Thayer Thursday – Jesus and the Fig Tree
Chris Thayer is the Director of Discipleship at Good Shepherd Church in Charlotte, NC where he oversees adult life groups and Biblical education. On Thursdays I share his weekly “Thayer’s Thoughts” for small group leaders, which are based on the previous Sunday’s sermon. Click HERE to watch or listen to the accompanying sermon.
Mark 11:12-25 seems odd and disjointed at first reading. Jesus curses a fig tree. He Makes a ruckus at the temple. The disciples are amazed to return and find the fig tree withered. Then Jesus launches into a teaching about prayer, faith, and forgiveness. At first glance, this make no sense. It seems unconnected, and confusing.
So how do we make sense of this? First, we must avoid the mistake of taking each one of these stories by themselves and trying to interpret them. By putting the story of the temple incident directly between the story of the fig tree and connecting it with Jesus following instructions in verse 22-25 with “Jesus answered”: Mark indicates to the readers and hearers of his Gospel that all of these stories are connected. Together they convey a message.
So what is this message? To understand—we must look not only at these incidents but also at the two OT passages Jesus quotes (and their surrounding context!) in order to understand why He references these specific verses. Finally, when we look at Jesus’ directive to the disciples, we need to see it in light of all we’ve learned.
In 11:17, Jesus quotes two passages of scripture from the Old Testament. Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Isaiah 56:7 and its surrounding context is about God’s desire to save not only Israel, but the foreigner as well. Anybody who has “bound himself to the Lord” will not be excluded from His people (Isaiah 56:3). In contrast, Jeremiah 7:11 is condemnation of the temple and the Israelites because the people have been giving lip service to God but ignoring how He wants them to live—including in how they treat the foreigner. Because of this, God is going to bring destruction to the temple and “thrust” the people from His presence (Jeremiah 7:15).
When we put all of this together, we see that Jesus is angry that the temple has become insular. His actions both at the fig tree and the temple are pronouncements of judgment on the temple, and ultimately the people associated with it. As the fig tree withered (serving as a live-action parable): so the temple would be destroyed.
Now imagine yourself as a first century Jew. The temple was the locus of all of your interactions with God. It was where you would make sacrifices to atone for your sin and where you expected God to hear your prayers. If Jesus is pronouncing judgment on the temple and it will be destroyed [Note that when He says “if anybody says to this mountain go throw yourself into the sea”, He’s almost certainly meaning the mountain that the temple resided on – again giving a picture of its destruction], how should the people then live? In light of this revelation and underlying question, Jesus tells the disciples that they are to have faith in God. Whatever the disciples ask for from God (even outside of the temple) will be theirs. If they need forgiveness, they should give forgiveness.
What initially sounds like a teaching about doing something miraculous – is really an instruction on how to operate outside of the temple. The temple would eventually come under judgment and after Jesus’ death and resurrection – it would no longer be needed. So Jesus uses this opportunity to teach His disciples how to live without the temple and with Him: by faith, and with forgiveness.
Chris Thayer
Categories: Biblical Theology, Blog, New Testament, Thayer Thursday