Meant To Bear Fruit
There is nothing more cosmically tragic than being made for a Reason and never actually discovering what that Reason is.
"Well, THAT was unexpected!" I remember saying this when I and my friends went to a particular movie together years ago. We thought this was going to be a comedy, but it turned out to be quite an inappropriate drama. We all decided to leave when we realized we weren't going to have the experience we expected.
That's what happens when you're disappointed. You end up having to confront the absence of what you expected to be there. You expect to get good customer service when you shop. You expect your problem to be dealt with when you go to the DMV to get your license. You expect to be taken seriously when you share your deeply held beliefs. And then your expectations aren't met. It's enough to make you angry or disappointed or even lose faith.
Of course, we have the added challenge to discern if our expectations are reasonable. But that isn't the case with the Son of God in His earthly ministry. He created the world to fulfill His expectations for His creation and entered the world that had fallen from that lofty expectation!
And what is the Lord’s expectation for His Creation? Nothing that will benefit Him, but everything that will benefit us! He expects to be in loving communion with us, and all for our benefit!
Look at our lesson today in Mark 11:11-23:
At that time, Jesus entered Jerusalem, and went into the temple; and when he had looked round at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve.
On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.
And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons, and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. And he taught, and said to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and sought a way to destroy him; for they feared him, because all the multitude was astonished at his teaching. And when evening came they went out of the city.
As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which you cursed has withered." And Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him."
The story is very familiar to us. The Lord is hungry so He naturally goes to a fig tree to get some figs. After all, that's the purpose of a fig tree; to produce figs. The Lord's expectation was dashed to disappointment when the fig tree produced no fruit. The Lord then says "May no one ever eat fruit from you again."
Then the story shifts to the Lord going to the Temple in Jerusalem and finding that some had set up a bazaar in the Court of the Gentiles, a place intended to be a spot on the Temple grounds where even non-Jews could get to know the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. But the place was reduced to a noisy shopping center where prayer was the last thing on anybody's mind. Jesus then cleans house and reminds these folks that His Father's House was intended to be a House of Prayer! The Temple wasn't producing the "fruit" of its intended purpose!
Of course, the leaders in the Temple were furious with Jesus and sought to kill Him because they feared Him. And they were right to fear Him. He was the end of their theft of the true purpose of the Faith and the Temple.
The final scene from this story is powerful. The disciples notice when they pass the fig tree the next day that it has withered and died. What a powerful testimony of the only result possible when the purpose of existence is forgotten or abandoned or, worse yet, known and rejected!
St Martinianos the Righteous spent his whole life in the ascetic struggle to understand and live out the reason for his existence. His purpose wasn’t to be rich or educated or dominate others. His purpose was to value his eternal life. He forsook everything that threatened to lead him to accept something smaller for his reason for living. Upon hearing of his virtuous life, a local woman who was a harlot determined to tempt Martinianos to abandon his virtue. She stood outside his cell during a rain storm, claiming to be lost and fearful of remaining outside where the beasts could attack her. Moved with compassion, the holy man allowed her to come in, and she immediately tried to seduce him. Knowing WHY he existed and not wanting to abandon his true purpose, St. Martinianos preferred being burned with real fire rather than succumbing to the fire of desire. He stepped into the flames of a fire in his hut and suffered physical burns while the woman, suddenly awakened to her sin and moved by the dedication of the saint listened to his counsel and went to live with a local nun in repentance for the rest of her life. St. Martinianos was so convinced of his eternal purpose he found that more valuable than his physical comfort.
Today, you were made for a Purpose. Your life was created and given to you to produce the "fruit" of the Spirit. When we foolishly ignore or, worse yet, live unaware of our purpose, our lives wither, not having the power of our purpose to fill us with the Life of the Spirit. You were created to become by grace what Christ is by nature. That's the only way for your life to produce the fruit by living a Normal Orthodox life!
P.S. You quenched the flame of temptation with the streams of your tears, O blessed Martinianos, and having checked the waves of the sea and the attacks of wild beasts, you cried out: Most glorious are You, O Almighty One, Who has saved me from fire and tempest.
