BETHANY (2)

LIBERTY AND LOVE #95

If you go on with the story of Martha and Mary, you will see that Martha became irritated with her sister because Martha was doing the work of the house, while Mary was content to sit at the feet of the Lord and enjoy his presence. And the Lord commended Mary, but gently rebuked Martha. This should teach us that the thing that pleases the Lord is not primarily work; it is first and foremost fellowship. The church that does not fellowship with Jesus, but instead focuses on “working for Jesus,” will be working for the devil. Fellowship with Christ is the mission of the church. Remember Bethany was near Jerusalem, the center of works and religion. But Jesus desired Bethany and not Jerusalem.

That is the situation we find in Matthew 21. Jesus is moving between Jerusalem and Bethany. And when he has been to Jerusalem and seen what was going on in the Temple, and the ways in which the religious leaders were corrupting God’s plan and purpose for his people, he takes action, and then leaves. Back in Bethany, he sees a fig tree. He is hungry, but what happens provides occasion for him to make a very strong and important point.

The fig tree had a curse pronounced upon it when Jesus said, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again...” Jesus was hungry, but there was no food to be found on the tree; therefore, He condemned the tree. Did Jesus really get angry with the fig tree? No, this was a lesson about the state of the religious leaders of Judaism. The Jewish religious leaders should have been bearing fruit for God; they had been appointed by God to be a light to the nations around them, but had failed over and over to do that which God called them to do. Now it had come down to the time of the showdown.

The fig tree was a picture of those leaders. The fact that he came to the Temple and found the religious leaders had turned the house of prayer into a den of thieves was symbolized by his coming to the fig tree. In neither instance did he find what he sought. He comes to the Temple and does not find the things of God. He comes to the fig tree and finds no figs. No fruit would grow on the tree forever; and the same curse was placed on the Levitical religion. It was cursed to bear no more fruit for God forever.

This is when he goes to Bethany. It is interesting that Bethany means, “House of Figs.” Satisfaction for Jesus was not in the cold, lifeless, external forms of religion that he found in Jerusalem, but it was in the affectionate atmosphere of Bethany.

What kind of relationship do you want to have with the Lord Jesus? One based on external commands to a perceived law code or one of spontaneous love and adoration? It will be the difference between a relationship that pleases him and one that does not.