Bear Fruit

“On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. . . .

“As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

(Mark 11:12-14, 20-25, ESV)

I struggled with this passage for a long time. “When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs,” Mark tells us. Why on earth would Christ curse a fig tree that had no figs because “it was not the season for figs?”

The answer is pretty simple, actually. A fig tree covered in leaves should have had figs. It presented itself as fruitful, but it bore no fruit.

There are many sermons and tie-ins from this passage related to the temple, Israel, the church, etc. Let me just focus on one — you and me.

If you hold yourself out as a Christian, bear fruit for the Kingdom.

If you can give time to love your neighbor, give time.

If you can’t give time, give money.

If you can’t give time and you have no money, get on your knees and pray.

Bear fruit.

That means different things to all of us in how we bear fruit, but we must bear fruit. In his famous “Street Sweeper” speech, Martin Luther King, Jr. put it this way:

Set out to do a good job and do that job so well that the living, the dead, and the unborn couldn’t do it any better.

If it falls to your lot to be a street sweeper, sweep streets like Michelangelo painted pictures. Sweep streets like Beethoven composed music. Sweep streets like Leontyne Price sings before the Metropolitan Opera, and sweep streets like Shakespeare wrote poetry. Sweep streets so well that all the hosts of heaven and earth will have to pause and say, “Here lived a great street sweeper who swept his job well.”

If you can’t be a pine on the top of the hill,

Be a scrub in the valley but –

be the best little scrub on the side of the hill.

Be a bush if you can’t be a tree.

If you can’t be a highway, just be a trail.

If you can’t be the sun, be a star,

For it isn’t by size that you win or you fail.

Be the best of whatever you are.

Glorify God in all that you do. Bear fruit. Bear fruit in your labor. Bear fruit in your deeds. Bear fruit in your words. Bear fruit in your family. Bear fruit with your friends. Bear fruit in your life.

Bear fruit.

A time is coming for the harvest. Don’t pose as a tree full of fruit, covered in leaves, but with empty branches. How you do it is between you and God, and God will hold you accountable.

If you profess Christ as Lord, do not use Him as a cudgel, but as a salve. If you claim Chris is King, be his faithful servant in service to His kingdom. If you profess His resurrection, do not let the troubles of the world cause you to despair. because He has already won. And if you say Jesus loves you, love your neighbor as yourself because He told you to.

If you call yourself a Christian, act in your life as if He is coming soon because He is.

Easter is coming. Are you ready?