Nougat 4

While chatting with another pastor friend this past week, she casually mentioned that she was making mango juice. I was quick to reprimand her for rubbing in the fact that I’m not home for the mango season; but she advised the season is done. Rather, she was fixing juice from frozen mangoes she had.

Finding fresh fruit in season can sometimes be a challenge, and many of us learn to ‘make do’ with what I call fluxy fruit. Todays Holy Nougat invites us to think about fruitfulness – not the kind that we eat per se – and how God sees our fruitfulness in and out of season.

Mark 11:13-14 NIV

[13] 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.

[14] Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.

counterfeit Consistent

In one sense, it had nothing to do with fruits on the fig tree. It wasn’t that time of year. But then, the tree was sending mixed signals. Leaves … fig season. Thus figs in bud. No leaves … out of season. Except that particular tree was not in bud, despite having leaves on the tree.

I’ve reflected on this with you all before, but something else struck me: the fruit-bearing process of the fig is different from other fruits. For what we eat is actually the flowering part, not a fruit in the real sense of plants and trees.

As an inverted flower, figs actually carry pollen. For those inverted flowers to pollinate, they rely on fig wasps to enter the flower (like bees do with regular flowers), and prepare to hatch larvae. Each journey from one fig ‘fruit’ to another allows for pollination (i.e., from the fruit in which it hatched to the fruit in which it), and thus the fig depended on the wasps inasmuch as the wasps needed the figs. This is a time-consuming process.

This suggests that when the leaves indicate that figs are ready, many other creatures would have benefited from the pollination process. Yes, the females who lay the eggs would have died, but all those other pollinating wasps could not be born or reproduce without the fruit! A fig tree in leaf suggested that that necessary symbiosis had taken place.

Being in fruit out of season meant that the fig tree had probably had special ‘left over’ hatchlings from the previous season (called ‘profichi’ or ‘breba’). It wasn’t entirely unnatural for this to happen. What wasn’t natural was to send a signal that didn’t reflect the true state of flowering maturity.

Ecclesiastes tells us that times and seasons are important. Taking the time to arrive at full maturation is vital to our growth. Yes, we earnestly desire spiritual gifts, yes we earnestly still to walk in Fullness of life in Christ, but we also need to be rooted and grounded in Christ, as is essential as we grow into all God has called us to be.

As believers, we are also impacting other lives, who impact and are impacted by us. Our faith helps others grow, and in the process, we mature and hopefully, bad old ways are transformed by the mutual connections. When we show signs of spiritual growth that isn’t matched by fruitfulness, we negatively impact the lives of those who were ‘fertilized’ by our ministry, as well as the reputation of those who minister.

Rest is important. Time with Scripture is key. Maintaining a solid relationship with Christ is essential for our maturation. Then we can hear from God and produce fruit in season. How are we caring for the plant God has called us to be?

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May all we seek be found in Christ