GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
MARK 11:20-26
The Withered Fig Tree
20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered down to the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”
It was now Tuesday morning, and seeing the fig tree withered from its roots to the top and out to the ends of each and every branch, Peter remembered that Jesus had cursed the tree. His “Rabbi, look!” was a call to all of the disciples as well as Jesus. The day before, it had been a living, thriving, green tree. Now it was dead. Withered, brown, drooping, brittle; killed by the command of God.
Peter’s, “Rabbi, look!” was really asking the question: “How did you do that?” He didn’t stop to think: This was one of Jesus’ simpler displays of power. Surely the God who made everything can kill a single tree if he wants to. The question we’re expecting is not how, but why– and yet Jesus explained the reason why by his actions and words when he cursed the tree the day before. The tree was a picture of all mankind. When the Lord looks for fruit in us, he expects to find it. If he doesn’t find it, then “he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire” (Luke 3:17). But since Peter was implying “How?” with his words, that was the question Jesus answered.
22 Jesus replied, “Have faith in God. 23 Amen I tell you: Whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. 24 Therefore I tell you, everything that you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 Whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins. 26 But if you do not forgive, your Father in heaven will not forgive your sins.”
While we read this passage, we must not think so much about Simon the sorcerer who wanted to pay for power (Acts 8:18), but about Peter and John condemning the liars Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:5,10). The Lord was preparing his disciples for their ministry and his church for the acts of discipline. What the church does must be done through prayer, whether we call a pastor to serve us, prepare to carry the gospel into the streets and roads of our towns, or call our people to repentance.
Prayer brings the faith and desires of the heart into the hearing and presence of God. Surely he already knows these things, but by inviting us to pray, he reminds us that he is with us, and that he himself is a Being. He is not a formless, mysterious force in the universe that cannot be comprehended in any way. He is God, he exists, and he is very much concerned with each one of us personally. Therefore he invites us to speak to him in prayer, and his answers to our prayers, whether yes, no, not yet, or you’re not asking for enough, are expressions of his will in our lives. By describing a mountain being hurled into the sea, and by the examples in the Scriptures such as the Red Sea parting for the whole nation of Israel to cross (Exodus 14:21-22) God shows us that there is nothing that would be too much to pray for. Also, remember the sun and moon standing still for a day (Joshua 10:13), the sun moving backwards (2 Kings 20:11), and the prophets and apostles raising the dead: 1 Kings 17:21,22; 2 Kings 4:35; 2 Kings 13:20-21; Acts 9:40 and Acts 20:10.
While some might consider God’s answers to prayers (by consenting to our requests or not) as his communication with us, but truly his communication is in his word, the Bible, and most especially in his holy Word become flesh, our Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:14).
Just as Jesus was preparing his disciples for their own futures as leaders of the church and those who enact discipline, forgiving repentant sins and condemning the unrepentant, so also he prepares us. He tells us, “everything that you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.” This does not cancel his will. I cannot ask for a dozen wives and hope that God will ignore the Sixth Commandment, just as I cannot desire my neighbor’s new house and hope that God will ignore the Ninth. But if I tell my Father that a poor man I know needs a place to live, I have set the needs of that poor man in my own heart, and I shouldn’t be surprised if the Lord chooses to use me to help him. Not that I can give him a house or an apartment, but I can use my gifts to help him find what he needs. And if I pray for my son’s grades to improve, I can show my faith by helping him to study without intimidating him, but helping him and teaching him, and then praying alongside him that God would help him do his best, not only when he takes a test, but in the daily tests that life will bring.
When Johann Sebastian Bach signed his compositions, in addition to his own initials he would often write either SDG (Soli Deo Gloria, to God alone the glory), JJ (Jesu Juva, “Jesus help” in Latin) or even JH (Jesus, help, in German). These were little prayers. With little prayers and big ones, we give God glory, we ask God’s help, and we trust in Jesus alone.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
Mark 11:26 A few witnesses to the text do not include verse 26 here. See Matthew 6:15, John 20:23 and other places for the same doctrinal testimony.
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Additional archives by Wisconsin Lutheran Chapel: www.wlchapel.org/connect-grow/ministries/adults/daily-devotions/gwfy-archive/2021
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – Mark 11:20-26 Moving mountains