The Fig Tree's Lament

Figs I grew aplenty in other years,
To share with many hungry passersby,
But when Christ chose my road before the jeers,
Green leaves promised fruit I could not supply!
He chid* me for failing His hunger slake;
I withered, ashamed my Maker to grieve;
Having no fruit when He wished to partake!
He judged, not for what I couldn't relieve,
But for my nurture of the minor----
My small care for the major things of life!
More stress on fruit would would have been the finer,
And less on what aids not in the strife!
Waste not your plenty on vainglory's pound;
Spend it all on winning the higher ground!

*chid = chided

Jesus lodged in Bethany at the home of His friends----Mary, Martha, and Lazarus----in the last few days of His life. He walked into Jerusalem to the temple each morning, On the second morning a curious incident occurred with a fig tree,

"Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on the tree except leaves. Then he said to it, 'May you never bear fruit again!' Immediately the tree withered." (Matthew 21:18-19)

If this incident is considered out of context, it could be interpreted as a fit of pique by Jesus, who lived a sinless life----anger at a helpless fig tree is certainly a sin in most circumstances. It must be considered in the light of being created by God to provide fruit for mankind; upon this instance it had its one-in-a-million opportunity to be of service to its Maker only to fail. This event took place only a day after the occasion of Martha's conplaint to Jesus about having all the work of preparing supper while her "indolent" sister Mary sat with Jesus in conversation. Jesus rebuked her, saying Mary had chosen the better thing----to be with her Lord while she could. How important is a timely supper when compared to a two-on-one talk with Jesus?