Sermon Tone Analysis
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Introduction
So, I’m an amateur landscaper.
It’s something I really enjoy.
It clears my head, and gives me an excuse to get outside.
But, what I really love is to watch beautiful things come to life.
It’s an amazing concept to me that you can plant these ugly little bulbs or plugs or whatever, and in a few short weeks, with the right care, they will bloom into vibrant colors that can be arranged.
And so, landscaping is one of things that I pay attention to when I go places.
And, here’s what I’ve found out over the years as a pastor who has made a number of house calls to collapsing families: a lot of the time beautiful landscaping is a facade that hides a wrecked house.
Several year ago when I was a youth pastor, I was asked to go and visit and teenage girl who was in the throes of rebellion.
She was running away from home, and basically would run off with any guy who had a car.
She was self-harming, and her parents’ marriage was in shambles.
Someone had given this family my number as a type of hail mary attempt at bringing hope to the family.
Driving to her house that day, I came to a gated community.
On the other side of the gate, once I had arrived at her house, I saw one of the most pristine homes I had ever seen.
I remember stopping in the driveway of her home, taking it all in, thinking of how clear an example this was of how many people are attempting to live their lives.
Pristine, beautiful exterior hiding a wrecked life.
And, this is what Jesus found to be the case in Jerusalem and at the Temple.
To drive that home, He would use an illustration that none of his disciples would ever forget.
God’s Word
Read
A Strange Scene
“he became hungry” This is a strange scene if we’re honest about it.
So, Matthew tells this story quickly, giving us the most important details, which makes it a little difficult for us to get the timeline straight.
But, we’re able to see from that this happened over a 24 hour period.
This begins the morning before Jesus flips the tables in the temple an concludes the following morning.
In fact, at the end of verse 19 and in verse 20 where it says ‘at once’ it might be easier to understand as ‘quickly.’
It doesn’t necessarily mean in a second.
But, very, very quickly, and obviously from a horticultural standpoint, this all happens very fast.
So, Jesus wakes, and he’s hungry.
Jesus had traveled quite a long distance and would have had limited provisions; so, it makes sense that He would have found himself to be very hungry.
Being hungry, Jesus sees a fig tree filled with leaves.
Now, that, in and of itself, caused that particular tree to stand out.
There were numerous trees located around Judah, but as Mark notes, it’s not the season for figs in late March, early April, and so most fig trees are still dormant, or perhaps just beginning to sprout their earliest leaves.
But, there were a variety of fig trees in Palestine, and some of them would sprout early, and when a tree had leaves as this one did, it was a clear indicator that it had fruit.
So, you can imagine Jesus’ disappointment when He arrives at the tree to realize that there are no figs on the tree.
It's like when you're on the interstate late at night, and you're just famished, and you see at Cook Out on one of those Green Signs, and so you exit, just to find it closed.
So, Jesus curses the barren tree.
He goes straight up Harvey Updike on it.
Jesus speaks against the tree, and within a day, it’s dead and will clearly bear fruit no more.
This is the only time we see in the Gospels Jesus perform a miracle to curse.
So, Jesus wakes, and he’s hungry.
Jesus had traveled quite a long distance and would have had limited provisions; so, it makes sense that He would have found himself to be very hungry.
Strange, but Intentional
“May no fruit ever come from you again!” But, as strange as this scene is, it’s intentional.
You know, some people have pointed to this story about Jesus and said, “See, Jesus had a flawed character!
He threw a hissy fit over not getting some figs He wanted.”
But, my goodness, that is to miss the point of what Jesus was saying and what Matthew was trying to get across to his audience.
You see, the NT shows Jesus to be the great Prophet that was to come.
had long promised that Prophet even greater than Moses would come, that is the Messiah would come, He would speak as God with the Authority of God, and that is exactly what Jesus was doing here.
Jesus wasn’t throwing a hissy fit; He was speaking prophetically and authoritatively.
Prophets often did things that appeared out of character for purpose of vividly illustrating the power of what God was saying.
Hosea married an unfaithful woman and remained faithful to her.
Ezekiel cooked his meals over dung!
Condemnation of the Hypocrites
“no first-ripe fig my heart desires” You see, prophets didn’t just teach in parables; they lived them out, and that’s exactly what we’re seeing here.
The Prophet Micah had said in that when the Messiah came that He would not find a ripe fig among the house of the Lord.
That is, godliness would have disappeared.
You see, in the fig tree, Jesus is giving a commentary on the worship of God among the people of God in the Temple of God.
In the cursing of the fig tree, He is declaring a final judgement upon the Temple.
The tree looked fruitful.
It appeared impressive.
From a distance, it seemed as though it was everything one could want.
But, the truth was far different.
It gave the appearance of fruitfulness, but no real fruit.
It promised, but did not fulfill.
It was impressive from the outside but revealed to be pointless to meet anyone’s actual need and to serve any real purpose.
This is what Jesus saw in the Temple.
This was the hypocrisy that He was condemning.
They had a form of religion, but they didn’t have the real thing.
They had leaves of the gospel, but no fruit.
They had the law, but they didn’t have love and grace.
They had their rituals, but they had humility.
They had their sacrifices, but they had no mercy.
Jesus Still Judges Hypocrisy
APPLICATION: But, brothers and sisters, what we must realize is that Jesus still judges religious hypocrisy today.
Jesus is just as repulsed in our day by those who give the appearance of godliness on the outside without any love for him on the inside.
Lig Duncan says it like this: “Hypocrisy happens when a person cares more about what other people think about them than what God thinks about them.
A hypocrite is is more concerned with the loss of their reputation than they are the loss of their souls.
The are more concerned with prestige than with character.”
What about you?
Last Sunday night, I had a small group in my home, and I asked what they thought would cause Jesus to flip over the tables in our church, and somebody said, “Hypocrisy.”
And, brothers and sisters, that’s true.
The Temple Will Be Obsolete
It was for their hypocrisy that Jesus condemned the Temple.
The failure of the Temple shows the need for a greater Temple.
If you can't trust the priests and the experts in the law, who can you trust?
If the Temple is corrupt, who and what doesn't know corruption?
The Temple is yet another example how far short man-made goodness falls of the holiness of God..
It shows us how badly we need Christ.
And so, on Monday, Christ would curse the fig tree, and by Sunday, He would render the Temple obsolete.
On Monday, He flipped the tables.
On Sunday, He would tear the veil.
He had comes to mediate between God and man so personally that He would make so that the very Spirit of God could come to live within the heart of sinful man, and sinful man could survive it!
Because Christ was with him!
There was no longer a curtain!
There was a new Temple, and that Temple was Christ, and He would indwell every, single one of his people so that they would be Temples of his Spirit.
The Stunned Disciples
“When the disciples saw it, they marveled” So, Jesus curses the fig tree, they go to the Temple, where they must’ve spent a considerable amount of time, Jesus flips the tables, and the day has passed.
The next morning comes rolling around, and they’re likely going from the same house in the same direction once again when the disciples see the tree that Jesus had spoken against the day before.
Perhaps, it had not all registered with them the morning before, but it’s registering now.
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