Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and it will be done. If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.”
Matthew includes this story right after the events at the temple because Jesus is still talking about the fact that the Jews did not have any close relationship with God the Father. In the temple story, he pointed out that they were just going through the motions of worship and in this encounter with the fig tree Jesus is saying that while the nation of Israel looks like they have a living relationship with God, they really do not.
It was really just a little early in the year for the fig tree to be bearing fruit, but the tree that Jesus walked up too had the leaves and markings that said that it should have had fruit. Therefore Jesus curses the tree, or as is often translated, “predicts that this tree will never have fruit”. The tree immediately dries up and the disciples are amazed at what Jesus had done. Jesus simply showed the tree for what it was, an old dried up excuse for a tree with no fruit and no hope for fruit. The implication is that this is what Jesus sees when He looks at the Jewish nation. The Jews looked to the world like they should be very close to God and bearing all kinds of fruit when in fact they were not really close to God, it was only an outward show of religion.
The puzzling fact in this verse is Jesus’ statement about the power of faith, it is hard to get around His statement that if you believe you will have anything that you ask for in prayer. We know that we do not have a magic wand, and Jesus is not a Genie in a bottle, but we also know that in faith we have a great power! It would seem that if we believe, then our requests of God are focused on the type of things that are for the good of the Kingdom and He will grant them. We must always bow to God’s will, we pray that He would first of all do what He knows is best for us and for all of the world.
How is verse 22 an encouragement for your prayer life?
When have you seen God do something that seems impossible?
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