“Lonely Tree”

Matthew 21: 19: “And seeing a lone fig tree by the road, He came to it, and found nothing on it except leaves only; and He said to it, ‘No longer shall there be any fruit from you.’” According to George Mackie, an authority on Palestinian flora, that species of fig tree bears leaves and fruit simultaneously; its sprouting of leaves also proclaimed fruit. But, as St. Mark says, the tree was alone. No one can produce their best fruit by themselves; true fruitfulness requires union with God and community with man.