Mt 21:18-22

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121. Jesus curses the fig tree (Matt 21:18-22; Mark 11:12-14,20-26)

In the morning, as Jesus and his disciples walked from Bethany back to Jerusalem, they passed a fig tree that Jesus saw as symbolic of the Jewish nation. He went to the fig tree looking for fruit but found none. Similarly he came to the Jewish nation looking for spiritual fruit, but in spite of all its outward signs of religion, spiritually it produced no fruit for God. By causing the fig tree to dry up, Jesus illustrated the judgment that would fall on the nation after it finally rejected its Messiah (Matt 21:18-20; Mark 11:12-14,20-21).

The incident was also a lesson on the effectiveness of prayer. When people make requests to God, they must have undoubting faith in the one to whom they pray and a forgiving attitude towards others (Matt 21:21-22; Mark 11:22-26).