Mark 11:12-25

When I say cookie what do you think of?

Chocolate chip. Peanut butter. Oatmeal Raisin? Oreo cookies? Peanut butter ones with the Hersheys kiss in the middle? Sugar Cookies? Christmas Cookies. No Bake Cookies. Tim Smith cookies.

We have been well acquainted with cookies these days. Kid of sick of them.

Did you know that according to google a A Fig Newton is “a sweet, chewy cookie filled with fig paste.”

Google told me that, many people do like Fig Newtons; “they are considered a popular cookie in the United States, with a long history and a dedicated fan base, even though some people might find their flavor or texture to be a bit acquired taste.”

Do you like Fig Newtons? Do you consider them a fake cookie?

To me a fig newton kind of feels like a fake cookie. Fig paste slathered between a spongy cake like outside isn’t my idea of a good time.

I don’t hate them, they just aren’t satisfying as I would hope them to be.

When I go to men’s advance in February, I won’t be bringing Fig Newton’s to share with everyone!

In the passage today, Jesus expresses a deep dissatisfaction for a fig tree that failed to produce real fruit; and so He cursed it and it withered up it’s roots within a day. It wasn’t just dead. It was dead, dead with no chance of revival.

But Jesus cursing the fig tree in this passage is a physical gesture that pointed to a more important spiritual reality.

The temple, and those in charge of it, were supposed to be a blessing for “all people,” but it collectively failed to live up to God’s intentions, so a tongue lashing and judgement were in order.

The fig tree had failed to produce and it was out of season, and so was the temple.

When we read through this passage we will see another Markan sandwich. We have seen them before. Mark starts telling a story, then interjects another story, then finishes the first story. When Mark does this He is connecting thematic motifs for us to consider.

Mark is going to force feed you a fig sandwich and then he is going to make one major point of application.

So follow along carefully and notice that in between the story of the cursing of the fig tree and the roots of that fig tree being withered up within a day is the story of what some people have called, “Jesus cleansing the temple.”

If what we read in these verses is Jesus “cleaning,” I don’t think any of us would hire Him to tidy up our house after the holidays. Here He make a big mess. This is not Jesus cleansing the temple, this is Jesus cursing it.

With unmuted words and actions, He is pronouncing a judgement and a curse on something that was not living up to the intentions for which it was created.

And that is our teaching point for today.

The blessings God bestows on us are intended to be a blessing for others as well.

Mark 11:12–13 ESV

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

Mark 11:14 ESV

14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Mark 11:15 ESV

15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

Mark 11:16 ESV

16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

Mark 11:17 ESV

17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

Mark 11:18 ESV

18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

Mark 11:19–20 ESV

19 And when evening came they went out of the city. 20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

Mark 11:21–22 ESV

21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.

Mark 11:23 ESV

23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Mark 11:24 ESV

24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

Mark 11:25 ESV

25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

Pray:

This is God’s Word. It is to be believed in all that it teachers. Trusted in all that it promises and obeyed in all that it requires. May the Lord add His blessing to those who believe, trust and seek put into practice this word.

The blessings God bestows on us are intended to be a blessing for others as well.

The last time we were in the Gospel of Mark we noticed Jesus entering into the temple and using His eyes to look around at everything.

When we gather together, we are members of one another and we are the local tangible expression of the Body of Christ to one another. Our gather is intended to be a blessing to all of us but also for those who might eventually come through the exterior doors.

So the passage today is on the heels of Jesus walking around and seeing everything in the temple. He assessed the situation, then went out for evening to get ready for a week of intense ministry that end up “kill Him.”

And then our passage opens with this.

Mark 11:12 (ESV)

12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.

Never do ministry on an empty stomach. This is another proof text for the humanity of Jesus. So what do you do when you are hungry?

Well this is what Jesus did.

Mark 11:13 (ESV)

13 And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

Jesus sees a fig tree of in the distance and even though it isn’t the season for the full fig, maybe there were at least some early bloomers. At that time of year it was possible to have small edible green buds called “paggim” otherwise known as “early fruit.”

But upon arrival, “He found nothing but leaves.”

And it is clear that He wasn’t in the mood for salad that day.

He wanted fruit and intended to find it, but it wasn’t there.

And so Mark continues.

Mark 11:14 (ESV)

14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.

Note this: Jesus doesn’t cleanse the tree. He curses it. And His words were powerful and effective and able to accomplish all that they were sent out to do. So when we get to the other side of the sandwich in verses 19-20 we read.

Mark 11:19–20 (ESV)

19 And when evening came they went out of the city. 20 As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.

This thing is dead dead.

This past fall I took out a massive overgrown lilac bush in my back yard, and although I tried my hardest to tear out the root ball and every shoot that was coming up out of the ground there were many remnants of lilac DNA under the ground and a week later there was like a thousand little shoots, shooting up from the ground. It was clinging on to life and hoping to make a resilient comeback.

Not so so with this fig tree. Within a days time it was “withered away to its roots.”

