Jesus answered and said to it, “Let no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And His disciples were listening.
The word spoken over the fig tree was a symbolic act of judgment. Christ does not act with senseless anger against an inanimate tree, but through the tree He teaches the disciples the danger of spiritual barrenness. What outwardly promises fruit but in reality is empty is subject to God’s judgment. The disciples were listening, because this word would be opened to them the next day, when they would see the tree in its withered condition. This also prepares for the event of the cleansing of the temple: just as the fig tree had leaves without fruit, so the temple life had religious noise without true prayer. The Lord requires not form, but fruit.