I learned this story in Matthew 21:12-22 early in life. "Faith can move mountains," I was assured. My friends and I worked on this, sometimes together and sometimes by ourselves--thinking it was the "other's faith" holding us back. But we never moved a mountain or even a fork. We tried hard to move a fork.
It's always an interesting exercise to bring a perspective to a text. You tend to read with different eyes and that happened again when I read with "trust" in mind. I watch Jesus slam into the temple authorities by driving out the buyers and sellers--and probably the kickbacks that allowed them to set up in the temple in the first place. So the sacrifices get disrupted while Jesus heals the blind and the lame who came to him inside the temple. Several rules broken by this time...pissed temple authorities. We hear nothing from the disciples. Maybe they are watching, but maybe they've seen enough healing that they are wondering what's for dinner and how they might celebrate Passover.
Jesus goes outside the city for the night, to Bethany. The next morning he returns to Jerusalem, traveling hungry (perhaps the disciples never actually got around to providing dinner--Chipotle wasn't around as a fall back.) Jesus sees a fig tree, but when it has no fruit, he is angry and curses it. It withers.
Now he has the attention of the disciples. Now they are watching what he is doing. Now they want to know the trick.
Not the blind and lame...but the fig tree...now that's a cool talent.
This morning I have to wonder if Jesus was serious about faith moving mountains. I think perhaps pure snark was pouring from his mouth. And I wonder what would have happened if the disciples had joined in the important work of inclusion, healing, and praising in the temple the day before.
I wonder how much more time I would have spent helping my friends rather than moving forks if I had trusted in the right thing...
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