Curse A Tree, Move A Mountain

Have you ever prayed and prayed for something only to have nothing happen? Have you ever asked God for something that He didn’t provide? There have been times in my life where I have prayed so passionately to God for certain things, but they never came about. Looking back I can admit that sometimes what I was asking for was selfish. But others have been genuine. Like you, I’ve prayed for job opportunities that I never got. I have prayed for family and friends who still have never come to Christ. And I have prayed for people to be healed who never recovered from their sicknesses. And as a result sometimes it feels like when we pray we are up against an obstacle that just won’t budge because we pray but nothing happens. We try to believe in God and we try to have faith but sometimes things don’t change. Sometimes God doesn’t answer. Sometimes life’s obstacles feel immovable. And it feels overwhelming. And facing these obstacles we wonder if maybe there is a problem with us or with our prayers or even with our faith. And this is when faith is hard because Scripture says that, “You do not have because you do not ask,” and yet sometimes we do not have even though we did ask. And this hard reality, the reality that sometimes our prayers go unanswered, leads us to today's hard saying.

Mark 11:20-25 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from
the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!" 
"Have faith in God," Jesus answered."I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins."

We can move a mountain? Seriously? Whatever we ask for in prayer we will have? Really? To understand what Jesus meant we have to look at the chapter as a whole. Mark 11 begins with Jesus's triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He rides in on a donkey as people are yelling Messiah. They saw Him as their salvation from Rome that had been promised long before. After the arrival they stayed in Bethany and this is where the story starts. The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 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.Then he said to the tree, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard him say it. 

So the morning after being hailed as the Messiah Jesus has the munchies and so He finds
a fig tree and Mark is very careful to tell us that the tree was in leaf; but when Christ reached the
tree He found no fruit, and Mark tells us why: because it was not the season for figs. So Christ,
finding this barren fig tree, curses it. Now, why on earth would Jesus curse a fig tree for not having figs when it’s not the season for figs? That seems a little unfair, doesn’t it? Well, there is a catch. Even though this wasn’t fig season, Mark tells us that the tree was in leaf which means it was spring. Because it was spring, even though figs wouldn’t be fully grown yet on the tree, you would find these buds on the tree that are called taqsh. Now even though these buds are not full grown figs, they are like a precursor to figs and they were commonly eaten by peasants and travelers. That means that if you found a tree with taqsh on it – these buds – one would expect that figs would soon follow. But Jesus doesn’t find taqsh on the tree, meaning that although the tree was showing outward signs that it was healthy and vibrant, ultimately it was barren. It gave off the appearance of health, but it was actually a dud. And this is exactly what Jerusalem was.

So here Christ is making a big statement not about a tree, but about a nation. Outwardly, Jerusalem had the appearance of health; the people seemed spiritually vibrant because they were calling Christ the Messiah but the problem was they were looking at Christ as a political answer who would save them from Rome instead of a spiritual answer who would save them from sin. They looked spiritually good on the outside, but they were barren because they did not truly believe that Jesus was the Son of God, the One sent to save us from sin. Christ’s point was simple and profound: it is possible to look good on the outside and yet be spiritually dead on the inside. It’s possible to go to church and lack character; to call yourself a Christian and yet not really be following Christ.

You see, before we can ever even begin to think about the miraculous, we need to think rightly about God. Before we can ever even begin to think about moving mountains and praying with faith we need to understand who it is that we are praying to, because prayer is nothing unless there is a God behind it. That is why Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Have faith in God.” It is not good enough to have faith, your faith must be in God. And unless you truly understand this God that you are dealing with, you will always underestimate His ability. It isn’t faith that moves a mountain, it is God. And so the first thing that Jesus does is call His disciples – you and I – to have faith in God. Not in religion. Not in our church attendance. Not in the amount or the level of our own faith but in God, because it is not our faith that moves mountains it is our God.

Does it seem as though your prayers are un-answered? Are they based in the will of God, or your will? Your faith won't move your mountains, only God can. Seek His will in prayer and not your own.