Wonder

Matthew 21:20 - And seeing it, the disciples marveled, "How did the fig tree wither at once?"

Have you ever been in a hospital room with an older person or even someone so medicated they do not recognize where they are or even why? It is extremely uncomfortable and sad to see someone so withered who used to be so full of life and health. If we live long enough, we will probably one day be that person. It is a natural consequence of aging in human beings and plants, too.

This, of course, is why the disciples are amazed. They ask how could it happen so fast. Jesus was constantly surprising them with miraculous healings (and cursings) and wondrous teachings that often left the disciples dumbfounded. They really struggled to keep up - at least according to Matthew.

We marvel too. We ask the same question they did and more. We want to know whether this really happened. That is often the wrong question to ask of the Bible stories. In asking it, we focus on the historicity and forget about the wonder; not only in this story, but in all the others as well. We read the first creation story in Genesis and we see that God called everything created 'good,' including this fig tree. Perhaps we should expand our wonder to include both Jesus's power and the miracle of the fig tree itself.

Many of us have so many responsibilities that it's hard to let them go for even a few minutes to look around and wonder. Wonder at God's good creation. Trees, birds, animals, grass, flowers and human beings in all our variety. We are all different, yet we are all alike. The creation stories show us how intimately connected we all are to each other. We are so intimately connected that what we do for ourselves, we do for others and what we do for others, we do for ourselves.

That to me is wondrous.