In the morning, as Jesus was returning to the city, He was hungry.Now in the morning, as he returned to the city, he was hungry.Now in the morning as he returned into the city, he hungered.Now in the morning as he returned to the city, he hungered.
3 sermons cite this verse
… And this is what we read. Early in the morning as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry. He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, you'll never again bear fruit. And the fig tree dried up at once. Now, I want to just pause and recognize most of us when we read that story, we feel sorry for the fig tree. I mean, I do. I read it like, wow, that's just so out of character for Jesus. he's really ticked off because he's hungry, and the fig tree doesn't have any fruit on it. By the way, one thing to know about fig trees, this fig tree had leaves but no fruit. So, fig trees produce fruit first, and then the leaves come. So, when you find a fig tree with leaves but no fruit, there's something wrong with that particular tree. That's not how it's supposed to happen. And so, Jesus comes to the tree, he's hungry, and it would have been green, kind of nasty tasting figs anyway, but you know, he's looking at it and there's nothing there to eat. So he curses the fig tree. Now the disciples don't get the point. They are surprised that the fig tree withered so fast. They say, how could this happen? How did you, how did you, you know, curse the fig tree and it died instantly? They totally missed the point. But then Jesus goes on …
… to Jerusalem, on his way to the temple from Bethany, where he'd spent the night. And this is what we read. Early in the morning, as Jesus was returning to the city, he was hungry. He saw a fig tree along the road, but when he came to it, he found nothing except leaves. Then he said to it, you'll never again bear fruit. And the fig tree dried up at once. Now, I want to just pause and recognize most of us when we read that story, we feel sorry for the fig tree. I mean, I do. I read like, wow, that's just so out of character for Jesus. He's really ticked off because he's hungry. and the fig tree doesn't have any fruit on it. By the way, one thing to know about fig trees, this fig tree had leaves but no fruit. So fig trees produce fruit first and then the leaves come. So when you find a fig tree with leaves but no fruit, there's something wrong with that particular tree. …
The New International Version of verse 18 and 19 of chapter 21 of Matthew reads, Early in the morning as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, May you never bear fruit again. and immediately the tree withered. That's enough right there. Do me a favor. Share the subject of the sermon with your neighbor. Tell him, neighbor. Oh, neighbor. Oh, neighbor. Show me the money. Show me the money. You may be seated in the presence of the Lord. Show me the money. Anyone who reads all four Gospels, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, when you take a step back and look at Jesus, you'll find out that Jesus does some really strange things. Jesus acts in some peculiar ways. Jesus does things that really leave us scratching our head, wondering what lesson he was trying to teach. Whenever you see Jesus doing something strange, I would argue with you that there's always a powerful lesson about God in that strange act. …