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I. THE SUFFICIENT REASON FOR THE ACT.

1. Not an outcome of petulance or disappointment. The idea of Christ being "in a temper" is preposterous! The difficulty as to the phrases, "if haply he might find anything thereon," and "he found nothing but leaves; for it was not the season of figs," is for the most part factitious and artificial. Our Lord was not mistaken - first expectant and then disappointed. "He came to the tree, not for the sake of eating, but for the sake of performing an adumbrative action (sed aliquid praefigurandi causa)" (Zuiugli). "His hunger, too, was the occasion that gave shape to his adumbrative action, when he went to the leafy tree to see if there was fruit on it" (Morison).

2. But neither was it an action symbolizing the penalty of spiritual barrenness. Its proximity in spirit and time to the cleansing of the temple inclines the mind to a parabolic meaning in that direction; so also Peter's strong word "cursedst," which seems at first to convey an impression of moral displeasure. As a merely natural incident, it is hard to reduce the disproportion it exhibits between the apparently judicial sentence and its occasion. On the other hand, it is harder still to explain Christ's total silence as to the reference to spiritual barrenness and its penalty, if such a reference had ever been intended. The circumstance that a day intervened between the sentence of Christ and Peter's noting the result, would seem to demand that the Master should have "pointed the moral" in some more manifest way. Again, what he did teach concerning the occurrence, so far as it has been preserved, suggests that the action was "adumbrative" in a simpler and more direct sense, of that, namely, of which he spoke - the power of God commanded through faith. "The significance of this event is different from that of the parable given by St. Luke (Luke 13:6), to show the doom of impenitence. In that, the fig tree was planted in a vineyard; everything was done for its culture that could be done; and not till after years of barrenness was it cut down. Here the fig tree was growing by the road; it belonged to no one, and nothing had been done for its improvement; and it was destroyed when its uselessness was made manifest. It was fruitless, because the fruit season had not come, and no old fruit remained on the branches. It was, therefore, not a fit emblem of the impenitent Jews. But the destruction of a senseless and worthless thing made known the power of Christ, as sufficient to destroy, though used only to restore" (Godwin, 'Matthew'). As illustrative of Divine power it was splendidly significant. To wither was within the power of any one, but to wither by a word was a supernatural act only possible to one in closest fellowship with God.

II. CHRIST'S OWN APPLICATION OF THE INCIDENT. "Have faith in God."

1. Greater results than it are attained by his servants if they will but believe.

(1) In doing. The words "shall say unto this mountain," etc., are figurative. A magnificent promise! Not only such an act as the withering of the fig tree, but one comparable to the uprooting of the Mount of Olives on which it grew (against which, by the way, there could surely be no "judicial resentment" even in the most metaphorical sense). It is spoken of moral and spiritual difficulties met with in fulfilling the great commission, or in individual spiritual growth.

(2) In receiving. Here the whole doctrine of prayer came up again for review. The answer was not to be merely looked forward to as coming, or even imminent, but was to be realized as already fulfilling itself in present experience. A secret of intense and successful devotion.

2. The ground of all such power is moral and spiritual oneness with God. The general conditions of prayer being answered, viz. agreeableness to the Divine will, advantage of the kingdom of God, etc., are all supposed. But, in addition, the boon of forgiveness is chiefly referred to as of greatest moment; and, in connection with it, the necessity of a forgiving disposition in the petitioner, as a condition of his being answered. This is one of the highest phases of spiritual or moral power, and is only possible through partaking of the Divine Spirit, in other words, through oneness with God. - M.

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KJV: And on the morrow, when they were come from Bethany, he was hungry:

WEB: The next day, when they had come out from Bethany, he was hungry.