The Budding Fig Tree
Read the parable
- Matthew 24:32-35 Primary account
- Mark 13:28-31 Parallel account
- Luke 21:29-33 Parallel account
Context
Unlike the evergreen olive and carob, the fig tree loses its leaves in winter, so its softening branches and new leaves were Galilee's unmistakable signal that summer was near. Jesus offered this short comparison on the Mount of Olives — a hillside itself dotted with fig trees — within the discourse answering the disciples' question about the destruction of the temple and the sign of his coming.
Meaning
"Learn a parable of the fig tree": just as leafing branches reliably announce summer, the events Jesus has foretold will announce that the fulfilment "is near, even at the doors." He binds the certainty of it to his own word — "Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away". Interpreters differ on how much of the discourse points to the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70 and how much to the final coming, but the parable's lesson is constant: read the signs soberly, and trust the absolute reliability of Christ's words.
Go deeper
Two free lessons walk through the parables as a whole: The Parables of Jesus and Interpreting the Parables.