Matthew 21:18-19 New International Version (NIV)
Jesus Curses a Fig Tree
18 Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. 19 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!” Immediately the tree withered. Mon. August 31 - Matthew 21:18-19 The New Testament was originally written in Greek. In these verses Matthew says that Jesus became “hungry.” Another place where that Greek word is used (and the English word in this particular case) is in Matthew 5:6, the famous “Beatitudes” from Jesus’s “Sermon on the Mount.” There Jesus says that those who “hunger”
and thirst for righteousness will be “filled.” When Jesus is “hungry” in this “lived
parable” he is hungry for Jerusalem (represented by the fig tree) to be righteous.
Yet they cannot satisfy his hunger. In the same way, what we do will never satisfy
God’s hunger for righteousness. God will always be “hungry.” As Jesus said, “You
must be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” Yet, Jesus and Jesus alone
satisfies the hunger cravings for righteousness. The “hunger” for righteousness will
not be “filled” by anyone or anything in this world. Everyone and everything that
promises you righteousness will wither away like the cursed fig tree that they are.
Jesus is the only place your “hunger” for righteousness will ever be “filled.” (See
also John 6:35).
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