The Triumphal Entry happened on Monday. The cursing of the fig tree took place on Tuesday, and the disciples' mention of its withering followed on Wednesday (cf. Mark 11:1-14).780
21:18-19 Jesus passed the lone fig tree somewhere between Bethany and Jerusalem.
"Fig leaves appear about the same time as the fruit or a little after [in April]. The green figs are edible, though sufficiently disagreeable as not usually to be eaten till June. Thus the leaves normally point to every prospect of fruit, even if not fully ripe. Sometimes, however, the green figs fall off and leave nothing but leaves."781
The leaves on this tree suggested that it was bearing fruit, but it was not. Jesus saw an opportunity to teach His disciples an important truth using this tree as an object lesson. He cursed the tree to teach them the lesson, not because it failed to produce fruit.
Most interpreters of this pericope have seen Jesus' cursing of the fig tree as closely related to the context, namely the cleansing of the temple and Jesus' denunciation of Israel's leaders. Many see the fig tree as a symbol of the whole nation of Israel not bearing the fruit of repentance.782The problem with this view is that Jesus did not abandon Israel forever for rejecting Him (Rom. 11). A similar view takes the fig tree as representing the generation of Jews who rejected Jesus.783God would judge them by withholding the kingdom from them. This is the best view from my viewpoint. A third view is that the fig tree illustrates a segment within Jesus' generation of Jews, namely the hypocrites within the nation who made a show of bearing fruit but did not (cf. 6:2, 5, 16; 7:5; 15:7; 22:18; 23:1-39).784They were barren spiritually. These were the temple merchants and the chief priests and scribes but not the children or the blind and the lame. However, Jesus cursed the whole tree and nation, not just the parts in it that proved unfruitful.
The idea that Jesus cursed a helpless fig tree for no fault of its own has bothered some people. However, Jesus also cast demons out of people and into pigs that drowned in the sea (8:28-34). This really demonstrates Jesus' compassion for people as distinct from the animal and vegetable forms of life. Humankind was God's special creation, and Jesus' recognition of this superior form of life shows that He did not regard all life as equally valuable. In the destruction of the swine Jesus warned people of Satan's destructive power. In the cursing of the fig tree He warned them of God's judgment for unbelief.
"One of the Old Testament images of God's judgment on Israel was the picture of the land being unable to bear figs (Jer. 8:13; Mic. 7:1-6)."785
21:20-22 Mark separated the cursing of the tree and the disciples' discovery that it had withered by one day (Mark 11:13, 20). Matthew simply combined both events into one story without saying anything that would make Mark's account incompatible.
Jesus' response has led some commentators to conclude that what He was teaching with the cursing of the fig tree was simply the importance of faith, not God's judgment on Israel.786However this seems unlikely to me in view of the preceding context and the symbolism of the fig tree. It seems to me that Jesus was teaching both lessons. The disciples' amazement that the fig tree had withered so quickly led Jesus to comment on that lesson but not on the other. He used the miracle to teach them a lesson on the power of believing prayer.
Jesus had exercised faith in God when He cursed the tree. God had rewarded Jesus' trust by killing the tree. Jesus pointed out that trust in God can have amazing consequences. The hyperbolic figure of casting a mountain into the sea was one that Jesus had used before to illustrate the power of faith (17:20). There His point was that even a little faith can accomplish great feats. Here His point was that His disciples should believe God rather than disbelieve Him. The disciples had been observing many doubters in those who did not believe that Jesus was the Messiah in spite of the evidence that God had given them. They themselves had struggled with doubt. Jesus was urging them to have full confidence in Him as the Messiah with the promise that that kind of faith can accomplish supernatural feats (cf. Acts 3:6-7).
". . . belief in the NT is never reduced to forcing oneself to believe' what he does not really believe. Instead, it is related to genuine trust in God and obedience to and discernment of his will . . ."787
Jesus may have been teaching a deeper lesson with His reference to the mountain cast into the sea. A mountain in the Bible sometimes stands for a kingdom (Ps. 30:7; Isa. 2:2; 41:15; Jer. 51:25; Dan. 2:35, 44; cf. Rev. 8:8; 16:20; 17:9). The sea likewise has the metaphorical meaning of the Gentile nations (Deut. 33:19; Ps. 72:8; 114:3, 5; Isa. 11:11; 60:5). Perhaps with this illustration Jesus was anticipating the coming of His kingdom that would destroy Gentile world dominion (cf. 6:10).
Verse 22 assumes what Jesus taught elsewhere about prayer, namely that God will grant the petitions of His people when they are in harmony with His will (6:9-13; 7:7-11; cf. John 14:13-14; 15:16; 16:23-24; 1 John 5:14-15). His point was that when we pray we should believe that God can do anything we request and that He will do what is consistent with His will and what He has promised to do.
