Day 28

"The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then he said to the tree, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again.' And his disciples heard him say it."

Mark 11:12-14

Many of us think of Jesus as a great example of perfection, who never made mistakes and never really acted human. Thinking about Jesus that way makes him less accessible, makes his sacrifice less powerful, and makes it more difficult to see his humanity. Yet Jesus certainly does get angry in this passage, and it's not even rational. The tree is not bearing fruit because it is not the season for figs. There is nothing wrong with this fig tree. It is going through the seasonal stages it is supposed to, but it is just not time for it to produce figs.

But Jesus, in his hunger, doesn't think about this. All he can think about is being hungry, and the fact that the tree doesn't have any fruit for him to eat makes him angry. He curses the tree, which later withers and dies.

I don't think of myself as an angry person, but I definitely do get upset sometimes. Occasionally, I even get upset completely irrationally, like Jesus in this story. Recently, I have been angry about Wes accidentally hurting me, not getting the money I was expecting for seminary, and my house not being as nice as I think it should be. Some of this anger was fair and justified. Some of it made no sense.

Knowing that Jesus got angry, and not necessarily for a good reason, doesn't mean that I should aim for that. It does, however, give me permission to make mistakes and get angry on occasion. Thank goodness I don't have to be perfect!