Again, I want to continue the train of thought I have been running with all this week.

If perhaps you think I’m reading too much into these accounts, check out the “Lord’s prayer”:

Matthew 6:9-13
“This, then, is how you should pray:
” ‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
your kingdom come,
your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from the evil one.”

According to Matthew, when Christ taught his followers how to pray he taught them to revere God’s name as hallowed - not Caesar’s. To plead for God’s kingdom to come - not for the prosperity of Rome. To pray for God’s will to be done - not Caesar’s. To ask God for their daily bread - not Rome. The Lord’s prayer is a subversive text that depicts God as the true ruler of all creation, and His kingdom greater than that of Rome’s.

Back to the fig tree.

When Christ rebukes the fig tree and it withers, what the original audience was being told was that Christ had dominion over Rome. This is especially impactful in Mark, where they are shown that Christ could cause Rome’s very roots to wither by the mere utterance of a few words.

That’s pretty powerful, but the picture you’re seeing gets so much better when you add more history.

See, in the year 58 AD - four years into the rule of Nero - the Ficus Ruminalis began to wither. This was seen as a horrible omen for the future of Rome.

Both of these accounts are commonly thought to have been written after 58 AD (Mark sometime around 60 AD, and Matthew sometime after 70). Keep in mind, the fig tree in the accounts is not the Ficus Ruminalis itself, but a symbolic representation of it. Nonetheless, the withering of the Ficus Ruminalis in 58 AD must have been monumental for the Christians in the Roman Empire.

Think about it. If you were a Christian living under the rule of Nero (or shortly after, as in the case of Matthew), you would no doubt be praying for the tyranny of the Roman Empire to be brought to an end. The news that the Ficus Ruminalis had started to whither would immediately trigger the memory of any Christian who had heard the story of Christ and the fig tree. It was a beacon, a resounding flare shot into the sky, signaling the dawn of the end. The answer of their prayers.

That same year, the peace between Rome and Parthia was shattered. The resulting war between Rome and Parthia would last for five years, and would be seen as a sign of the beginning of the end for Pax Romana (a downward spiral that would culminate with the death of Marcus Aurelius in 180 AD). For our ancestral believers, this was a time of secret celebration. They had not hoped in vain. They had not prayed in futility. Indeed, as Christ promised, all things they asked in prayer were being given to them.

I think it is easy in our modern context to doubt the power of prayer. At least, I know it is for me. However, I don’t think it was any easier for the first century church. Empires remain in power by captivating and enslaving the imaginations of their people. It was no easier to imagine the power of prayer when under Pax Romana than it is today under Pax Consumerana.

What is it you are praying for? What tyranny are you praying will come to an end?

Be diligent, and keep faith. If the Roman Empire can be brought down by the prayers of God’s people, there is nothing that the prayers of those after God’s heart cannot do.

Until next time, stay super and drink your Ovaltine.

Iconoclast out.