Sunday Dec 7 - Matthew 21:18-22

¹⁸Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.
<sup>-Jesus get's hungry too. Kinda neat to see his humanity

19</sup>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.
-Jesus demands service. No tip for you!
-A fig tree that bears no fruit is worthless. It denies itself everything it was created for.
-It kind of looked the part with the leaves, but did not play the part with its fruit.
-Apparently from reading the leaves on the tree indicated it was in season and should have had fruit on it.
-Jesus came to the tree hungry in full expectation to be satisfied by the tree which should be doing its job. Does Jesus look at us the same way in that we should be doing our job of creating fruit?

²⁰When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree wither so quickly?" they asked.
<sup>-Disciples amazed as usual. This particular judgment was quick and swift.
-The question was of "How", a question that asks by what process did this happen because it was very unusual for something like that to happen.

21</sup>Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done.
-Lesson of bearing fruit turns into a lesson of faith.
-Doubt is the killer of faith.
-Moving mountains would be inconceivable comparted to a withering tree. So with faith you can do even greater things.

²²If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
-This is not without qualification from other places in scripture. Other parts essentially require that you ask it in Jesus name, or according to his purpose.
-This is not a license for doing magic stuff. It's more to have faith in God.