The miracles of Jesus - Classical Christian Literature by Athleo.net

THE BARREN FIG-TREE 379
II.
We may see in the luxuriant fig-tree an emblem
of some to "whom Jesus comes with a
hungry heart, yet comes in vain.
We read that, " being hungry," He went up to the
fig-tree expecting fruit, and was disappointed at finding
none. He was not without experience of such
disappointment, because He had put limits on His
omniscience, as well as on His miraculous power.
Paul expressed it, " He emptied Himself of His
glory," He shed some of His attributes in order that
He might be truly the Son of Man. From the first
He deliberately put aside out of the range of use for
Himself, the power which He sometimes freely used
for the benefit of others.
As
" He saved others, Himself
He cannot save."
With Jesus, hunger of appetite was easier to bear
than hunger of heart.
Far sadder than on this occasion
was His disappointment in finding no fruits of
righteousness amongst the leaders of God's own
people. They were eminently religious so far as
profession was concerned. Their religious services
were gorgeous, and their observances punctilious, but
there was no Godliness about them. They tithed
every herb in the garden— mint, anise, and cummin
but they omitted the weightier
matters of the law
judgment, mercy, and faith ; and while the ecclesiastics
were hypocritical, the
carnal and worldly.
mass of the people were