A Bunch of Leaves

“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.” Mark 11:13

One of the worse feelings one could ever experience is when you enter the kitchen with a major taste for something that no longer exists in the pantry, cabinets, or refrigerator. All day long, you had anticipated the satisfaction met by that special snack only to find that it was all gone. Whether it was your favorite bag of chips, cookies, or ice cream, it did not matter as long as they were where you last placed them. Sometimes you find yourself hiding them to avoid the other occupants within your residence from devouring them. Nevertheless, there were times when you reached the location and searched to find that your favorite snacks, which stimulated that craving all day, were gone. “Time to find something else…”

How disappointing it is to settle for less and displace the initial craving with something that never entered your mind in the first place. The thought of this crossed my mind as I read about Jesus and the altercation with the fig tree. When I first read this story, I felt sorry for the fig tree and thought how mean Jesus seemed to a poor defenseless tree. Yet, the more I read the more I began to hear God. Can you image how God feels after peeking in on Worship services that leave Him starving because they do not meet His needs? Then imagine God on an all out search for that special something, or someone for this matter, to fulfill His desires. However, when He finds that special someone, the one who comes to Worship week after week to Worship Him, outside of a Worship atmosphere… there is no fruit to be found.

Imagine how God feels when He sees us giving the appearance of fruit-bearing trees when our leaves mask the emptiness beyond the surface. How easy it is to blend in when other trees are around, but what happens when it is just you and God. What type of appearance do we give once our surroundings change from a Christian environment to that of the world? We give God great Praise and Worship in service, but what does Jesus find when the curtains of our private lives are drawn back? Do we look like trees with fruit while participating in service, but change between benediction and dinner? What would the outcome be if Jesus reached into our lives just because we appeared to be in full bloom? The fig tree was in full bloom, which gave the appearance of the season, but it was the wrong time to produce fruit.

The season in this story not only refers to the time as it does the state of the tree. The fig trees around Jerusalem would not produce fruit unless they were full of leaves. When Jesus approached this tree, it was in the right state to bear fruit, but it displayed full leaves at the wrong time. In other words, how disappointed God must feel when He sees us at our best in season (or shall we say in church), but finds a bunch of leaves out of season. When God reaches in the trees of our lives outside of the church, on our jobs, or at home will He find fruit or will He find a bunch of leaves?

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