When the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither at once?”
And when the disciples saw it,.... The next day in the morning, as Mark says: they had, heard what Christ had said to it the day before, as the same evangelist observes; but did not take notice of the immediate withering of the tree; but the next morning, as they returned from Bethany, they saw it dried up from the roots: they marvelled; not that...
Verse 20. And when the disciples saw it. That is, on the morning following that on which it was cursed, . They marvelled, saying, etc. Peter said this, . Matthew means only to say that this was said to him; Mark tells us which one of them said it.
The disciples being filled with admiration at the sudden withering of the fig-tree, thereupon our Saviour exhorts them to have faith in God; that is, firmly to rely upon the power of God whereby he is able, upon the goodness of God whereby he is willing, to perform his promises to us. Learn, 1. That faith is a necessary ingredient in prayer.