Jesus and the Fig Tree/Temple

What did that poor Fig Tree do to Jesus? Mark 11:12-14

I know throughout the summer y’all have been looking at the different hard teachings of Jesus. On the days when I’m most honest with myself, all of the teachings of Jesus are hard. The path that follows Jesus wasn’t offered up as the easiest option. I think the great German Minister Dietrich Bonhoeffer summed it up best when he said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.” But tonight’s passage will be, I think, at least somewhat different from the other lessons you have looked at through the summer because it starts not with a difficult teaching, but an incredibly difficult action of Jesus to understand. Jesus does something that, at least on the surface, is not in line with what we would expect from Jesus. If you would like you can go ahead and open to . Before we dive into the text though, I want to ask a few questions that help set up tonight’s study.

Think of a time in your life where you did not meet someone else’s expectations of you.

What was that experience like, to know you fell short of that standard?

Think of a time that someone in your life failed to meet the expectations you had of them.

What is it like to have someone fall short of what you know they can and should be?

The Power of Expectations

Whether we like to admit it or not, we carry expectations of ourselves and others. Sometimes, these expectations are reasonable. I expect my son to behave in the ways that he has been taught by his mom and I. So when he rips a toy out of his sister’s hand, he’s fallen short of that expectation. I spent 11 years in youth ministry. I expected my students to carry themselves in a particular way when we were on trips, at youth functions, or together at our different gatherings throughout the week. When those standards weren’t met, I had to say something. But for the most part, when a standard is known, people generally do a decent job of meeting them. Expectations have that power.

School was always a place of expectations. I’m at the point in life where I’ve seen several different sides of the educational experience. Clearly, I went to school once. K-3rd grade at oliver elementary in Stamford, Tx, and then 4th-12th in the various schools in Graham ISD. I was a decent student, but by the time I got to junior high and high school there were plenty of other things I’d rather be doing besides school, so I began to ask different questions about academic expectations. Instead of wondering what I needed to do on a project in order to get a 100, I began to wonder how little I could do and still get a decent grade- and that definition of decent grade slowly dropped over the years from A to B, and then, at least in math, the devil’s subject, to “passing.” I set that expectation for myself and then would figure out what each teacher’s expectations were to get there.

I also had the chance to teach Old Testament at East Texas Christian Academy while I was in Tyler. And I discovered that there were lots of students exactly like me! As soon as I assigned a project, I had kids asking what exactly an “A” project looked like and I had kids essentially asking what they had to do in order to get by. They had expectations for themselves and they wanted to know where theirs and mine intersected.

Expectations certainly play a role in today’s text, far moreso than an intial surface reading reveals but we will deal with the different layers as we go. Lets read our central text tonight, Mark 11:12-14

Fig tree and the temple

12 The next day, after leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 From far away, he noticed a fig tree in leaf, so he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing except leaves, since it wasn’t the season for figs. 14 So he said to it, “No one will ever again eat your fruit!” His disciples heard this. — CEB

Well alright. So what we learn here is that it is perfectly ok, indeed if Jesus is doing it, holy, to get hangry (that’s hungry-angery for the uninitiated), and yell at a tree. That officially makes my 2 year old a saint- no one throws hangry fits like she does. This three verses have been the bane of so many commentators existences over the years because the action of Jesus here seem about as unlike Jesus as you could imagine. This is a teacher who calls his followers to bless and not curse their enemies, a teacher whose miracles and teachings have all been used to improve the lives of his hearers, and whose own ability to miraculously produce large quantities of food and drink is attested to multiple times in the gospels. And worse than that, Jesus is God-incarnate, right? In numerous stories he is stated to know the thoughts of those around him, to know their intentions and motives, and to know the types of lives they have lived up until that point- see the woman at the well whose marital experience Jesus rattles off as if it were a well known catchphrase. This is a Jesus who John’s gospel clearly portrays as present in God during the creation of the world, the word who created has become flesh, creator of everything including fig trees. So how on earth does that Jesus not know that the fig tree down the road, during a time of year that is two months before the beginning of fig harvest, not know that there aren’t any figs on the tree? Knowing that a tree that far outside of its season won’t have edible fruit on it doesn’t require divine intervention- it requires common sense. What on earth is going on here? Compiling Jesus work from all 4 gospels, before Jesus enters Jerusalem during this the week leading up to passover, he has turned water to wine, fed thousands, calmed storms, healed the leprous, lame, blind, mute, walked on water, raised the dead, and perhaps most amazing, taught well enough to keep people’s attention. How does that guy not know there are no figs on the tree? On the surface, this story doesn’t fit with what else we know to be true of Jesus.

Leave a mental finger here, we’ll come back. First we are going to read what happens right before and right after at least to give us some context for this poor tree’s untimely demise.

