Ask and Expect . . . the Impossible.

“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 on it 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 (Mark 11:12-14a).”

In verse 21 of this same chapter we discover that the fig tree Jesus pronounced a curse upon had withered. Jesus response seems even more difficult to understand than his initial action, “Have faith in God, I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain,“Go throw yourself into the sea’ and it does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him (11:22-23).”

First, he was teaching his disciples that faith gives us the authority to have expectations about life. We are to have faith to the degree that we learn to ASK AND EXPECT the IMPOSSIBLE. Human hunger required the fig tree to have some figs on it. It did not matter that “It was not the season for figs.” It was not fulfilling its function as a tree, and the need outweighed the fact that it was not the season for figs.

Too often that is the excuse we have for refusing to pray, for refusing to meditate, for refusing to believe that God can heal, give success, give control over things and situations that are obstacles, answer our prayers for ourselves and our loved ones, and empower us to make a difference in the world.

We use the excuse, “It’s not time yet. I have not accomplished enough. I don’t have enough money. I don’t have enough time. I don’t have enough education. We don’t have enough members. We are not ready yet to move in that direction. The timing is bad—this is just impossible for now. It is just impossible. God expects too much. The Bible expects too much. We must be practical and learn to face reality.”

Jesus had just entered Jerusalem on a colt. People had thrown down Palm branches and their cloaks for him to rid over, hailing him with the words, “Hosanna—Blessed is the coming kingdom of our father David.” They were waiting for David. They were waiting for a messiah. They were waiting for a hero—a champion—for someone to come and rescue them from Rome, from trouble, from oppression.

But Jesus knew that they already had the power to rescue themselves. They already had the freedom in their souls to shake off Roman bondage. They already had the ability to rise above Rome. They did not need to sell each other out, to betray each other, to cow-tow, to bow down to Caesar—notwithstanding his military and political might—as if he were God. They did not need to wait for a messiah or anyone else to bring hope to the Jews who found themselves overwhelmed in every sense by one of the mightiest military empires in history. They were guilty of perpetuating their own oppression, their own suffering, by refusing to wholly trust God who was with them, to act and move and rescue them in spite of overwhelming “non-seasonal” odds.

So Jesus reacted to this idolatry on the part of his people and his disciples by cursing a fig tree that had no figs. No. It was not the season for figs, but that didn’t make a difference. Jesus hunger demanded a miracle. The hunger of the world for meaning and hope and love demands a miracle. The people of God are charged with exercising and carrying out miracles in the world, notwithstanding its powerful forces of evil.

So many will enter sanctuaries Sunday that are like the fig tree. Too many churches, temples, synagogues and mosques act as if they have no responsibility to speak out against injustice. They preach and teach a watered-down, faithless apostasy that honors human beings and their systems over the almighty sovereign God. They worship the “golden calf” of the rich and powerful and remain silent in the face of a suffering humanity. They excuse themselves by celebrating their own perceived weakness and powerlessness. They also placate the masses by teaching and preaching that it is not the right time-what faith calls for is impractical and they need to be good practical persons.

The disciples of Jesus knew better. The writer of Hebrews reminded the people, that faith speaks of a certain day—and concludes, NOW is that Day. NOW is God’s accepted time for us to believe, to act, to receive miracles and demonstrate the miraculous power that God made available to us before the beginning of time. NOW is the time of deliverance. NOW is the time for us to fully commit in faith to action and living that will make a difference. It matters not how impossible, how improbable, or what odds seem against us. HAVE FAITH IN GOD. It is this exercise of faith that qualifies us to live. Without it we are disqualified as servants of the most high God and certainly not persons of any kind of faith.

“God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with surging. . . . Be still and know that I am God (Psalm 46:1-3, 10).”