Dear Amy,

Certain passages or verses in the Bible are really hard to understand. How should we approach them?

My intention this week was to write about telling a mountain to throw itself into the sea, not doubting. But when I looked into the context, I found that Jesus said it after cursing the fig tree on approaching Jerusalem for the last week of his life. How do we understand that? Let’s think about that first, and I’ll come back to the mountain another time.

The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.

― Mark 11:12-14, 20

How is this reasonable? It was not the season for figs! This seems so harsh. It is certainly hard to understand. What should we do with passages like this?

Firstly, we ought not to anthropomorphize the tree. It was just a tree. It served a purpose, to illustrate a teaching point of Jesus. Nobody suffered in the making of this point. But still!

The worst comment I read about this explained that first fruits appear early, and Jesus would have expected there to be figs for that reason. But Mark would have known that, and would have said, there were no first fruits. That wasn’t the reason given! Let us not second guess the gospel writers. The Lord is responsible for his own reputation, and has no need of our defence, no need of our pitiful attempts to make him look good. Let us not brush aside these difficulties with bogus explanations.

Jesus was about to suffer and die, for the sins of all humanity. This was God’s plan, and it required rejection and brutal treatment of the Son of God by those who should have been fruitful for the Kingdom, but were not. Was the fig tree a symbol of the Jews who rejected Jesus? It was not their season to be fruitful, and they were severely judged. Is this harsh? It is a hard teaching!

We cannot claim perfect understanding of the mysteries of God. But as we grapple, let us do so with intellectual integrity, being faithful to Scripture, and honouring the Lord. And may we continue to love and trust him when the limits of our understanding are exceeded.

Love and trust, Amy, and don’t stop grappling! 🙏