Lessons From the Road to Calvary预览

Did you know that about one-third of the Gospels covers the final week of Jesus’ earthly life? Half of John, nearly two-fifths of Mark, a third of Matthew, and a quarter of Luke are devoted to Passion week, the Resurrection, and the days that led to the Ascension.

In aviation, there is a term to describe a plane lined up and ready to land: we say that it is on “final approach.” I like to think of this last week of Jesus’ life as His “final approach.” During this week, He would spend His days in and around Jerusalem, and at night retire to the Mount of Olives or nearby Bethany. We can draw some important lessons from several events during this final road to the cross.

In Mark 11:12–13, Jesus and His disciples were returning to Jerusalem after spending a restful night in the nearby town of Bethany. After walking nearly two miles, they would have naturally been hungry. Jesus, seeing a fig tree full of leaves, went to see if there were figs.

Jesus had previously performed miracles where He multiplied food, so in this case, He could have spoken or snapped His fingers and caused figs to appear all over the tree. However, He had a lesson to teach to His disciples and us.

This tree was full of promise and potential. It appeared that it would be primed for fruit. However, it was all leaves and no figs — all expectations and no satisfaction. This led to Jesus pronouncing a curse on the tree in Mark 11:14. Why would He do this?

The lesson for us is that there is a danger in not being fruitful. This area of fruitfulness is something that we must examine in our lives. There was an expectation that the fig tree would be fruitful, yet it was not. If we have put our trust in Christ as our Savior, we are secure forever. But Jesus has an expectation that we bear …much fruit. (John 15:5–8)

The second lesson is that there is a danger of giving the false appearance of fruitfulness. The fig tree gave the appearance that it had fruit, but it really had none. Christian, we can fall into this trap of pretending we are so busy for the Lord while, in fact, we are doing nothing for Him.

How do we avoid these pitfalls? It is quite simple: stay close to Jesus Christ every day. If we do that, we will not only bear fruit, but we will also bear much fruit.

Lesson: Are there areas of your life that God wants to prune? Could you be more fruitful? Are there faulty appearances of fruitfulness in your life? Ask God to help you to bear more fruit and glorify Him with your life.