The Power Jesus didn’t Use

Only For Good

Jesus, with the power of life and death on His tongue, only spoke life. (M.H. Puccini)

Jesus Spoke Life

There’s a verse in  Proverbs I’ve been chewing on. I know the teaching attached to it, but I’ve had some reservations about the more outlandish claims. But last week, I started thinking how Jesus lived out this verse.

The tongue has the power of life and death,
and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21 NIV)

Jesus, had God’s miraculous power flowing thru Him, but He only spoke life with His mouth.

• He spoke words of healing
• Taught clearly who God the Father truly is.
• Cast out demons from soul-damaged people.
• Challenged the Pharisees from the Scriptures.
• Exposed Hypocrisy.

The one power of the tongue He didn’t use? He didn’t curse anyone. This is more important than you think. Jesus always spoke life. Even when the Lord was angriest at the religious leaders, He never cursed them.

Did our Savior call the religious elite “white-washed tombs?” Yes He did. But His purpose was to pierce their pride and over-inflated egos so they could be saved and redeemed, and some Pharisees were.

There’s only one thing Jesus ever cursed in the gospels and that’s the fig tree.

Cursing the Fig Tree

¹⁸ Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. ¹⁹ 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.

²⁰ When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. “How did the fig tree wither so quickly?” they asked.

²¹ Jesus replied, “Truly I tell you, 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. ²² If you believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer.” (Matthew 21:18-22 NIV)

Why would the Fig Tree have no Fruit?

There are several reasons why fig trees fail to produce fruit.

• Lack of Sunlight – Fig trees need a lot of direct sunlight, in a warm climate, in order to thrive.
• The Tree is Immature – A young tree focuses on creating it’s root system. Generally fig trees don’t produce fruit until they are 2 to 3 years old,
• Pruning in the Wrong Season – Fig trees produce fruit on the current season’s growth. The gardener might cut off developing fruit buds if he or she prunes at the wrong time of year.
• Too Much Nitrogen –  When a fig tree receives too much nitrogen, it produces lush leaves, but no fruit at all.
• Lack of Pollination – For some varieties of tree, a specific fig wasp acts as the pollinator. If it’s not pollinated, immature figs appear, but drop off the branch before ripening.  So if the wasp doesn’t exist within the environment, the gardener has only two choices; hand-pollinate or plant a variety of fig tree which fertilizes itself.

I don’t think Jesus is ever unreasonable. Neither is the Lord impulsive or quick to anger. Also , there’s the Lord’s words in John 5:

¹⁹ Jesus gave them this answer: “Very truly I tell you, the Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing, because whatever the Father does the Son also does. (John 5:19 NIV)

The curse of the fig tree was not accidental.; instead, it was part of the Father’s plan.

My Spiritual Point

The fig tree immediately withered by divine power, but there’s something interesting in the disciples’ reaction here. Jesus showed His words had the power of instant death. Yet none of His followers became fearful.

It never occurred to them. Because they knew Jesus so well.

We need to bless people continually with our words. Maybe with a sincere compliment. Or a word of encouragement. Or an offer to stop and pray about what troubles them.

Like Jesus, we need to offer life.

These images came from Pixabay.com.