When I found Israel, it was like finding grapes in the desert;
when I saw your fathers, it was like seeing the early fruit on the fig tree.
But when they came to Baal Peor, they consecrated themselves to that shameful idol
and became as vile as the thing they loved.
... Ephraim is blighted, their root is withered, they yield no fruit.
- Hosea 9:10&16
Mark 11
No. You don't want to abandon faith in God. Abondon something else.
To cut to the chase, abondon idols. That's what Jesus declares by cursing the fig tree
(with the destructive power of God, which He demonstrates only here in the gospel).
[You must read Hosea (especially, 9:10&16) to understand this profound act.
Moreover, He did it, knowing 100% and being willing 100% to take on himself
the curse He pronounced! In fact, Hosea, Hosanna, and Joshua/Jesus all come from
the same Hebrew word yasha, which means "save."]
The tree's – actually, “anything's” in this world and in the world to come -
the tree's ultimate purpose of being there was to be there for its master.
There is nothing more important for it than to be there for its Owner/Creator.
To please Him when it is given an opportunity to do so should be its highest joy
and priority over anything else. It is thrilled, normally, when He comes, to be there for Him.
It welcomes Him, “wagging its tail,” so to speak. It is ready to perform miracles
by the faith in Him (22-24).
It failed, however, even to recognize Him and bear fruit to meet His needs.
It doesn't matter whether it is summer or winter. When its master, the Lord of the seasons, comes,
it IS the season. And there He was, with a hungry stomach.
But it was busy living for something else. It had lived that way so long
that it had lost the senses and its true identity. It had forgotten
that it was created for a purpose. It was confused, perhaps, living for something else.
Living for something “vile,” it had become as vile as the thing it loved (Hosea 9:10).
Faith recognizes the object which it lives for. It abandons everything else at once
when it sees the target of its attention and runs to Him, like a child that runs
singlemindedly toward its favorite person when He heaves in sight.
No mountain in his heart is big enough to stop the child from receiving Him.
To make way or space for Him, the child commands it to throw itself into the sea.
Whatever gets in the way is removed. Doubts? No time for them. He is so happy.
So happy to see Him. And it cannot not bear fruit. It will extend its hand, saying,
Eat this! This one, too! I'm so glad you are here.”
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