow on you ever again. Immediately, the fig tree withered away.

The first thing we remember about fig trees is that it is the nature of the fig tree to start growing its fruit before its leaves appear; therefore, for one to see a fig tree with leaves is for one to know that the tree has already produced figs. Therefore, when Jesus saw the tree He knew by its appearance that it was declaring that it had produced fruit.

The message of the parable of the withered fig tree is to be seen in the light of the experiences which occurred on the day preceding this event. The fruit of Jesus’ style of life was very apparent in the scenes in the temple , which were a partial fulfillment of the prophecy of Isaiah—Our God will come; He will save us.

By contrast, the fruit of the lifestyle of those who were the religious leaders of the nation, those supposed to be representing God to the nation, was seen in the complaining leaders who could not enter into the rejoicing that was going on in the temple, God’s house; the rejoicing that was a result of the work of Jesus as He went about setting up the Kingdom of Heaven—doing the work of God.

This act of Jesus in His withering of the fig tree left everyone well and healthy, but it also drew the attention of everyone who knew about it to the future of those who appeared to represent fruit for Jesus and His Kingdom, when they produced only leaves; they looked like fruit bearers, but they did no one service; their future was portrayed by the withered fig tree.

The point of these remarks is of course to see if these activities help us to understand the parable of the leaven; parable#2.

And one thing immediately stands out—in the parable of the withering of the fig tree the active agent closely follows the words of Jesus. Therefore we can draw our first conclusion—the Kingdom of Heaven has as its activating agent, the words of Jesus! The leavening follows the words of Jesus.

Regarding the parables of the leaven and of the withered fig tree.

When the parable of the fig tree-withered reveals that it is the words of Jesus which lead to the results which are seen we learn that the message of the story of the leaven is that the Kingdom of Heaven comes by the gentleness of the inspiration of the word. No outside force is used for its establishment. But an outside agent must be introduced into the daily life of the soul for the Kingdom of Heaven to be visibly operating there. The leaven, the words of Jesus, can produce results wherever it has been hidden by the one placing the leaven. Therefore we can guess that the woman who hides the leaven in the meal represents the Holy Spirit, and that the leaven represents the grace of God—but we will have to look at another parable to determine if our guess is correct.

Let’s look at one more story; our last one of this study on the parables of Jesus. (One needs a book on the parables of Jesus!)