Mark 11:20-26 (NIV): In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
“Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And when you stand praying, if you hold anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your sins.
Even though the disciples had no idea of the real meaning of Jesus cursing the fig tree, they could clearly see the results. In less than 24 hours, the tree had completely withered – dried up from the roots.
Then, as now, people frequently delivered curses on everything from obnoxious neighbors, to misbehaving children, to stubborn donkeys. But those were figurative in the minds of most people. They never really expected the curse to DO anything! But Jesus had cursed this tree, and now, the next morning, the tree was absolutely dead.
Jesus pointed out that the secret was not in magic, or some mysterious power, but simply faith in God. Many people try to define faith as a belief that originates in themselves. They take Jesus’ words, “whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours,” as meaning that if they can make themselves believe strongly enough that they have something, that God will be forced to give it to them. But that interpretation completely ignores Jesus’ first words: “Have faith in God!”
The truth is that Jesus never did anything on His own (cf. John 5:19). He was constantly listening to God’s voice, and continually obeying everything that the Father told Him to do. If Jesus healed someone, it was because God told Him to do it. When He spoke to the people, it was the very words of God that He spoke. And when Jesus cursed the fig tree, it was the Father’s idea to do it.
The faith part for Jesus came into play when He obeyed what the Father told Him to do. If the Father told Him to heal a blind man by spitting on the ground, making mud out of the spit and dirt, and then putting that mud on the blind man’s eyes (John 9:6-7), He could have thought, “That’s a really weird way of doing things. I’ve never done it that way before. What if I do this and it doesn’t work?” And nothing would have happened, because He didn’t have faith enough to just do what the Father had told Him to do, exactly the way He was told to do it.
But Jesus NEVER responded that way. Whatever the Father told Him to do, no matter how improbable it seemed, no matter how strange the methodology that He chose, He always instantly obeyed to the letter. His faith was perfect, because He never second guessed, never wondered if God could actually do what He promised. He obeyed completely, believing that what God had told Him to do was a done deal. And miracles happened!
Of course there are a couple of things that will stop the process cold, because they put a separation between a person and God: unforgiven sin in us, and unforgiveness of people’s sins against us. And these two are closely interrelated. Jesus cautioned His disciples to never let a sin against us go unforgiven, because it will prevent our own sins from being forgiven (cf. Matthew 6:14-15, 5:23-24). That will cut us off from hearing God’s voice clearly. Which means that we won’t be able to hear what He wants us to do. Which means that we won’t be able to exercise dynamic faith in His ability to do what He has told us He wants to do. Which means no miracle.
Father, it is good to be reminded that the real secret to miracles is that they originate in Your own heart. And our faith even originates in You too! When you give us command, even a command to do something miraculous, we can rest assured that You are right there enabling it, if we will only respond in faith, and obey. Amen.