She lives in a new subdivision.
She works in the office where you order supplies. Her marriage is on the rocks
and one of her kids has a disability. You heard her say she can’t take much
more of this life. You leave under conviction. She goes home at the end of her
rope. She is hungry in side and her hunger is not bound to a season.
He works 9-5 every day. He dreams
of a career but is just trying to do life. On Sunday he eats at the same
restaurant you do. You leave a tip as you walk out. He leaves lost and looking
for hope. His soul has an appetite that is not limited
to a season of time.
She teaches at your college. Her
real questions never get answered. Her life is so empty and unfulfilled. She
proposes theories, while you hold the truth. Her hunger is not bound to a
season in life.
Hunger, spiritual
hunger, is not bound to a season of time or place. It is not regulated to a
particular time of the year or season of life. Hunger is only bound by the feelings
and desires of the one who is empty, the one who is lost.
Mark’s story, in the
Gospel that bears his name, tells us that Jesus was on His way up to Jerusalem
from Bethany, a trip that Jesus makes several times during His last week before
the cross. It is on one of these journeys from Bethany, no doubt from the house
of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, that Mark says Jesus is hungry. It is at this time
that Jesus sees a fig tree leafed out and looking healthy. The tree’s look of
flourishing causes hope to spring into the soul of Jesus. The Bible says Jesus
goes expecting to find something to eat. (Mark 11:12-14)
Adam Clark’s
Commentary says of this scripture:
When our Lord saw this fig tree by the way-side, apparently
flourishing, He went to it to gather some of the figs: being on the way-side,
it was not private, but public property; and any traveler had an equal right to
its fruit. As it was not as yet the time for gathering in the fruits, and yet
about the time when they were ready to be gathered, our Lord with politeness
expected to find some fruit.
But as this happened about five days before that Passover on which
Christ suffered, and the Passover that year fell on the beginning of April, it
has been asked, “How could our Lord expect to find ripe figs in the end of
March?” Answer, Because figs were ripe in Judea as early as the Passover.
Besides, the fig tree puts forth its fruit first, and afterwards its leaves.
Indeed, this tree, in the climate which is proper for it, (to have)
fruit on it all the year round, ... The
summer begins there in March, and the harvest at the Passover, as all travelers
into those countries testify; therefore, as our Lord met with this tree five
days before the Passover, it is evident, - 1st. That it was the time of ripe figs:
and, 2ndly. That it was not the time of gathering them, because this did not
begin till the Passover, and the transaction here mentioned took place five
days before.
Jesus is hungry. He
comes to a tree where there should be fruit even though the season is not yet
ready for the harvest of fruit, Jesus is still hungry. The tree looked right
from a distance and it appears to have all its needed help. But Jesus finds
nothing to touch His hunger. The season has not knocked the edge off His
hunger. The time being not right didn’t stop His stomach from growling. His
hunger was not connected to or changed by the season it was. Jesus was hungry
no matter what season the tree found its self in. Why? Because Hunger has no season!
In our community, a
person hungering for the peace that passes all understanding, the person
longing to be free from sins and its addictions, the person hungry to be filled
with the Spirit of God is not bound to just one day of the week. Their hunger
will push them beyond just a Sunday service. They will come looking and
expecting to find fruit though the season is not just right.
They may show up at
your life on a Monday or a Tuesday. They could walk into your world on a
Thursday, Friday or a Saturday. They will not be bound by being hungry just on
Sunday. They will not just be hungry during a revival service or a powerful
time for the church. The lost, those looking for hope will not just be hungry
when it’s fitting for your life. No, Hunger knows no season. When they see what
they think to be spiritual health they will come looking for the fruit. They
expect to find help even though the season is not just right.
We cannot use the
excuse; we are not ready, get ready.
We cannot use the
excuse we are not at church.
We cannot use the
excuse we are not qualified.
The excuse that it’s
not my ministry will not work on the hungry. Every one of us Jesus said must be
producing fruit. Because hunger is not bound to a season.
Jesus declares in
John 15:8; Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be
my disciples. No matter
the time or the place, there has to be something on the tree because hunger is
not going to wait until the season is right. Hunger knows no season.
They live just down the street.
They work hard at chasing their dream. Last week the mom found out she has
cancer. You pray to do the will of God. They hope and life. They
hunger for peace, healing and help; their hunger doesn’t know a season.
What do you plan to
do about the hungry that will come looking for the fruit of your life today?
