The story of the fig tree in Mark 11 has always bothered me. Why would Jesus curse a tree for not bearing fruit when it wasn’t the season for bearing fruit? It seems out of character for him. Agnostic socialists like Bertrand Russell have used it as an example of how Jesus is just a fictional character. Maybe reading it in Greek has given me a different perspective.
I’m not sure that Jesus actually “cursed” the tree at all. “Cursed” is the language used by Peter to describe the outcome, but the text of what Jesus said is literally: “No longer in the ages no one fruit from you eat.” This is translated “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” because the verb for “to eat” is in the Optative mood. This mood is rarely found in the Bible. In the context of this sentence it could have one of two uses: 1) To express a wish for the future, or 2) To talk about a hypothetical future situation. The “May” could then be translated: “I hope no one eats your fruit again.” Or “What would happen if no one eats your fruit again?”
If Mark had wanted to express Jesus’s words as an outright curse he could have used the Imperative mood instead. “Let no one ever eat your fruit again!”
I’m sure better scholars than me have been over this ground before and rejected my potential translations but I prefer to believe that Jesus didn’t kill a fig tree just to illustrate a point about the Jewish nation or to demonstrate the power of faith.
I think the fig tree died of embarrassment. After having disappointed the Creator of the Universe, the tree withered. Missing out on the opportunity to satisfy the hunger of the Son of God, it saw no further purpose for existence. The tree lost faith in its ability to do what fig trees are meant to do, so the roots just stopped drawing water from the soil.
Later when Jesus answered Peter’s comment about the tree being cursed he didn’t say, “Verily, you too can curse the unfruitful.” He said, “Have faith in God.” Then he went on to explain that God will grant any desire that is expressed in prayerful faith.
Psalm 37 says, “Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” The Hebrew word here comes from a root which means “to be soft or pliable.” If we are truly delighted in the Lord our desires will be in complete alignment with the desires of God.
So then when our desires are not forthcoming it means that we have the wrong desires no matter how much they seem to be right given our limited human understanding.