Common English Bible Chapter 11

When Jesus and his followers approached Jerusalem, they came to Bethphage and Bethany at the Mount of Olives. Jesus gave two disciples a task, 2 saying to them, “Go into the village over there. As soon as you enter it, you will find tied up there a colt that no one has ridden. Untie it and bring it here. 3 If anyone says to you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ say, ‘Its master needs it, and he will send it back right away.’ ”

Common English Bible Chapter 11

4 They went and found a colt tied to a gate outside on the street, and they untied it. 5 Some people standing around said to them, “What are you doing, untying the colt?” 6 They told them just what Jesus said, and they left them alone. 7 They brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes upon it, and he sat on it. 8 Many people spread out their clothes on the road while others spread branches cut from the fields.

Common English Bible Chapter 11

9 Those in front of him and those following were shouting, “Hosanna! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! 10 Blessings on the coming kingdom of our ancestor David! Hosanna in the highest!” 11 Jesus entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. After he looked around at everything, because it was already late in the evening, he returned to Bethany with the Twelve.

So Jesus has just come into Jerusalem. He got the royal treatment as he rode out of Bethpage and Bethany, down the mount of olives. People are crying out Hosanna! A Hebrew phrase that means “Please Save Now,” and then in the most anticlimactic way possible, Jesus arrives in center of the Jewish world, looks around in the temple as if he were a tourist, and leaves. What was that? He’s seen the temple before, he’s grew up a good Jewish kid who’s become a good Jewish man. He’s been there regularly. What was the point of going to the temple, looking around, and leaving. What was he expecting to see? What was he expecting to find? And then he goes home. Two miles in and two miles home so that they can admire ea building? Take selfies in the courtyard? Pick up a “Holy of Holies” coffee mug? Well, that doesn’t help make any more sense of The Fig Tree. Jesus just isn’t acting right. Maybe the passage after will help us.

Common English Bible Chapter 11

15 They came into Jerusalem. After entering the temple, he threw out those who were selling and buying there. He pushed over the tables used for currency exchange and the chairs of those who sold doves.” 16 He didn’t allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He taught them, “Hasn’t it been written, My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations? But you’ve turned it into a hideout for crooks.”

Common English Bible Chapter 11

18 The chief priests and legal experts heard this and tried to find a way to destroy him. They regarded him as dangerous because the whole crowd was enthralled at his teaching. 19 When it was evening, Jesus and his disciples went outside the city.

Wait, what? Now Jesus is throwing stuff? He expects figs from a fig tree that’s out of season, and is so mad about it that when he arrives in the temple the next day he starts throwing tables around? When did Jesus loose all self control. Yes this one at least makes some sense. Jesus gives us something to work with because as he’s throwing stuff around and halting traffic in the area of the 35 acre temple complex he’s in, he’s quoting bible verses at them. Has it finally all gotten to him? The crowds of people following him everywhere, the constant demand on his time by others, the fact that he never gets a moment of peace- has it gotten to him? And if you’re one of the disciples, one who’s been following Jesus everywhere, expecting this messiah to be the warrior-leader of Israel who throws off the yoke of the Roman oppressors, his attacking the temple is all wrong. You don’t want the temple leaders against you- you need them in your fight against the Roman empire. Jesus isn’t helping himself by alienating their religious leaders. Annoy the pharisees all you want, that’s fine- but the Sadducees control the temple and therefore all Judaism. Jesus has messed it all up.

Wait, lets back up. What passages was he quoting at them again? Maybe something there will help us. That “hideout for crooks” your translation likely says “den of robbers” or “cave of robbers”- that sounds important. Its - lets take a look.

Common English Bible Chapter 7

Jeremiah received the LORD’s word: 2 Stand near the gate of the LORD’s temple and proclaim there this message: Listen to the LORD’s word, all you of Judah who enter these gates to worship the LORD. 3 This is what the LORD of heavenly forces, the God of Israel, says: Improve your conduct and your actions, and I will dwell with you in this place. 4 Don’t trust in lies: “This is the LORD’s temple! The LORD’s temple! The LORD’s temple!”

Common English Bible Chapter 7

5 No, if you truly reform your ways and your actions; if you treat each other justly; 6 if you stop taking advantage of the immigrant, orphan, or widow; if you don’t shed the blood of the innocent in this place, or go after other gods to your own ruin, 7 only then will I dwell with you in this place, in the land that I gave long ago to your ancestors for all time.

Common English Bible Chapter 7

8 And yet you trust in lies that will only hurt you. 9 Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, sacrifice to Baal and go after other gods that you don’t know, 10 and then come and stand before me in this temple that bears my name, and say, “We are safe,” only to keep on doing all these detestable things?

Common English Bible Chapter 7

11 Do you regard this temple, which bears my name, as a hiding place for criminals? I can see what’s going on here, declares the LORD. 12 Just go to my sanctuary in Shiloh, where I let my name dwell at first, and see what I did to it because of the evil of my people Israel.

