The context provides a clue. At this point in the Gospel, Jesus arrives in Jerusalem to complete his mission. The cross looms large. He is hungry and sees a fig tree in the distance that is “covered ...

For more commentary on this week's readings, see the Reflections on the Lectionary page, which includes Roth's current Living by the Word column as well as past magazine and blog content. For ...

Slip under the shade of a fig tree with me and listen to the unusual way Jesus told one of his future disciples that exciting days were just ahead. “Very truly I tell you,” Jesus told Nathanael in ...

What really happened in Paradise? Was the “Tree of Knowledge” merely a symbol of obedience and sin, or is there something ...

A parish in southern India´s Thamarassery diocese has devised new schemes to familiarize families with the Bible. Monsignor Thomas Nagaparambil (third left) plants a fig tree on Nov. 23 at ...

Figs and fig trees are familiar to a wide cross-section of human society, both as a common food and for their spiritual importance. What is less well understood is the global nature of this ...