Plastic Faith

An artificial plant looks impressive. But it produces nothing.

You could easily buy one at a store with thought that it will "bring life to any room." And—sure—it brings the appearance of life. The leaves stay green. They never drop. It never needs water. In fact, if I tried to water it, the only thing that would grow is mold. From across the room, you'd swear it's thriving. Up close, it's plastic. No oxygen, no growth, no fruit. All appearance, zero substance.

Here's the thing about artificial plants: They're perfect for people who want the look without the life. Who want to appear to have a green thumb without actually growing anything. They're safe. Predictable. Dead.

And Jesus is about to expose an entire religious system that had become exactly that—artificial faith. Temple worship that looked impressive from a distance but produced nothing God wanted. Leaders who maintained the appearance of devotion while their hearts were plastic. A fig tree covered in leaves advertising fruit it didn't have.

Today's text is one story in four scenes. Mark deliberately structures it like a sandwich—the fig tree frames the temple incident, and the temple incident interprets the fig tree. Four angles on the same diagnosis: religion that looks alive but produces nothing.

The question Mark forces us to ask: Are we growing something real, or are we just maintaining impressive plastic?

The Tree with Leaves (vv. 12–14)

Mark 11, starting at verse 12:

“On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 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. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.”

— Mark 11:12-14 (ESV)

This passage has confused people for centuries. Let's walk through what's actually happening here.

It's Monday of Passion Week—we're five days from the crucifixion. Jesus and the disciples are making the two-mile walk from Bethany, where they spent the night, into Jerusalem. And Jesus is hungry. Not spiritually hungry, not metaphorically hungry—the Son of God wants breakfast.

He spots a fig tree in the distance, and Mark specifically tells us it was "in leaf." That detail matters more than you might think. See, fig trees are weird. Most fruit trees flower first, then produce fruit. Apple trees get those beautiful white blossoms, then apples come later. But fig trees? They do it backwards. The fruit often appears before or with the leaves.

So in that culture, when you see a fig tree covered in leaves, it's making a promise. It's advertising. It's essentially hanging a sign that says, "Food available here." Even though it wasn't the main fig harvest—that would come in late summer—these trees would produce early edible buds. The locals called them paggim. Not the sweet, full figs you buy at Whole Foods, but they were edible. Think of them as pre-figs, nature's appetizers. And a tree this leafy? It should have been loaded with them.

Jesus walks over. Maybe He's planning to teach while eating, share some fruit with the disciples. He reaches into the branches, searches through the leaves. Nothing. Not one bud. Not even a withered one from last season. Just leaves pretending to be productive.

Mark adds, ‘for it was not the season for figs.’ The word is ?a???? (kairos)—here meaning the fig season. So Jesus isn’t expecting fruit at the wrong time. The point is the sign: the leaves promised fruit, but there was none.

And then Jesus does something shocking. He speaks to the tree: "May no one ever eat fruit from you again."

This is God rendering a verdict.

The disciples hear it. Mark makes sure we know that—they witnessed Jesus curse this tree. Think about that. This is the only time Jesus curses something by miracle in all four Gospels. Jesus:

heals blind eyes,

cleanses lepers,

raises the dead,

multiplies loaves and fish

But only once does He curse something. Why?

Because this isn't really about the tree. Jesus is creating a living parable that His disciples will never forget. And remember, this isn't Jesus' first fig tree story. In Luke 13, He told them a parable: A man planted a fig tree in his vineyard and came looking for fruit three years in a row. Nothing. He orders it cut down. But the gardener pleads, "Sir, leave it alone for one more year, and I'll dig around it and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down." That parable was about patience, about grace, about God giving Israel more time.

But now? What was a parable is becoming reality.