It was cursed. The words of Jesus were like dousing the fig tree with Round Up. It killed it to the core, with no chance of revival.

It is pretty intense and Peter picks up on it right away as they pass by.

Mark 11:21 (ESV)

21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”

Peter is pretty impressed by the power of Jesus words to destroy a “non-fruit producing living thing,” but once again, what happed to the fig tree was merely a physical demonstration pointing to a spiritual reality.

In the middle of this story about a non-producing cursed fig tree is a temple that was intended to produce a lot of spiritual fruit for a lot of malnourished people; but instead, it had become like a bowl of fake, plastic fruit that looked relatively good on the outside, but had lost all it’s capacity to bring any sense of nourishment to those if they attempted to eat it.

And Jesus, after looking at everything with His own eyes the day before, rolled up His sleeves, not to cleanse, but to curse.

Mark 11:15 (ESV)

15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple…

First of all what is the temple?

I should have known this by now, but I never realized how big the temple was until I did some research this past week.

It just goes to show that there is always more to learn when we come to the Scriptures. I think, probably because of my cultural upbringing, that when I thought of temple, I thought of a church building. Maybe a big church building.

But the temple was much more than a building.

Earlier in this series we talked about the importance of local synagogues in the life of the Jewish people.

Synagogues (physical buildings) were erected all throughout the land for the purpose of gathering in, those who had a shared, common Jewish heritage.

There was no altar in them and no sacrifices took place in these buildings, but they were a major focal point for not only “religious life” (like teaching the Torah), but also they served as a place were the community could gather around their own to support both the spiritual and physical needs within the community.

They were places designed to be places for people in need to go in order get some assistance and help from the broader community once their needs were known.

And to a much greater degree the temple was intended to be a blessing for all people everywhere, because that is what God Himself dwelt. If there is anyone who can help us in our time of need, I think God Himself is a pretty qualified candidate!

This place was massive. Within its trapezoidal footprint was about 36 acres of land. FCC sits on an 8.9 acre parcel of land. The temple structure was about 4 times bigger than our entire property.

And the temple consisted of four courts, and the outer court was known as the “Court of the Gentiles.

This court was open to Jews and Gentiles. This was the closest that non-Jews could get to the Jewish sanctuary. Gentiles were allowed into this court because the prophecies of Isaiah indicated God’s intentions for the temple was to be a place for “all the nations.”

Isaiah 56:7 (ESV)

7 …for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.”

The prophet Jeremiah warned that that if the Jewish people, “oppressed the sojourner, the fatherless, or the widow, or shed innocent blood in this place (the temple),” that He (God) would not put up with it for long and judgement would come.

The message of Malachi was this…

Malachi 3:1–3 (ESV)

1 …the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts.

2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears?

So back to our text in Mark, Jesus comes to the temple…

Mark 11:15 (ESV)

15 …and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.

Mark 11:16 ESV

16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.

Mark 11:17 (ESV)

17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.”

There are many things to marvel at, but this is something that always amazes me. This is an amazing display of controlled righteous anger. Jesus sizes up a situation that is clearly wrong. Exploitation, greed, hypocrisy were at an all time high by the religious elite during the Holiest of Weeks on the Jewish calendar. Jesus observes it, judges it and is moved to decisive action that is God honoring.

The zeal of the Lord consumed Him.

He drove some people out.

He overturned the tables of the money changers who were exploiting foreigners who had to exchange their form of currency to a form of currency that would work to pay the temple tax. More than likely it wasn’t a favorable exchange rate.

And then He overturns the “seats of those who sold pigeons.” He makes it pretty inconvenient for them to continue in their craftiness, but He doesn’t open the cages to let the birds go…why not?

Jesus was in control of His anger. He was angry and not sinning.

It’s hard, but not impossible to go round up sheep and oxen if they are driven out with a whip.

It’s hard, but not impossible to pick up scattered coins on the ground.

It is however, impossible to track down winged creatures that can fly away. If Jesus let them go He would have been guilty of theft!

But Jesus controlled His anger and harnessed its potential for good.

And while doing so He was teaching them that the temple was a blessing given to the Jewish people that was intended to be a blessing for all people and not just for them. But because they were greedy and tight fisted with God’s blessings; God was about to rip it out of their hands.

Needless to say, the leaders of the temple weren’t to excited.

Mark 11:18 (ESV)

18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching.

End of the middle story, but the two stories help interpret one another.

The temple and the chief priests were being judged just like the non-fruit bearing, out of season fig tree.

Israel was lacking in spiritual fruit that was expected of them. They were excluding others when they should have been welcoming them. They should have used their bestowed blessings to be a blessing to others, but they didn’t.

And that leads us to an important applicational point here on the first week of a new year.

Everything that you have been given is on loan to you from God. Your time. Your family. Your occupation. Your possessions. We can’t just keep what we have and exclude other people from benefiting from the blessings we have been given.

The blessings that God gives to us should be used by us to bless other people otherwise we are liable to judgment.

