Mark 11:20-26

Restore that tree!
Mark 11:20-26

After a nice evening in Bethany (just outside Jerusalem), Jesus and His disciples walked back up to Jerusalem.  On the way, Peter found the fig tree that Jesus had cursed the night before.  The tree was withered from the roots up through the branches.  If, as we learned last time, the fig tree represented the Jewish people, what does this mean for them?  While I have no doubt that the tree was actually there, and that Peter and the disciples saw it, the almost total disconnect between Peter’s exclamation and Jesus’ response tells us that we’re in allegory mode again.  Jesus thinks different.  If Peter says, “Wow, look at that tree!  It’s all dried up,” you would expect Jesus to say “Yep, sure is” rather than “Have faith in God, pray, and forgive.”  Jesus was really saying “Watch this!”

Jesus was really saying “Watch this!  That tree can be restored, and you can help me restore it.”  If the tree, which is actually the Jews, was withered from the roots up, we might surmise that the entire lineage of the Jews (the roots), and future generations (the branches) were accursed.  But Jesus says “Take heart.”  The Jews might appear dead now, but God is faithful.  The Jews are still God’s chosen people, and they’ll serve many important functions in fulfilling God’s kingdom, whether they know it or not.

Jesus then tells us to pray in power and belief.  Does this mean that if we want a car or a house that it will be delivered to us once we have prayed?  Well, maybe — I wouldn’t put anything past God — but mostly we are to pray that God’s will be done.  This is what we should seek in prayer.  Our own personal needs and wants should come as a distant second.  God, after all, has already promised to take care of us.  (Read Matt 6:25-34 and see that this is not so!)

We are also called to forgive.  Forgiving others, and asking for forgiveness, brings us right with God.  It is then, with a pure heart and a renewed spirit, that we can pray for the “right” things ( that God’s will be done on earth, as it is in heaven).

Rest assured, God’s will will be done whether we pray for it or not, but wouldn’t it be great to be a part of God’s will, AND know that it is God’s will?  If we are “right with God,” we can expect this blessing if we ask for it in prayer.  The Jews, even now, are a very important part of God’s will, they just don’t know it — they’re a bit withered from having rejected Jesus as their Messiah.  The same holds true for our non-Christian friends.  We need to pray that these people find that living water that will grow them again in Jesus Christ.

Lift up all the non-Christians of the world today, that they might find Jesus; and ask God for direction in your own life.  Be a part of His plan today.