The Hieromartyr Gregory, Bishop of Great Armenia.
Ephesians 2:19-3:7; Mark 11:11-23.
Read Mark 11:11-23
What good is a fruit-bearing tree that doesn’t produce fruit? When Jesus noticed a fig tree that had only leaves and no fruit on it, He cursed it (Mk. 11:13-14). After cursing the tree, Jesus and His disciples arrived in Jerusalem. Jesus “overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons” (Mk. 11:15). Instead of respecting the temple as a house of prayer, it was made into “a den of robbers” (Mk. 11:17). The next day, Jesus and His disciples passed the fig tree again, and His disciples marveled that the tree which yesterday had been lush with leaves had now “withered away to its roots” (Mk. 11:20). Just as Jesus was angered by those who desecrated the temple with their thievery for not producing “good fruits,” He was angered by the fig tree that failed to produce any fruit.
We must bear good fruit in our lives so that we do not end up with the same fate as the fig tree. We cannot be like those money-changers and vendors in the temple, unconcerned about prayer while being consumed by the passions. When cautioning His disciples about false prophets, Jesus tells them: “You will know them by their fruits. Are grapes gathered from thorns, or figs from thistles? So, every sound tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears evil fruit. A sound tree cannot bear evil fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire” (Mt. 7:16-19). Elsewhere, Jesus tells us: “I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it might bear more fruit. . . . I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing” (Jn. 15:1-2, 5). Let us abide in Christ, for it is only through Him that we can produce any good fruits. In his letter to the Galatians, St. Paul says that we must live by “the fruit of the Spirit” which is “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and] self-control” (Gal. 5:22-23). If we abide in Christ and Christ in us, then these fruits of the Spirit will be made manifest in our lives. Let us pray that we be found worthy of the gifts and fruits of the Spirit.