Mark 11: 11-26
What Came First, The Temple Or The Fig Tree?
12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it. 15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city. 20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Okay. Now, Mark has given us the information regarding the fig tree. Then he goes on to talk about our Lord cleaning out the Temple. He wraps up with the disciples coming back to the fig tree where in one day it has withered and died.
We see that the other Gospel writers also brought up these events so let’s see what they wrote shall we?
Matthew 21:12-22 12 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 13 And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” 14 Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them. 15 But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” they were indignant 16 and said to Him, “Do You hear what these are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise’?” 17 Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there. 18 Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry. 19 And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, “Let no fruit grow on you ever again.” Immediately the fig tree withered away. 20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” 21 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ it will be done. 22 And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive.
Matthew 6:14-15, 14 “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”
Luke 19:45-48, 45 Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, 46 saying to them, “It is written, ‘My house is a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’” 47 And He was teaching daily in the temple. But the chief priests, the scribes, and the leaders of the people sought to destroy Him, 48 and were unable to do anything; for all the people were very attentive to hear Him.”
John 2:13-22 13 Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. 14 And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. 15 When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. 16 And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” 17 Then His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up.” 18 So the Jews answered and said to Him, “What sign do You show to us, since You do these things?” 19 Jesus answered and said to them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” 20 Then the Jews said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will You raise it up in three days?” 21 But He was speaking of the temple of His body. 22 Therefore, when He had risen from the dead, His disciples remembered that He had said this to them; and they believed the Scripture and the word which Jesus had said.
When you put all these Gospel versions together it appears that we run already into some problems. Which ones did you come up with?
Here they are:
1. In Matthew’s version the fig tree is cursed and withers away immediately.
2. In Mark’s version the fig tree seems to have withered away the next day.
3. In Matthew’s version we read about how the Lord ministered and healed the people in addition to driving out those who were evil.
4. We read in chapter 6 Matthew’s record of our Lord talking about forgiving others not in chapter 21 like Mark records.
5. In John’s version we read nothing about the fig tree. We see added information about the Lord confronting the religious leaders regarding His earthly body.
Okay, here’s your homework. I want you to think about these possible problems and be ready next week to discuss them. Oh, you want to know the answers today? Okay, actually, it is not that difficult to point out the variables.
Now, we know that Matthew and John were with our Holy Master, Lord and Savior Jesus Christ when all of this took place. Would you agree? Now what about Mark? If you have been studying God’s Word with us that you know that I often point out how Mark got all of his information from Peter. So, we have three eyewitnesses.
This is how I believe the action went down. Our Lord Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the Temple. He drove our the money changers and all those who brought disgrace to Him by making God’s house a carnival. Just picture yourself as a Gentile being able to go to the Temple. You had to stay in the court of the Gentiles because if you ventured any further you risked being killed for only Jews could go on further in the Temple grounds. Here is where some of these merchants set up shop. Imagine trying to pray while you heard next to you all the haggling of business transactions.
After He cleansed the Temple of these evil people, our Lord Jesus ministered to the people. The religious people came up to Him and after learning what He did to the people they gave permission to do business in the Temple, they kept their distances and shouted out comments such as when they saw how the children mobbed and loved the Lord.
Later that day He and his disciples went up the hill adjacent to the East Gate and lodged in the town Bethany. Most likely it was the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. Now, if He stayed there they most likely fed Him and His followers.
The next morning our Holy Master Lord Jesus was heading back to the Temple when He spotted the fig tree. Have you ever wanted to stop off on the way to work and pick up a coffee and doughnut? At this time of year the tree should have had some figs on it, but it had not produced any fruit. He cursed the tree and immediately it withered away. Now what about Peter? Here is my explanation.
You will note Matthew’s Gospel the statement, ‘20 And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, “How did the fig tree wither away so soon?” We find that the one who was amazed the most at the tree withering away was Peter. He ‘remembered’ the Lord’s words against the tree and what were those words, ‘Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.”
They all heard the Lord speak to the tree and the tree listened. This tree just at the pronouncement of its Creator immediately dried up and died. This would amaze anyone. Peter remembered the Lord’s conversation with the tree. It is not that he remembered the Lord’s words which He spoke to the tree the day before. Peter was commenting at the instant result.
Many times our Lord would repeat the same instructions. Remember how often our Lord would remind the disciples that in Jerusalem He would be arrested and put to death? The comment in Matthew way back in chapter 6 of our Lord talking about forgiveness was a topic He often spoke about. Matthew felt compelled to write it down way back in chapter 6. Now that he was in chapter 21 since he had previously recorded this teaching of our Lord, he did not duplicate the same information.
Lastly, what about John. His version seems different. The answer is that John’s version is different. You see our Lord cleansed the Temple twice. One early in His ministry to get the religious leaders attention to do what is right. Apparently, they had allowed the money changers and the merchants back in the Temple to do business. So, our Lord came in and cleaned house again.
