XXXI. The Barren Fig Tree "Nothing but Leaves" I have seen a picture of a fig tree, and I want to describe it to you, that we may understand a little about one of our Lord's Parables. There are a great many Parables in the New Testament: they are word-pictures to teach us God's great lessons. At school your teacher has a large blackboard, and sometimes she sketches an object, and explains it to you, does she not? One day she drew a cracked cup, the crack of which grew wider under her clever fingers, and she turned round and said to her class, "Is this cup of any use?" And there were plenty of "No's" from all over the room; but one child ventured "Perhaps it could be mended!" And then the teacher gave a bright look, and she said, "Yes, Charlie, you are right! And so are the others with their 'No's' all over the room. For unless the cup is mended, it is of no use. The cup is a picture of our characters! If there is a flaw in them, a crack that gets wider and wider, then the cup is of no use, is it?" "It might be thrown away!" ventured another child. "Yes," said the teacher; "but, if it could be mended—as Charlie said—then it could be used again. So what must we do, Charlie?" She turned her face to the little boy, and a smile came over his features as he answered, "There's a china-mender comes down our road every week—he could do it!" And the teacher smiled back. Did Charlie know that he had touched on a great truth? So she went on— "Yes, we must 'have faith in God.' We must take our cracked cups, and our faulty characters, to the Great Mender, Jesus our Saviour, and ask Him to make us useful, serviceable little Christians!" So now, I am going to make an imaginary blackboard and show you a branch of a fig tree! Look at that fig growing out of the stalk; it is large, and oblong, and plump, and it is firmly fixed to the big branch. And then, above and below it are little sprouting leaves, some just come out, some not yet burst from their little buds; and soon the fruit, which is already ripe, will be covered up by the leaves, as they grow larger and larger. But suppose, when you lift the leaves, there is no fruit? Then you come to the conclusion that the tree must be a barren tree, and you turn away sorry and disappointed. [Illustration: THE BARREN FIG TREE.] And this is a little word-picture of the barren fig tree, about which our Lord gives us a Parable. He was coming from Bethany, and it says He hungered. Perhaps the Lord Jesus had been up all night praying to His Father. So, as He came near to the fig tree, He saw it was full of leaves; but when He got close to it, He found there were no figs under the leaves—it was barren. And as He turned away He said, in the disciples' hearing, "Let no fruit grow on thee henceforward for ever." Oh, how sad He was to have to say that! And presently the fig tree withered away.