This picture led me to think on the incident recounted in both the gospels of Mark and Matthew, whereby a fig tree had a profusion of leaves and yet there was none of the expected fruit. Jesus is displeased with that tree for its false promise of fruit. In the same chapter of Mark chapter 11 with the incident of Jesus rebuking that fig tree, He also upturns the tables of the merchants in the Temple courts where he declares that they have treated God's house as a den of robbers rather than a house of prayer. Both incidences remind us to be genuinely fruitful in our lives for the benefit of God's Kingdom. Jesus said that when our hearts are in the right place with God, He will hear our prayers. What a wonderful way of being fruitful, to have our prayers answered to further the Kingdom of God. "Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it and it will be yours" (Mark 11:24).
