Matthew chapter 21 (part 1)

The Triumphal Entry has Jesus fulfilling yet another Messianic prophey. Zechariah 9:9 foretold that the people would "Rejoice greatly, O Daughter of Zion! Shout, Daughter of Jerusalem! See, your King comes to you, righteous and having salvation, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey." Now "Zion" is an archaic term that originally referred to a specific mountain near Jerusalem (Mount Zion), on which stood a Jebusite fortress of the same name that was conquered by David (2 Samuel 5:6-7). "Zion" came to be applied to the section of Jerusalem where the fortress stood, and later became synonymous with Jerusalem. "Zion" is also refers to Solomon's Temple, as the Temple was the House of God before Jesus entered the World and His Spirit entered the hearts of believers. Today, "Zion" is often used metaphorically, to symbolize Jerusalem and the Promised Land to come, in which God dwells among his chosen people.

The crowds were crying out "Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!" They were recognising Jesus as the Messiah by calling Him the Son of David and by quoting Psalm 118:26. Hosanna itself is a wonderful term to have been used as it originally meant "Help, Lord" or "Save, I pray" recognising that Jesus had the power and authority to save. Indeed Jesus alone can save mankind from sin, "Hosanna Jesus, praise the Most High!"

Next is a scene where Jesus gets real angry. When Jesus enters the Temple at Jerusalem he finds it full of people who were buying and selling goods, who had turned the House of the Lord into a marketplace and worse. He drove these men and women out crying "It is written, My house will be called a house of prayer, but you are making it a den of robbers!" The Temple should have been a place of prayer and worship, as was written in Isaiah 56:7. Instead Jesus likens this abuse of the Temple (using it as a place of business) to worshiping false gods calling it a "den of robbers!" just as Jeremiah did when the people were reveling in their sin but still claiming protection from the Lord.

Verses 18-22 have a very interesting event. "Early in the morning, as [Jesus] was on his way back to the city, He was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, He went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then He said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately the tree withered." The main lesson from this passage is about faith when Jesus answers the disciples questions by saying, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer." Notice that we are to speak TO the mountain, to speak TO our problems and not about them when confronting them with prayer.

But there is another lesson here, which is found more clearly in Mark 11:13. "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."

Firstly lets look at how the world views this passage.

The following is an excerpt from Think by Simon Blackburn, a British academic philosopher also known for his efforts to popularise philosophy.

"It is true that Jesus did not curse the fig tree for not bearing, say, apples, or plumbs. It was figs he was after. And a fig tree does sometimes bear figs. But it still seems unfair on the fig tree. It is as if Jesus is saying 'You sometimes bear figs so you could be bearing figs now.' To which it seems a completely adequate defence the fig tree to point out that it bears figs in the summer, but it is now winter, or at any rate 'the time for figs was not yet.' It takes a certain set of circumstancesfor a fig tree to bear figs: even the best tree does not do so out of season, any more than it bears plums.

The fig tree might not be aware of this. Perhaps if it was a thoughtful fig tree it would have felt bad because it was itself unaware of the precise causes necessaryfor it to bear figs: perhaps it only remembers it sometimes does so, and then feels bad about not doing it on this occasion. But that is just ignorance. If the fig tree feels bad about not bearing figs in winter, then that is irrational: the time was not right, that is all."

Now this is a reasonable conclusion about Jesus cursing the tree. It was unfair, this is also a good model of Grace as Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God. If Grace were merited or a reward then it would not be grace at all but more akin to wages. All our lives earn is the wages of sin, which is death. His Grace is what purchases our life. Notice also that simply because something is unfair does not relate to that same thing being unjust. Lets examine it a little more carefully though.

The common fig bears a first crop, called the breba crop, in the spring on last season's growth. The second crop is borne in the fall on the new growth and is known as the main crop. This breba crop comes in even before the new growth and leaves of the new season. Mark 11:13 tells us that the fig tree was 'in leaf' so it is safe to assume that either this preseason breba fruit or the in season figs were present on the tree. Mark also tells us however, that it was not the season for figs so it must have been the breba crop Jesus was looking for.

Lets see if we can find refrence to the breba or early figs in scripture to see if there is any significance. Song of Solomon 2:13 uses "The fig tree forms its early fruit" as a metaphor for beauty, Jeremiah 24 uses the early figs to refer to people upon whom God shows favour, Hosea 9:10 again refers to the Fathers of Israel (presumedly Abraham, Isac, etc.) as the "early fruit on a fig tree", and Micah 7:1 shows misery that in Israel there are "none of the early figs that I crave" alluding to there being no righteous people. This "early fruit" or "early figs" are borne before the season which is what makes them 'early' otherwise they would simply be 'on time figs'.

Now two thigs can arise, in addition to our lesson about faith.

Firstly, as we have seen, this cursing of the fig tree demonstrated Jesus' right to condem those who are not saved even though it is not their 'fault', they simply were not saved by His Grace and without Grace none can be saved.

Secondly though we see that the early fruit of the fig tree, the breba crop, often refers to God's chose and righteous people in scripture. Here God's chosen people were the Jews. When Jesus, the Messiah the Jews had been waiting for, came they did not recognise Him as such. Because they did not recognise Him as their messiah Jesus judged and cursed Israel, which resulted in the destruction of the Temple in 70AD during the Great Jewish Revolt. It was not the Jewish people's fault that they did not recognise Jesus, if they had then they would not have crucified Him and thus His atonement for sin on the Cross would never have happened, but still He judged them for this mistake.

Luke 19:41-44 is one of the saddest parts of scipture, the Jews who had waited so long for their Messiah did not recognise Him when He came. "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, "If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace—but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God's coming to you."