Those whom I love, I reprove and chastise. Be earnest, therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, [then] I will enter his house and dine with him, and he with me. I will give the victor the right to sit with me on my throne, as I myself first won the victory and sit with my Father on his throne.

Revelation 3:19-21

When he was going back to the city in the morning, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went over to it, but found nothing on it except leaves. And he said to it, “May no fruit ever come from you again.” And immediately the fig tree withered. When the disciples saw this, they were amazed and said, “How was it that the fig tree withered immediately?” Jesus said to them in reply, “Amen, I say to you, if you have faith and do not waver, not only will you do what has been done to the fig tree, but even if you say to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ it will be done. Whatever you ask for in prayer with faith, you will receive.”

Matthew 21: 18-22

Revelation 3:20-21

Christ knocking on the door is one of the most touching images in the Bible. It is reminiscent of the Song of Songs, where the bridegroom says, “Open to me, my sister, my dove, my perfect one; for my head is wet with dew, my locks with the drops of the might” (Song 5:2). It is a way of describing God’s love for us, inviting us to greater intimacy with him, as happens in a thousand ways in the course of our life. We should be listening for his knock, ready to open the door to Christ. A writer from the Golden Age of Spanish literature evokes this scene in poetry:

“How many times the angel spoke to me:/'Look out of your window now, you’ll see how lovingly he calls and calls.' / Yet, sovereign beauty, how often/I replied, 'We’ll open for you tomorrow,' /to reply the same when the morrow came”

Lope de Vega
Rimas sacras, Sonnet 18

Our Lord awaits our response to his call, and when we make the effort to revive our interior life we experience the indescribable joy of intimacy with him. “At first it will be a bit difficult. You must make an effort to seek out the Lord, to thank him for his fatherly and practical concern for us. Although it is not really a matter of feeling, little by little the love of God makes itself felt like a rustle in the soul. It is Christ who pursues us lovingly: ‘Behold, I stand at the door and knock’ (Rev 3:20). How is your life of prayer going? At times during the day don’t you feel the impulse to have a longer talk with him? Don’t you then whisper to him that you will tell him about it later, in a heart-to-heart conversation [. . .]. Prayer then becomes continuous, like the beating of our heart, like our pulse. Without this presence of God, there is no contemplative life; and without contemplative life, our working for Christ is worth very little, for vain is the builder’s toil if the house is not of the Lord’s building (cf. Ps 126:1)” (J. Escrivá, Christ is passing by, 8).

Jesus promises that those who conquer will sit beside him on his throne. He gave a similar promise to St Peter about how the Apostles would sit on twelve thrones to judge the twelve tribes of Israel (cf. Mt 19:28; 20:20ff). The “throne” is a reference to the sovereign authority Christ has received from the Father. Therefore, the promise of a seat beside him is a way of saying that those who stay faithful will share in Christ’s victory and kingship (cf. 1 Cor 6:2-3)

Matthew 25: 40-45

The cursing of the fig tree is a parable in action: Jesus acts in this dramatic way to show people the power of faith. The disciples marvel not because he curses the fig tree, but because it shrivels up instantly.

This is an example of God’s omnipotence, which is something we should always keep before our minds. Jesus is explaining the enormous power of faith. A person with faith can do anything: he can do much more difficult things, such as moving a mountain. He goes on to show that one effect of faith is that it makes prayer all-powerful. He also gives us a lesson on genuine and apparent faithfulness in the spiritual life.

“I want you to make use of your time. Don’t forget the fig tree cursed by our Lord. And it was doing something: sprouting. Like you...Don’t tell me you have excuses. It availed the fig tree little, relates the Evangelist, that it was not the season for figs when our Lord came to it to look for them. And barren it remained forever”
J. Escrivá
The Way, 354

Catechism

2653

The Church "forcefully and specially exhorts all the Christian faithful . . . to learn 'the surpassing knowledge of Jesus Christ' (Phil 3:8) by frequent reading of the divine Scriptures.... Let them remember, however, that prayer should accompany the reading of Sacred Scripture, so that a dialogue takes place between God and man. For 'we speak to him when we pray; we listen to him when we read the divine oracles."'