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Jesus and the fig tree
Originally appeared on spirituality.com
Bible quotations in this article are taken from the New Revised Standard Version.
It happened in a flash. Insights can be like that. One minute something can seem incomprehensible and the next it all makes sense. Most of us have had that experience, whether we’re struggling to understand a foreign language, tackling a knotty business issue, or trying to get a new cell phone to work. In this case it was a Biblical text whose meaning had been obscure to me but had suddenly become clear.
Of course wrestling with difficult stories and sayings in the Bible isn’t a new phenomenon. Bible scholars often refer to these texts as “hard sayings” because their meaning may not be obvious or may run counter to popular perceptions. The particular saying that spurred the insight is one attributed to Jesus by the authors of Mark and Matthew. The saying (or to use the term scholars employ, the logion) is generally known as the cursing of the fig tree.
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