On Call, 24/7/365!

Have you ever felt sorry for a tree? When my family in Singapore did a major renovation of my dad’s property some years back, they removed a beloved mango tree in the front yard that for decades had blessed us with amazing mangos that had the sweetest and most succulent flesh. I mourned for that tree—or maybe I was mourning for myself because I wouldn’t get to taste its mangos any longer!
 
We recall, in Mark 11:12-14, Jesus was leaving Bethany for the short walk to Jerusalem and, not having eaten breakfast, was hungry. On chancing upon a fig tree with no figs because it wasn’t the season for figs, Jesus cursed the tree. Later, the disciples found that the tree had indeed died (Mark 11:20-21)—which Jesus subsequently used as a lesson in faith-filled prayer: “If you were to tell this mountain to jump into sea,” etc. (Mark 11:22-24). To be honest, I have loads of sympathy for this fig tree!
 
That said, it is worth zeroing in on the fact that Jesus found the tree useless to Him because it had no figs to meet the need of the Son of God looking to break His fast. At the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus picked three disciples—Peter, James, and John—to join him, to sit and to keep vigil with Him while He prayed. But they couldn’t, they feel asleep, and Jesus ended up undergoing his trial alone, surrendering His will to that of His Abba Father and resolutely going all the way to the cross.
 
I suppose an Old Testament equivalent of the three disciples failing Jesus could be the story in Exodus 17:8-15, but with a twist: What if Aaron and Hur had failed to support Moses—thankfully they didn’t blow it—when Israel was warring against the Amalekites? Just imagine, if Aaron and Hur had fallen asleep or if they had somehow taken off, leaving Moses alone and unable to lift his arms, the Israelites would have been in big trouble.
 
In 2 Timothy 4:2, Paul urges Timothy to be prepared in season and out of season to preach the Word. Perhaps the lesson of the fig tree is that we too need to be ready in season and out! We’re not “9 to 5 Christians” but we’re to be on call 24/7/365 whenever Jesus calls for us to join Him. There’s no stopping and putting up one’s feet where our devotion to Christ is concerned, is there? Indeed, Jesus once even made the point that when servants have done everything they were supposed to do, they should say, “We are unworthy servants; we've only done our duty” (Luke 17:10). There’s every expectation that to be ever ready, prayerful, watchful—this is what we’re called to be. 
 
It’s tempting to think: Wait a minute, it wasn’t the season for figs, so isn’t it unfair of Jesus to expect the tree to bear figs? I can recall too many instances where I’ve reasoned to myself: It’s the weekend, I shouldn’t have to do ministry, do I? Or can I avoid talking to the person seated next to me on the plane, must I share the gospel with him or her? Or a someone whom we’re ministering to wanting to drop by our home at half-past ten in the evening to talk, can we take a raincheck? Or our prayer leader asking: Seng, can you fill in for the prayer slot in the wee hours of the morning that nobody wants? Err, no, I need my beauty sleep!
 
Jesus would later admonish his friends, in Matthew 26:41: “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.” It’s good that Jesus didn’t zap the disciples for not staying up to pray and watch along with Him, like the way He zapped the fruitless fig tree! Our faith is an “inconvenient” one, isn’t it? Yet the expectation remains: For us to be ready, in season and out of season, to be on call whenever the Lord calls.
 
* All Bible quotations are from the New International Version (NIV).