“I just know one thing, if the creator of the world comes to you and asks you for a fig, you’d better have some–lots of them.”
I’ve been meditating on the Gospel of Mark for the past several months. Getting toward the end, we came to the story (not parable) of Jesus cursing the fig tree. I sort of skipped over that part of the story and went to the explanation. Jesus’ closest friends were shocked to see him exhibit such impatience and pointed out that the fig tree he cursed the day before (May no one ever eat a fig from you again) was now dead all the way to the roots. And that happened overnight.
Driving to Chicago last night, I was listening to the weekend message from Willow Creek Community Church on my iPod. Pastor Wayne Cordeiro from Honolulu was speaking. He cited that passage as one of his examples. He said, I have studied that passage for years. Never could figure it out. Finally I just thought, “If the creator of the world asks you for figs, you’d better have figs.”
A little later in Mark’s story (Chapter 13), Jesus tells his followers to stay awake, be aware of what’s going on around them, be aware of God’s movement in the world and their lives. I bet he was thinking something along the lines of “When I’m gone and you’re the leaders, you’d better have been cultivating figs–and you’d better have plenty. Because you’ll need them. And God’s asking.”
Got any figs?
Tags: Leadership, lifestyle, spirit
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