What blessings have you been given or have we been given as a church that we ought to use in a way that honors God so that we will not incur judgement in the future?

How can you be more hospitable this year? Can you carpool with people and share your life and daily commute with someone?

Do you have a car and would you be willing to drive people places like groceries stories, or medical appointments?

We have a massive need in our young adult ministry and are looking for a handful of people to help shape and mold the lives of this vitally important age demographic in our church.

Could you visit people in hospital or in their home to bring a sense of God’s care and presence to people in a time of need? Could you sign up to bring a meal to someone or a family in need?

What blessings have been given to you that you could used to bless others with this year?

2 Corinthians 5:10 (ESV)

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.

The intention of the temple was to create a place for people from all walks of life to come and be blessed, but the Jews had made it into a den of robbers. Instead of making the meeting place a blessing to others, they made the meeting place all about them and what they could get out of it.

They were more concerned about getting a personal benefit from the gathering, even it was by ungodly means, than they were about gathering together to benefit others.

Needless to say that was not the intention of the temple. And since they had made the temple into a place were God’s intentions weren’t being met, it was subjected to judgement.

In one weeks time, when Jesus died, the temple curtain will rip in two, and within a few decades the entire structure would come tumbling down because in 70 AD, the Romans will destroy the temple and loot all its sacred contents.

In fact the temple will be so thoroughly destroyed that every stone will be stripped from its foundation and thrown down off the Temple Mount.

In 2025, I believe that we should all strive to be way more hospitable with the place we call home.

They don’t have to be neat and tidy all the time; they just need to be filled with the love of Christ so that we can bless others with His bestowed blessing.

So that is one point of application that we can extract from the first part of our passage, but now let’s see how Jesus applies this passage as He privately talks with His disciples.

We will pick up the story in verse 21

Mark 11:21–22 (ESV)

21 And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” 22 And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.

Mark 11:23 (ESV)

23 Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.

Mark 11:24–25 (ESV)

24 Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

There is a lot of misapplication to this passage of Scripture and time doesn’t allow us to go into all of the ways this can be misapplied. This isn’t a blank check.

If we read these verses and think I can’t believe what this means for me instead of, I can’t believe what this means for people who have sinned against me then I think we are missing the point of the passage. God bestows blessings on us like “forgiveness” so that we might bless other people who have sinned against us.

He says what He says because a new and living way was about to be opened up for the people of God to relate with God. The temple wouldn’t be required anymore.

His people wouldn’t have to enter into a holy place for their prayers to be heard because they themselves will have become the dwelling place in which God would reside.

Because we have a great High Priest over the household of God, we can draw near to Him wherever we are, temple or no temple, with a true heart in full assurance of faith because our hearts will have been sprinkled clean.

That is a blessing that has been graciously bestowed on of us who are indwelt by the very Spirit of God. Talk about a blessing, but we can’t just keep that to ourselves. If while we are enjoying the blessing of having a clean conscience before a holy God and we remember that we have something against someone else, we can simply release them from their indebtedness to us.

Look at verse 25, “Whenever” you stand praying; forgive, if you have “anything against anyone.”

You don’t need anything from people if you have God’s full and favorable attention.

You and I don’t need to exploit others for our benefit.

We don’t have manipulate things or try to push all the right buttons or jump through all the right hoops in order to get what we think we need from others, we can simply serve them knowing that God is smiling at us.

We don’t have to fear people holding out on us even if they are holding out on us. We can release them of their real indebtedness to us because in our restored relationship with God, we have all the blessings that we will ever need.

From the overflow of that primary relationship, we can seek to be a blessing to others, even our debtors.

The indebtedness that we had with our Creator is gone and we have been forgiven by the precious blood of Jesus.

If anyone has “anything against anyone” forgive.

Forgiveness is always act of the will. It’s not a feeling. The Lord teaches us in what is known as the “Lord’s Prayer” that we need daily bread and daily forgiveness.

I think we would notice if we went a day without food, we would get quite hangry, but unfortunately it seems that we are very malnourished in granting forgiveness to others, especially ones that we are closest with.

When was the last time someone came to you and asked forgiveness from you because they had come to realize that they sinned against you? Did you bless them with what they were asking for?

When is the last time you said you were sorry to somebody and you asked them for their forgiveness? Your spouse? Your kids?

The blessings God bestows on us are intended to be a blessing for others as well.

Discussion Questions

What is your favorite cookie? Do you consider Fig Newton’s to be a cookie?

It is the beginning of a new year. By the end of the year, what fruit do you hope is produced in your life? What fruit would Jesus expect to harvest by 2026? Consider looking at Gal. 5:16-26 to prompt your thinking.

Would you say the anger you most often experience is a controlled and righteous type of anger?

What blessings have you been given or have we been given as a church that we ought to use in a way that honors God so that we will not incur judgement in the future?

How can you be more hospitable this year? (Can you carpool? Drive people places? Help in Young Adult Ministry? Visit people in their homes or hospital? Can you bring a meal to a family in need?