I swear I could listen to Mary Margaret O'Hara for hours - except she doesn't have hours of song. http://ping.fm/a8FdX

Jesus and the fig tree(s)

Matthew: "In the morning, as he was returning to the city, he was hungry. And seeing a fig tree by the wayside he went to it, and found nothing on it but leaves only. And he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once."

Did Jesus kill the fig tree? Or was it sick in the first place? Persistence of sin until death works like this: death is the result. Why does God allow us to persist in sin?

Luke: "And he told this parable: "A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard; and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, `Lo, these three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down; why should it use up the ground?' And he answered him, `Let it alone, sir, this year also, till I dig about it and put on manure. And if it bears fruit next year, well and good; but if not, you can cut it down.'"

Merciful God pours out his very graces on even sinners (not that all grace is, strictly speaking, pleasant!), in the hopes of getting them to live again.

Mark: "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."

In season, and out of season, He expects us to bear fruit.

Luke: "And he told them a parable: "Look at the fig tree, and all the trees; as soon as they come out in leaf, you see for yourselves and know that the summer is already near. So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that the kingdom of God is near."

The flowering fig tree is a sign of life. The barren fig tree is a sign of death. Jesus, flowering after He died, shows true life - and definitely the most 'out of season' you can be: after the grave.

Matthew: "When the disciples saw it they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither at once?" And Jesus answered them, "Truly, I say to you, if you have faith and never doubt, you will not only do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, `Be taken up and cast into the sea,' it will be done. And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith.""

So, living faith is the sign of divine life: living faith doesn't start with us, but it starts with God. Doubt (that is, the rejection of the gift of Faith, not merely intellectual questioning) is the sign of death, and it is subject to judgment and death.

Evidently, the shortest joke in the world: "Venison's dear, isn't it?"