It had leaves. It had no fruit. He spoke to it. By morning it was dead.
📖Based on Mark 11:14
He was hungry.
He saw a fig tree in the distance.
It had leaves.
He went to see if he could 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.
His disciples heard it.
They went on into Jerusalem.
The next morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.
Peter remembered and said: Rabbi, look. The fig tree that you cursed has withered.
Jesus said: Have faith in God.
Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.
He moved from the fig tree to faith in a single breath.
The tree with leaves and no fruit.
The image has never been subtle.
It stands for every life that presents the appearance of flourishing without the substance of it.
Every institution that looks full from a distance and is empty when examined.
Every person who carries the leaves of religion without the fruit that religion produces.
The tree was alive enough to grow leaves.
It was not producing what it was made to produce.
And when the one who was hungry came looking for what it was supposed to offer, there was nothing.
Only the leaves.
The appearance.
The tree withered from the roots.
Not from the top.
From the source.
The failure was not superficial.
Scripture — Mark 11:14
"And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it."
Reflection
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It had leaves but no fruit. From a distance it looked alive. Up close it had nothing.
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The curse was not cruelty. It was a living parable about what it means to present the appearance of something without the reality.