So, since we are in the Gospel of Mark let’s now take a closer look at this Scripture.
12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.
What is now being described Mark undoubtedly saw as an acted out parable connected with His visits to the Temple. This is demonstrated by the way in which he treats the material. The fig tree and the Temple were clearly to be seen as similar. in that they made a great show for visitors, but inwardly they were fruitless and barren.
Our Lord approached the tree to see if perhaps He might find anything on it’ just as He had entered the temple and ‘looked around’ It was a scene which demonstrated that Israel produced no fruit. ‘He found nothing but leaves for it was not the season for figs.’ This does not necessarily indicate that our Jesus was expecting to find figs. It simply explains to us why He did not. It was because there was ‘nothing but leaves’. Mark is not concerned to show what our Lord Jesus was looking for. He is concerned to bring out the significance of the event, that the outward show did not fulfill its promise. So he explains to us that it was without fruit or edible material, just as, on our Master Lord Jesus’ inspection, the Temple, and thus the centre of the Jewish religion, had revealed itself to be.
We see possibly our Lord Jesus’ intent that by His action that the disciples would remember His parable of the fig tree in which we read about in Luke chapter 13, 6 He also spoke this parable: “A certain man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. 7 Then he said to the keeper of his vineyard, ‘Look, for three years I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree and find none. Cut it down; why does it use up the ground?’ 8 But he answered and said to him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and fertilize it. 9 And if it bears fruit, well. But if not, after that you can cut it down.’”
When a man who had planted a fig tree came looking for fruit on it and found none. At that stage it was to be given another chance to see if it would produce figs. But now it was too late. The fig tree had been given abundant opportunity. Now its probation was over. It had failed to produce figs.
14 In response Jesus said to it, “Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.” And His disciples heard it.
There are no grounds for suggesting that Jesus was angry. It was a straightforward declaration. Nor did he ‘curse’ the fig tree in any bad sense. Rather He destined it to failure because of its outward profession which was not accompanied by fruitfulness. It may well be that He recognized that the fig tree was past its best and would no longer produce fruit. But what He was wanting to portray justified His performance of the miracle in His hastening its end by His word. He wanted to portray the most solemn of messages, the coming destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple.
Now having declared His sentence on a barren fig tree, our Holy Sovereign Lord Jesus now turns His attention to something even more barren, Jerusalem and The Temple.
15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.
In the light of what He had observed the previous afternoon Jesus now entered the Temple and began to drive out those who were trading there by the sheer force of His personality and stern eyes and words. This time He did not need a scourge, for He did not drive the animals out. This action was not because He disapproved of the sacrificial system as a whole, which was God ordained, but because of His concern for the holiness of God’s house and because of the un-holy practices being carried on. As the Sanhedrin rightly recognized this was a claim to unique authority from God.
This was the second time that Jesus had purged the Temple. As mentioned John tells us of the first time, early in His ministry, when His prime concern had been the treating of God’s house like a marketplace and a stable. Then His main opponents were the traders, and His aim had been to drive out the cattle as well. He had wanted to clear the house for prayer. It had not been a direct attack on the leadership. That may well have been treated as the spontaneous action of a young hothead, a demonstration, which some even approved of to some extent. Now waiting for Him when He came to Jerusalem again the next time they would have been on their guard. However, as year succeeded to year He had not done it again and they had no doubt felt able to relax. Thus they were simply unprepared for it when it happened again.
We see here now His accusations reached much deeper than in that first clearing of the Temple. Here He called it not just a marketplace ‘But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ He was now, by implication, involving the Chief Priests themselves in it.
Those who came to the Temple would need to have suitable sacrifices that could pass the test of being unblemished. Thus sacrificial animals and birds were sold in the Temple by traders commissioned by the chief priests with a certificate guaranteeing that they were satisfactory, together with such things as wine, oil and salt, . And this was done in the Court of the Gentiles under the sanction of the authorities with little regard for what it meant for worshippers. It was not a far cry from this to making the test very stiff for sacrificial beasts brought in from outside by individuals so as to ensure that they often failed the test, so that the prospective worshippers had then to buy certificated beasts or birds at ultra high prices, with suitable commissions paid to the authorities. And this undoubtedly happened regularly. No doubt the ‘rejected’ beasts were included in the price as part exchange and some no doubt were later sold on again as certificated beasts.
In addition, The Temple tax had to be paid in the Tyrian two drachma piece which was the nearest available equivalent to the Hebrew half shekel. (This was the equivalent of well over a day’s wage). This was because it had no image of man or beast on it. Thus moneychangers sat at tables and accepted other currencies in exchange for it, charging a comparatively large fee for the exchange and a further fee if change had to be given, while the chief priests again claimed their commissions. The noise of typical Middle Eastern negotiation and haggling would have been deafening, and the whole process was designed to extract as much money as possible from the unfortunate pilgrims, many of whom were poor, and to line the pockets of the chief priests and their cronies. When our Merciful God, Lord Jesus overturned their tables and their beloved money went rolling round the floor, it would have been to the delight of the crowds.
