Holy Tuesday: Asking in Faith
The Tuesday morning after the triumphal entry, Jesus is walking along the road into Jerusalem when he becomes hungry. A fig tree, full of leaves, stands by the path. But upon finding no fruit—only leaves—Jesus curses the tree to never bear fruit again. The fig tree withers immediately. Taking the disciples’ amazement as a teaching opportunity, Jesus makes a spectacular promise: “And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith” (Matthew 21:22).
What does this passage tell us about Jesus? His hunger demonstrates his humanity, his full experience of every human limitation and weakness that we experience. Jesus hungered, thirsted, and grew tired. Yet at the same time, Jesus is truly and fully divine. He shows his power through the instantaneous miracle of withering the fig tree: the tree, a part of the created world, obeyed the word of his command “at once” (Matthew 21:19).
When we pray to God, then, we are praying to one who has power and authority over creation. There’s little doubt that it is impossible for a human to successfully command a tree to wither on the spot. But we pray to one who can. Withering fig trees, moving mountains: these are easy feats for a God who is sovereign over all. Elsewhere, Jesus tells his disciples, “For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20). Power comes from God, not from the strength or the size of one’s faith. Even little faith—like a grain of mustard seed—is capable of much, if it is placed in a great God.
So what does Jesus’s promise mean for us? It does not mean that our focus should be set on the strength of our own ability to imagine spectacular things. Rather, to have faith is to trust God: it is to know him as both the sovereignly powerful Lord and our very own loving Father. It is to believe that God is wholly able to do anything and wholly loving to give us what he knows to be best for us. It is to believe that the transcendent One who knows all things also knows what it is like to be hungry.
Dear child of God, pray. Begin by asking your Father for the faith to ask of him what he desires to give to you. What greater gift could he give? “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).
Ashley Kim is a freshman in Columbia College majoring in English.