Editorial January 20, 1917 Issue

The Fruitless Fig Tree

Annie M. Knott

Bible students are sometimes puzzled by the account of the barren fig tree which was withered by Jesus' rebuke, but Jesus rebuked error in whatever guise it presented itself to him. We read that in some cases he rebuked fevers and thus brought freedom to the sufferers; but in the case of the fruitless tree we find a remarkable object lesson, and before considering this, it may be well to look into the parable of a barren fig tree given in the thirteenth chapter of Luke.

The record says that the owner of the vineyard "came and sought fruit thereon, and found none." Then we read that he said to the vine-dresser, "Cut it down; why cumbereth it the ground?" Immediately following this teaching, which was given on the Sabbath day in one of the synagogues, Jesus saw before him a woman who "was bowed together, and could in no wise lift up herself." We read that Jesus called her to him and declared the truth for her, and that she was immediately "made straight, and glorified God." We are also told that the ruler of the synagogue was very indignant because Jesus had healed the woman on the Sabbath day, for he was evidently keen witted enough to see that such healing discredited a merely formal service. On page 151 of "Miscellaneous Writings" Mrs. Eddy says, "God is a consuming fire," and to this she adds: "Through the sacred law, He speaketh to the unfruitful in tones of Sinai: and, in the gospel, He saith of the barren fig tree, 'Cut it down.'"

This brings us to the consideration of the incident which is often referred to as the cursing of the barren fig tree. If we compare the account found in Matthew xxi, verses 12-22, with that in the eleventh chapter of Mark's gospel, we shall see that after the Master's triumphal entry into Jerusalem he went up to the temple looking for the spiritual fruit with which he had been feeding the hungry sense of humanity. But he failed to find it there, and so he drove out of the temple the representatives of mortal mind, after declaring it to be the house of prayer; then we are told that "the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them." We then read that he left the city, but on his way back in the morning he was hungry, and seeing a fig tree near the wayside, he went to it and found only leaves thereon. It was then that he pronounced its doom by saying, "No man eat fruit of thee hereafter forever."

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