Sermon Tone Analysis

Text: Mark 11:11-26

Theme: In cursing the fig tree and cleansing the temple, Jesus reveals the bankruptcy of the Jewish religious system.

It is a reminder that today’s believers must regularly evaluate their own spiritual lives to make sure we are not merely “going through the motions” of religiosity.

This is a momentous event in the life of our Savior.

In effect, he pronounces a curse on the Jewish Temple and it’s sacrificial system.

That curse consigns it to God’s judgment, and by extension includes the corrupt religious leaders and the entire nation.

In a shocking turn of events, Israel — the covenant nation, the people chosen by God, was cursed by God’s Messiah, because of its rejection of him.

That rejection would surge to a climax four days later when the crowd, urged on by the religious leaders, called for the crucifixion of the Son of God.

In Jesus' time, the religious establishment had become little more than legalistic ritual that was devoid of true worship.

It was devoid of power.

It had become barren and without fruit.

It only appeared to live externally.

Through ceremony and pomp and outward show, it still gave the appearance of true faith.

But inside, there was nothing real.

Our text today is the account of Jesus confronting that religious establishment and judging it for what it was.

We see Jesus cursing a fig tree and cleansing the Temple because of fruitlessness and phony appearances.

He came to where faith should have been found, and found instead lifeless ritual, devoid of God's power.

They were just going through the motions.

If we are not careful we can find ourselves there as well.

It is so easy to be lulled into spiritual apathy.

As Christians we must recognize the danger of phony, fruitless religion.

We must refuse to be deceived by outward appearances.

There was a time in church life when a congregation might debate what color hymnals to use.

Now churches are debating about weather-or-not to install fog machines and mood lighting.

Years ago, I had a friend tell me that in his seminary preaching class, they spent several class period learning how to dramatically read the Scriptures.

It seems that what the crowds prefer are glitzy presentation over gospel presentation.

Many are more obsessed with a show that will entertain them for an hour than with a Savior that will transform them for a lifetime.

We must look deeper than the outward rituals in our lives.

Is there more than merely an appearance of Christianity about us?

Is there real spiritual substance to our lives as believers?

Is there real fruitfulness for Jesus Christ?

As we look at our text, may God grant us the ability to more clearly see the phoniness of appearances and not to trust them; but rather to cultivate faith in Jesus alone.

As we look at our text, notice the dramatic implications of each action Jesus takes as He curses the tree, cleanses the Temple, and challenges each of us.

I.

A CURSED TREE

vv.

12-14 "And on the next day, when they had departed from Bethany, He became hungry.

And seeing at a distance a fig tree in leaf, He went to see if perhaps He would find anything on it; and when He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

And He answered and said to it, 'May no one ever eat fruit from you again!'

And His disciples were listening."

1. notice that in vs. 11, that the night before, Jesus entered Jerusalem, came into the Temple and took a good, long look around

a. then He returned to Bethany

b.

I'm sure His heart was grieved over what He saw

1) the Temple was now in a shameful condition

2) it was filled with moneychangers and animal sellers — people taking the holy place of God and making a market out of it

c.

what He would do would have to wait for the next day?

2. the next morning, on the way into the city, Jesus spotted a fig tree

a. fig trees are very common sights in that part of the country

b.

fig trees in the Middle East produce two crops

1) the early figs are smaller and grow from the sprouts of the previous year, and begin to appear at the end of March and are ripe in May or June

2) the later figs are much larger figs that develop on the new or spring shoots, and are gathered from August to October

3) the earlier figs, which are what this passage is referring to, begin to appear simultaneously with the leaves, and sometimes they even precede the leaves

b. because this fig tree was in full leaf, it should have had figs on it — it held the promise of a quick snack on His way to Jerusalem

3. it appeared like it was a vibrant tree — but appearances can be deceiving!

a. when Jesus looked at this tree, He saw that it was barren — there were no figs at all — nothing but leaves ... it was fruitless

1) it looked good, it held a promise for figs, but the promise was unfulfilled

4. when He saw the fig tree was fruitless, He decided to use it as an example

a.

He gives them an object lesson that they will never forget

b.

Jesus cursed the tree

1) He says, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again."

ILLUS.

Jesus’ cursing of the fig tree is the only destructive miracle recorded in the Gospels.

It serves as a symbol previewing the coming destruction of the Jewish Temple.

c. Jesus himself would interpret the figure the next day

1) in Matthew’s Gospel account of the same events, Jesus tells a parable to explain the now lifeless fig tree

“Listen to another parable.

There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey.

34 “When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce.

35 “The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third.

36 “Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them.

37 “But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ 38 “But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’

39 “They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.

40 “Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?”

41 They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.”

42 Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures, ‘The stone which the builders rejected, This became the chief corner stone; This came about from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes’?

43 “Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it."

(Matthew 21:33-43, NIV)

5. the barren fig tree graphically illustrates the empty pretense of worship in the temple — it looked good, but was fruitless

II.

A CLEANSED TEMPLE

vs. 15-18 "And they came to Jerusalem.

And He entered the temple and began to cast out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the moneychangers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry goods through the temple.

And He began to teach and say to them, 'It is not written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations?"

But you have made it a robbers' den.'

And the chief priests and the scribes heard this, and began seeking how to destroy Him; for they were afraid of Him, for all the multitude was astonished at His teaching.”

1. the Jewish Temple of Jesus’ day was a magnificent structure

a. technically it was the third Jewish Temple

1) the first was the Tabernacle, the portable Jewish Temple that Israel built in the wilderness and brought with them into the Promised Land when they conquered it

2) the second was planned by King David and built by his son Solomon on the pinnacle of Mt.

Moriah, the very place where Abraham had brought Isaac to sacrifice his one and only son

a) after centuries of apostasy and rebellion, God withdrew His presence from the temple, and it was destroyed in 586 B.C. by the Babylonians

3) the third temple was built by Zerubbabel after the Jews were allowed to return to the land after their 70-year captivity in Babylon

a) it was a simple, modest temple, and those elder Jews who could remember the glory of Solomon’s Temple would lament about the plain, unadorned temple that Zerubbabel built

2. in 20 B.C. Herod the Great began the restoration and expansion of Zerubbabel’s temple

a. it was still under construction in Jesus’ day and was not finished until A.D. 64 — a mere six years before the Romans destroyed it