Mark 11:19-26-- Conditional Love

When evening came, they would go out of the city. As they were passing by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots up. Being reminded, Peter said to Him, "Rabbi, look, the fig tree which You cursed has withered." And Jesus answered saying to them, "Have faith in God. Truly I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says is going to happen, it will be granted him. Therefore I say to you, all things for which you pray and ask, believe that you have received them, and they will be granted you. Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father who is in heaven will also forgive you your transgressions."

After Jesus’ prophetic act in the Temple, the disciples passed by the fig tree again and they noticed that it was withered completely.  Peter spoke to Jesus in surprise that Jesus’ curse was so quickly achieved, and so thoroughly.  

But when Jesus cursed the fig tree, he wasn’t just speaking of the tree itself, but of the leaders of Judea—the priests and scribes and Sanhedrin.  They have defiled the Temple of God with their policies, and not allowed God’s people to worship him—thus they had no fruit of devotion to God or love of one’s neighbors (this is the point of Luke 13:6-9, which is probably based on this incident).  

Jesus answered Peter’s statement, not as if he were speaking about the fig tree, but about the temple.  Jesus spoke about prayer in general, and the central place of prayer—where prayers are heard and answered—is the Temple (See II Chronicles 7:15-16).  However, Jesus is declaring that any place is good for prayer, if one has faith.  The “mountain into the sea” saying was a common saying among Jewish people, speaking of anything impossible.  Thus, Jesus declares that anything impossible can be heard and answered by God, if the one requesting it has faith—with or without the Temple.  

Jesus also places one more requirement on prayer—that to be accepted by God, we also have to accept those who have sinned against us.  If we do not forgive those who sin against us, God will not forgive us. Thus, Jesus' requirement for prayers to be heard is faith and forgiveness, not proximity to the Temple.

God loves everyone, but not equally.  God, Jesus says, gives food to all and rain to all and opportunity to His grace to all.  But God doesn't answer everyone's prayer, or give everyone ultimate salvation.  Everyone has the opportunity for it all, but Jesus said that the wealthy and the condemning will have a harder time of it.

Certain kinds of God's love have conditions.  Not everyone is going to have every prayer answered, just because they pray.  They need to have faith, or trust in God's requirements for answering our prayer.  God won't just make us rich, as much as we might believe, because we won't show true faith by conforming to God's compassion and sacrifice.  God won't heal our heart because we refuse to forgive those who hurt us.  

Often we have to take the baby steps before God will give us the opportunity to run.