TikTok

“‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’” (Mark 11:20).

Christ and the Barren Fig Tree (Giandomenico Tiepolo)

I do not have a TikTok account.  However, I do use social media and TikTok seems to have infiltrated that platform.  And so, it is quite easy for me to spend a significant amount of time scrolling through TikTok videos when I am winding down and getting ready for bed.

Now, I am quite lucky that I grew up in the time before TikTok.  And what that really means is that I have not spent much of my life being distracted by five or ten second videos.  As a result, I have developed a bit of resilience in terms of concentration and the ability to focus on the task at hand.  This means that – generally – I use my time quite well.  This is not to say that I do not have lazy days where I do not achieve very much productively – of course I do.  But it does mean that I am part of an older generation who have learned to concentrate and to focus in a way that existed before we used computers in the classroom and before WiFi meant that we were unable to wait for anything for longer than a second or two before we lost patience or interest.  When I was a young adult file uploads to the internet could take ten or fifteen minutes and part of my early work life routine was to set a file to upload and then go and make a cup of tea to give the internet and my computer time to work…

And I have been thinking about how much time we waste today.  And I have been thinking about God.  For Christ cursed the fig tree for not producing fruit…And that tells me that God wants me to make good use of my time on this Earth…

In the Gospels we are told about the fig tree.  The fig tree was fruitless and so Christ withered it.

“The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry.  Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to find out if it had any fruit. When He reached it, He found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs. Then He said to the tree, ‘May no one ever eat fruit from you again.’ And His disciples heard him say it…  When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.  In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. Peter remembered and said to Jesus, ‘Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!’” (Mark 11:12-20).

And what are my figs?  What is my fruit?  Where is my time supposed to go?  Never before in the history of the world have human beings had so much time for leisure or had leisure activities so readily and quickly available to them at the touch of a button or the flicker of a screen. 

And when I consider the reaction of God to the lazy and the useless, I am ashamed because I was created for some purpose – just for me.  And I am wasting my time on TikTok and that is a terrible waste…

For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.