Main news for 17 February 2019

The Gospel story-parable about the withered fig tree begins by mentioning that Jesus, after leaving Bethany, felt hunger. There is, of course, nothing surprising in this: human nature is human nature; it has its needs. But in the Messiah's life everything was not so simple, even when speaking of His earthly path. The God-man possesses His human nature absolutely; for Him a situation in which He yields to His human nature out of weakness is excluded in principle.

Hunger and thirst in this case are not forced necessity, but the consequence of a conscious choice. Approaching the fig tree, Jesus offers it the chance to satisfy His hunger. At first glance this can appear strange. But He Himself said that any participation in His life makes the participant part of the Kingdom He brought into the world. If this is true with respect to people, then one can think it true with respect to the rest of creation as well. Of course, participation will be different in each case, but this does not change the essence of the matter.

For the fig tree, giving its fruit to the Messiah is the same chance to participate in the life of the Kingdom as accepting the Messiah into one's home is for a person. Of course, a tree is not a human being; it cannot understand the situation in a human way and make a choice or decision in a human way. A tree is limited by the natural laws God has established for it. But sometimes these laws can work differently. For example, when the Kingdom is near. And sometimes they do not work differently; this depends on many causes. But if they do not work differently, then the Kingdom passes by. With all the consequences that follow.