Although, according to the letter of history, the cursing of the fig tree, and the presentation of the woman taken in adultery, are believed to have taken place after the entry of our Lord into Jerusalem, when He rode upon an ass ; yet it seems more fitting that we should meditate upon nothing after that event, but His Supper and Passion, and the circumstances of those mysteries, and therefore I have thought it well to deal with the two former subjects in this place.
When, then, our Lord Jesus went towards Jerusalem, and was suffering from hunger, he saw a fig tree,1 beautiful and leafy, in the way. But coming to it, and finding no figs upon it, He cursed it. And immediately it withered away, so that the disciples marvelled. Behold our Lord, then, and His disciples, according to the suggestions which I have before made. Consider, also, that this was a mystical act on the part of our Lord, for He knew that the time of figs was not yet By this tree, full of leaves, we may understand men who have plenty of words but no deeds ; also hypocrites and dissemblers, who, having a fair outside, are inwardly empty and fruitless.
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Footnotes
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S. Malt. xxi. 18 ; S. Mark xi. 20. ↩