Is there a verse in the Bible that you do not like or that gives you the ick? Yes, I know you respect the Word of God and hesitate to list your dislikes when it comes to this holy book, but be honest.

Which verses make you uncomfortable, or inspire a bit of guilt, or do not make sense to you? Which verses niggle at your inner sense of peace, like grains of sand in your shoe?

Before you respond, ponder these facts

The Bible was in existence for about a thousand years before the different books got sorted into chapters. Indeed, before (more or less) the year 1227, the 66 books in the Word of God were solid, undivided blocks of continuous text.

I can imagine how complicated it made sermons and discussions around certain parts. How do you explain which part you are referring to? Probably something like: “The middle bit there and then a few lines further down … No, no, a bit higher up … Yes, just below the candle wax stain.”

And this would only work if the other person were working from a precise copy of the same manuscript. Printing was only invented around 1455, so the “scripta continua” had to be copied by hand. My head hurts thinking about how differently copy writers wrote.

Readers must have truly struggled to work off the same page (so to speak). Reading a whole book is actually the best way to understand its message, but chapters made deep dives and the sharing of insights so much easier.

In 1555, navigating and locating specific passages became even more standardised through the addition of verses, as we know the Bible today. These divisions enabled a growth in theological study and knowledge, but also made it more accessible for all people.

Chapters and verses are fantastic tools! Lay people were (and are) able to memorise eternal truths and God’s powerful promises in manageable “chunks”. We can also share them through precise referencing.

The resulting thematic groupings shine light on subtle messages and connections between different timelines in the Biblical stories and characters. It also makes the creation of concordances (indexes of words) possible, which, in turn, help readers understand the Bible better.

But chapter breaks and verses are simultaneously pitfalls and obstacles. They interrupt the flow of a narrative or a single argument. The divisions lead to us taking passages out of context, focusing on one verse rather than the larger, uninterrupted story, sermon or history. 

Knowing all of the above, what would you do about the verse that irks you?

The verse that bothered me as a flawed human being, is Matthew 21:19. Jesus is hungry whilst traveling:

“Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it

but found nothing on it except leaves.

Then he said to it, ‘May you never bear fruit again!’ 

Immediately the tree withered” (NIV).

Maybe my sensitive Yellow temperament is showing here, but don’t you also find Jesus to be unusually angry here? This felt contradictory to everything I thought I knew about Jesus. 

The tree grew (or did not grow) as nature intended and was still condemned to wither. What if Jesus finds my level of growth despite my best efforts to be wanting? This warranted me to seek more information for better understanding.

In order to do so, I kept in mind that verses are useful but hindering divisions. I took a step back and read the whole chapter and the whole book of Matthew to better understand this cursing of a tree that did not bear fruit.

Explanations that make sense to me and give me a sense of relief

I know my feelings are not a measurement of how to obey God’s message. However, I do use them as guides to where I need to work harder at listening and understanding.

On reflection of the Gospel of Matthew and reading the thoughts of other theologians, the following brought me insight and peace:

• This event happens during Holy Week, immediately following Jesus’s cleansing of the temple. It links with the theme of judgement on fruitless, superficial worship.
• The tree is symbolic. In that region, leaves on a fig tree usually appear with fruit. A tree with leaves but no fruit was a sign of barrenness. Similarly, some people of the time appeared religiously active but lacked the true fruit of repentance and righteousness.
• Jesus’s cursing of the tree is a dramatic, enacted parable symbolising God's judgement on hypocritical religious practices that lack true, inward faith. He was teaching His disciples an intense, urgent and harsh lesson on faith.
• When the disciples marvel at how quickly the tree withered, Jesus uses this to teach that true, unwavering faith can achieve impossible things, such as “moving mountains”.

Thus this passage encourages believers to produce genuine spiritual fruit rather than just maintaining an outward appearance of faith.  And so my understanding of Jesus as the living Word of God grew and revived me as I grappled with an individual text fragment.

May all of us grow in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control as we discover the complete, uninterrupted Gospel of Christ. And may we utilise our spiritual fruit to revive a withering world.