Matthew 21:20-22 The Lesson of the Withered Fig Tree
And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?”
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Jesus has cursed a fig tree for having leaves but no fruit, and the tree has withered on the spot. The disciples can’t believe it. But if that sign is incredible, Jesus’ explanation is even more so. “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.”
Oh dear! The disciples have become accustomed to Jesus performing miracles; after all, he’s the Son of God, the Messiah. But now Jesus is saying that they, the disciples, are also going to do miracles and that God will answer their prayers for these miracles if they will only believe. Some of the disciples must be in despair at this point. Jesus can’t possibly mean that THEY, a ragtag group of fishermen and small-town businessmen, are going to perform the same kinds of miracles he has been doing. True, when Jesus sent the disciples out to preach earlier, miracles happened, but the disciples assumed those miracles were just for that particular time, not that they would continue. And the disciples were also assuming that it was Jesus’ faith and authority that was accomplishing those miracles.
What the disciples fail to realize is that Jesus is preparing them for the time when he will no longer be with them physically. At that point, if the disciples have not learned to pray and believe, nothing will happen. Jesus knows that at some point, God the Father will send the Holy Spirit to anoint these men, and they will later be accused of turning the world upside down by their faith and witness. Such wonderful events can only happen through believing prayer.
I’ve told the story before, but it’s worth repeating. When I was a third-year surgery resident, I helped care for a poor lady who had ovarian cancer. This patient had had all the chemotherapy, radiation, and every other treatment she could have. Her right leg was swollen three times the size of the left. We had to put a filter in her inferior vena cava to prevent blood clots from reaching her lungs. She even suffered appendicitis and required an appendectomy. No pain medicine was sufficient to relieve her suffering, and when I anointed her with the hospital lotion and prayed for her, all either of us thought I was praying for was for the pain to go away. I prayed very quietly and did not make any wild statements. The lady was discharged, and I forgot about her for two years. Frankly, I assumed she went home to die.
In the spring of my final year of surgery training, I entered the room of a patient scheduled for an incisional hernia repair the following day. The patient looked at me and then said, “You don’t remember me, do you?” This was my patient of two years ago! Her legs were normal, her tumor was gone, and the only reason she was admitted was for an incisional hernia repair. God had healed this woman completely! We had a praise session right in that hospital room!
I love to tell this story because neither of us had huge amounts of faith the day I prayed for this lady, but God healed her anyway. The one thing both of us did do was to trust a loving Heavenly Father to help this lady and to remove the pain. God in His infinite mercy chose to remove the pain by healing the lady, freeing her to testify to God’s grace and power. I also tell this story to encourage all of us to continue to ask, even when we think things are impossible.
There was a member of the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gang in California with a praying and believing mother in South Carolina. Despite all the horrible things this man had done, his mother continued to believe that God could deliver him. Eventually, this man came under conviction, and God did turn his life around. (The man was holed up in a phone booth with Hell’s Angels about to surround it when his mother had him call a local Assemblies of God minister. The minister turned out to be a huge guy who was more than a match for the Hell’s Angels and who delivered him from the gang, taking him home and leading him to the Lord. I heard the man’s testimony from his own lips in a church in Charleston, WV, and his mother told me her side of the story when I attended church with her in Charleston, SC.)
The prophet Jeremiah was very discouraged. God had ordered him to buy a field from one of his relatives, even though Jerusalem was about to be conquered, as a sign that things would eventually return to normal and that land transactions would again take place. God answered by saying, “Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh (heaven and earth.) Is there anything too hard for Me?” (Jeremiah 32:27) Our problem as disciples is that we look at ourselves and the puny amount of power we have. We know we are spiritual weaklings; however, we refuse to realize that when we pray, God weighs in on our side.
Jesus never intended for the disciples to have power in and of themselves but for them to be empowered by the Holy Spirit. When we become Jesus followers, we gain access to that Holy Spirit power, including the power to believe for miracles. But we must ask God for that power and then trust that He will do what is necessary.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to trust You for miracles and to ask for them. Thank You that You are the God of heaven and earth and that nothing is too difficult for You. We praise you in the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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