Was Jesus Unreasonable?

   Recently, I had a gentleman ask me about an event in the Gospel of Mark that troubled him. Let me explain. Jesus the night following His triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Palm Sunday) left the city with His disciples and went and stayed in Bethany. The next morning as they were on their way back to Jerusalem, Jesus became hungry, and “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. Mark 11:13 NIV

   Then Jesus cursed the tree… ^“Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” (v. 14) Jesus and His disciples continued on their way into Jerusalem, and when it became evening traveled back to Bethany for the night. The next morning, as they passed the same location, Peter remembered the events of the previous day and said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!” (v. 21b)

    It appears on our initial observation that Jesus cursed an unfruitful fig tree out of season. In other words, as Mark pointed out in his gospel, it was too early in the year to expect figs to be growing on the tree. So my friend’s question: ‘Was Jesus being unreasonable when He expected fruit from a tree out of season?’ The implications are serious. Was the One who brought us grace at times ungraceful? Does Jesus expect us to produce more than what we’re capable of?

   The answer can be found through a basic lesson in botany. We know this incident had to occur in early April “as is probable that Jesus was crucified on April 6^th, A.D. 30”(Kaiser, Hard Sayings of the Bible, 442). In Palestine, near the end of March, leaves start to appear on the fig trees, and in about a week or so, have fully covered the tree. What usually appears around the same time of year are these small green knobs (in Arabic called taqsh). They’re sort of a forerunner to the actual figs that come several weeks later. They’re edible and believed to have been eaten by peasants and other hungry travelers. These knobs also forecast the future crop of figs for their respective tree. Like peach tree blossoms in the spring form into potential peaches, taqsh fall off after ripening and in their place comes figs. What does all this mean? The fact that there were no taqsh on this tree meant that this tree would not produce any figs when the season for figs did arrive. Thus, Jesus wasn’t being unreasonable at all. He knew this tree was and will remain fruitless. There is one remaining question: Why curse the tree at all? Did you know that during His earthly ministry, Jesus healed the sick and at times raised the dead, but this is the only occurrence where it is recorded that He ‘cursed’ something. Why? Elsewhere in Scripture (Luke 13), Jesus used a parable of a fig tree to show that unfruitfulness will be cut off from God’s kingdom. In other words, people who don’t produce ‘good fruit’ will be separated from God (see also Matt. 3:19). There is an expectation for us to bear spiritual ‘fruit.’ What a teacher Jesus is, a story and when necessary an object lesson for them as well so be fruitful my friends.