Friday of the 8th Week in Ordinary Time
May 29, 2015 8:30am
Today’s gospel passage really
needs some explanation.
At first look, Jesus doesn’t come
across very well.
He sees this fig tree and Saint
Mark notes that figs were not yet in season.
So Jesus wants a fig, there are
naturally not yet any figs on the tree, and he utters a curse on the tree and
it withers and dies.
Wow!
Is Jesus just acting out of very
raw, human frustration or what?
One Scripture commentator offers a
helpful insight.
In the Old Testament, the fig
tree was an image for God’s people.
God expected his people to be
responsive to his calling and to do good things.
So what is going on here is Jesus
uttering God’s judgment on unresponsive people.
So, it doesn’t have to do with
Jesus wanting his hunger or physical craving satisfied in an instant.
Instead, it is symbolic of God’s
displeasure with his people’s response.
Even here, two clarifications are
needed.
First, it is really God’s
displeasure rather than God’s judgment.
Jesus never utters a final
judgment on people.
When he speaks of judgment, the
basis for it is caring for those in need – whatever you do for the least, that
you do for me.
What we do or fail to do for the
needy will determine our judgment in the end.
The second clarification is that
when Jesus speaks of his displeasure, it is usually if not always with the
religious leaders.
It was their holding on to
unnecessary practices and holding themselves above ordinary people and in the
process even neglecting those in need– that was his basis for displeasure and
those to whom it was directed.
So, I hope that helps to clarify
this passage a bit and give us some food for thought today.