Common English Bible Chapter 7

13 And now, because you have done all these things, declares the LORD, because you haven’t listened when I spoke to you again and again or responded when I called you, 14 I will do to this temple that bears my name and on which you rely, the place that I gave to you and your ancestors, just as I did to Shiloh. 15 I will cast you out of my sight, just as I cast out the rest of your family, all the people of Ephraim.

Wait, Jeremiah was prophecying near the gate of the temple- here’s Jesus near the gate of the temple. Jeremiah was calling out systemic injustice that came from unholy temple practice, Jesus is decrying the systemic injustice that comes from unholy temple practice. Jeremiah mourns the mistreatment of the outsiders- Jesus ministry in constantly concerned with the outcast of society that the religious leaders have abused or forgotten. Jeremiah cries that the temple is no longer treated as the holy place that it should be- so does Jesus. And that lies thing that Jeremiah repeats- who in Jeremiah’s prophecy is responsible for all of the lies, the false understanding of God and faithfulness that plagues the people of God? Its the Temple leaders and the priests. Its their lies, their deceitful actions that are leading the people of Jeremiah’s day away, their selfishness that corrodes God’s people. Their leadership isn’t producing the good fruit God has called for. Fruit. Fruit… wait, what was that about Fig Tree again?

In Jesus runs into a fig tree that, from a distance, looks like a good fig tree. And sure, around the time of passover there shouldn’t be ripe figs yet, but there should at least be the early stages of figs, called paggim (pag-heem) that are often eaten by the locals- those actually bud on a tree before the tree leafs out. Those should be on the tree but aren’t. Jesus walks up, looks around, doesn’t find anything worth finding, and curses the tree.

The day before, as just rode in Jerusalem, he walks into the temple, looks around, doesn’t find anything worth finding, and leaves, coming back later when there is a crowd to the gates of the to make his prophetic pronouncement not, I think, against the temple and not against Israel in general though both could be inferred, but instead against the Temple Leaders whose lies have not produced the fruit God had called for. For Mark- you can’t understand the cursing of the fig tree without the disruption at the temple and you can’t understand the disruption at the temple without understanding the fig tree. Mark sandwiches these two stories together so that his readers can get a clearer picture of what’s going on. He intends for us to interpret each story through the other. Mark’s gospel is full of these interculations, these sandwiched stories, to help make his point- it was a common teaching technique of his day that he embraced emphatically

I want to make one last point about the structure of biblical books that at least helps me understand this story.

You see, in any book in the bible you read, there’s more going on than just the story. Each writer has a both a setting they are writing too and a style they write with that help frame up their message and specifically their picture of Jesus. If they didn’t, then four gospels would be unecessary since they’d all be identical. But they aren’t historical records, their spiritual portraits to specific readerships for specific reasons. Here are, I think, the 4 clear pictures the authors paint.

John- Power and Deity of Jesus

Matthew- Jesus as Fulfillment

Luke- Jesus as Community Builder

Mark- Jesus as Prophet

Mark structures his gospel so that there is an obvious correlation between Jesus and the prophets of the Hebrew Bible. Jesus primary role is calling people out of empty obedience to tradition and into a fruitful relationship with God. Like the prophets, he challenges the religiously-based opressive social system and the ones who keep it in place, begging all to kingdom of God not as some distant, theoretical place, but as a here-and-now reality that transforms the way they live each and every day. Along the way, Mark de-emphasizes the deity of Jesus. He doesn’t negate or ignore it, but he relays stories in a way that emphasize Jesus humanity because Jesus humanity is what people identify with. Mark’s Jesus gets tired, hungry, thirsty, and doesn’t always know the thoughts and actions of those around him, doesn’t “know” that the tree doesn’t have fruit, because Jesus “omnipotence” is never Mark’s point: Jesus message is. And that message, like the prophets before him, incredibly apparent in this passage, is that the role of God’s people is bearing fruit, and anything that doesn’t bear fruit isn’t of God. It’s withered and rotten like the temple leaders. Which is why the Fig Tree story ends like this.

Common English Bible Chapter 11

20 Early in the morning, as Jesus and his disciples were walking along, they saw the fig tree withered from the root up. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look how the fig tree you cursed has dried up.”

22 Jesus responded to them, “Have faith in God! 23 I assure you that whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea’—and doesn’t waver but believes that what is said will really happen—it will happen.

Common English Bible Chapter 11

24 Therefore I say to you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you will receive it, and it will be so for you. 25 And whenever you stand up to pray, if you have something against anyone, forgive so that your Father in heaven may forgive you your wrongdoings.”

It has nothing to do with the tree and everything to do with the fruitful lives of God’s people.

Have Faith, Pray, Forgive

Common English Bible (Nashville, TN: Common English Bible, 2011), .