Dealing with Opposition

Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, [Jesus] was hungry. And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.”
And His disciples heard it . . .
Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.”
So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.

~Mark 11:12–14, 20–24

The vineyard owner said, “Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none . . .”
~Luke 13:7

Jesus and His disciples were making their way down the west slope of the Mount of Olives when our Lord caught sight of a fig tree in the distance. When He approached it, he found “nothing but leaves,” not even the buds that normally precede the mature fruit. The tree was utterly barren. In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And his disciples “heard him.”

What is this? Jesus’ pique seems out of character.

The next day, Jesus and His disciples passed by the fig tree and saw that it had withered away. “Look,” Peter said, “the fig tree has withered.”

“Have faith in God,” was Jesus’ laconic reply. Then He pointed to the temple mount (the demonstrative “this mountain” suggests that conclusion) and spoke of its ultimate removal. Mount Zion and the temple built on its crest was the center of official resistance to Jesus’ work. There was no spiritual fruit there—only hostility. Israel’s leaders even then were plotting His death. Faith, He insisted, is the means by which this “mountain” of resistance would be removed.

What is this, but a lesson in dealing with opposition? How do we meet resistance? Not by bitter engagement, violence, force, fierce debate, and surely not by passivity, but by faith—by prayer, the expression of our utter dependence upon God (vv. 23, 24). We must put our opponents in His hands, put them out of our thoughts, and go about our work. He will deal with them in due time. As Jesus put it on another occasion, “Every plant that my Father has not planted will be rooted up. Leave them alone” (Matthew 15:13, 14).

There is a postscript here: “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him” (vs. 25). We must pray that God will deal with our opponents, and we must forgive them. This is the face that grace turns toward opposition.