In the morning, when he returned to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said, “May no fruit ever come from you again!” and the fig tree withered at once. When the disciples saw it, they were amazed, saying, “how did the fig tree wither at once?”
Jesus said to them, “Have you never read in the scriptures: ‘The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; This was the Lord’s doing, and it is amazing in our eyes’? Therefore I tell you, the Kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people that produces the fruits of the Kingdom.” When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard his parables, they realized that he was speaking about them. They wanted to arrest him, but they feared the crowds, because they regarded him as a prophet.
Matthew 21: 18 – 20, and 42 – 43, 45-46
Jesus was angry with the corrupt leaders who perverted the faith to control the people, and to get rich off ”religion”. The ones who saw Jesus as a threat were correct – Jesus did come to take away their power. He came to establish a New Covenant, one that Isaiah prophesied (Is 49:6) – Jesus was sent by the Father to be the “light to the nations, that my salvation would reach to the ends of the earth.” Jesus expects this New Covenant to bear fruit for the Kingdom of God. We are that fruit. We too are called to bear fruit for His Kingdom. Bearing fruit all begins with loving God, with all our heart and soul, with all our being. Jesus said, “I am the vine, you are the branches.” We are the vineyard in which God grows the fruit of the Kingdom. He must prune us, and train us, as a vinedresser must prune a grapevine, and direct its growth. Let us ask Him to do so, even as we contemplate this week His willingness to save us through His suffering.
Let us pray with St. Gregory:
Blessed, blessed, and blessed again!
Having accepted me by that same faith raise me up from my fallen state,
doer of good, cure me of disease, merciful, for I am yours, my refuge.
Grant the breath of life to the body of the dead, O resurrection, life, immortality,
and inexhaustible joy, boundless grace, unwavering forgiveness,
you have only to wish it, Lord, and I shall be saved,
only to think it, and by your mercy shall I be justified.
Say the word, and I will be found spotless.
Forget my wrongs, and I shall venture to emerge.
Cultivate me and I shall cleave to you,
you who are glorified in all things forever.
Amen.
Prayer 42 B