The result of all these practices was that those who came into the court of the Gentiles of the house of God, instead of being filled with awe and a realization of the presence of God, found themselves in a busy, hectic marketplace, with buyers and sellers arguing and disputing loudly and furiously, prospective sacrificial animals and birds adding their own particular protests, and moneychangers calling out their rates. But such potential worshippers were only Gentiles and so it did not matter.
We also find out that The Temple courts were also being used as a thoroughfare to provide short cuts for those moving about that part of the city. Our Great Holy Son of God, our Lord Jesus, no doubt with the help of His disciples, prevented such movements. This emphasizes that His main concern in both cases was for the purity of the Temple. It was for worship, not for convenience.
16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves.
In John His action had merely been to clear the Temple, telling them not to turn the Temple into a shop, but here He not only did that but also ‘taught’ and drew the attention of people to the full situation. The quotation is a combination of two Scriptures, made up of Isaiah chapter 56 verse 7 ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples’ and Jeremiah chapter 7 verse 11, ‘is this house, which is called by my name, become a brigands’ cave in your eyes?’ ‘For all the nations’ was particularly relevant because it took place in the Court of the Gentiles. That was where the God-fearers, non-circumcised Gentile believers, could come to pray.
We read here that our Lord’ words involved the very highest authorities in dishonesty. They were being accused of swindling the people. He really got them angry. No wonder we read about how they at that point wanted to kill Him.
18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching.
The chief priests, who ran the Temple and controlled its ministries, were inevitably angry because He had hit at their pockets and at their reputation. And the problem was that they knew that everyone believed it was true. Our Lord Jesus’ teaching was getting too uncomfortable and as a result some of the people were beginning to question their authority. There was only one answer, and that was to destroy Him. Yet at the same time ‘They feared Him.’ Because He was undermining their authority and revealing the inadequacy of much of their teaching.
19 When evening had come, He went out of the city.
Each night He returned with His disciples to where He was staying in or just outside Bethany on the lower slopes of the Mount of Olives. This is probably why He did not stay at the home of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. In view of their number they may well have set up camp there. Each day they again entered the city and passed the fig tree. During the day He was preaching in the Temple. One can imagine the feelings of the authorities every time He arrived as they waited anxiously for what He would do next.
20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots.
Please notice the statement that ‘They saw the fig tree withered away from its roots.’ It is emphasized that its roots were dead, just as the supposed source of religious sustenance for the Jews was dead.
And Peter, remembering, said to Him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.” 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says.
As usual it was Peter who spoke up on behalf of the group, even though they had no doubt been pointing it out to each other for, please note, that our Lord Jesus replied to ‘them’. Note that it is Peter, and not our Lord Jesus, who speaks of the fig tree being ‘cursed’. That was the ‘popular’ way of looking at it. Interestingly the lesson that Jesus draws from this is one of the power of faith, and He supplies an outstanding example of what faith can accomplish. It can enable the casting of ‘this mountain’ into the sea. Overtly this is just an example of a remarkable accomplishment of faith, but a moment’s thought brings out that it goes deeper than that. For ‘this mountain’ is probably the Temple mount, and being ‘cast into the sea’ is pictorial of judgment where the one who causes little children to stumble would be better to be thrown into the sea, which suggests that being ‘cast into the sea’ was a symbol of judgment.
Our Lord Jesus’ reply to Peter and the others was that, as He Himself had demonstrated, they must have faith in God. He was pointing out the lesson of what faith can accomplish. The one who truly has confidence in God can not only wither fig trees but can even remove mountains.
This kind of faith was in complete contrast with those who had turned the house of prayer into a place of robbers. They had turned from faith to worldliness, and that was why they could be seen as withered. Any false faith was dead. But the faith that had enabled the withering of the fig tree was available to all who truly believed God. So if the leaders of the people were preventing the Temple from being a house of prayer, His disciples must not make the same mistake. Rather they must demonstrate their faith in God, and it is prayer of this kind that will prevent them from withering. Then impossible things will be possible. For when men trust God fully they will be able to cast a mountain into the sea with a word.
24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 25 “And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.”
Here is a reminder that if we want our prayers to be answered our hearts must be right with God, and that means having a right attitude towards others. As we have the heart to forgive, so will we be forgiven.
The context that we pick up here is that with the idea of the spiritual failure of Jerusalem there is good reason to see this as being the alternative that could succeed in enabling the church to triumph where Jerusalem had failed. They were to be the house of prayer. And the secret of true spirituality and prayer lay in forgiving one another and being forgiven by God. Such people would never suffer under His curse, and would be able to pray in faith, knowing that they would be heard.
Shall we communicate with our Precious Holy El Shaddai – God Almighty!
