On the Monday after Palm Sunday Jesus came into Jerusalem and cursed a fig tree. Much was made of that act when I was growing up. Atheists were making hay that Jesus wasn’t meek and mild and not the loving character that Christians tried to portray. In an act of anger and teenager like fit he curses a tree and it dies. How childish and mean.
Well I don’t agree with the atheist but it is a strange story and one has to wonder, was Jesus just having a bad day? He goes and wants some fruit from the tree. There are leaves on the tree but no fruit and he just gets angry and smacks it and kills it.. really is that it?
The tree happens to be a fig tree. Now I’m not into allegory but the first time we run into a fig tree is in the book of Genesis after Adam and Eve sinned and they’ve run away from God and they sewed together leaves from the fig tree.
An allegorical interpretation is that the fig tree represents “religion” or our ability to cover “our own grievous fault”. Yes we sinned but we feel bad about it, hence the fig leaves. Give us a break. See we feel bad.
Jesus was attacking cheap religion and the hypocrisy of covering egregious sin with fig leaves.
What are you covering for and what is the covering? Unless Jesus is the cover you are doomed.
