Mark 11:12-11:24
We’re going to look from the scriptures at two of Jesus Christ’s most misunderstood actions. The two actions I’m talking about are:
(a) Jesus Christ’s cursing of a fig tree and
(b) his action of driving out the money changes from the Jewish temple.
On their own, these two events are very difficult to understand, but together these two events explain each other.
Now the way Mark tells us these two stories, he wants us to know that the two events help explain each other. You see, throughout his biography of Jesus , Mark uses a sandwich technique, where he starts with one story, goes to a different story, and then comes back to the original story. Mark’s starts by telling the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree, then interrupt that story to describe Jesus driving out the money changers from the temple and only then will he return to the story of the fig tree. This is Mark’s way of telling us that these two events are related to each other, and that if we miss the meaning of the fig tree, we’ll miss the meaning of the clearing out of the temple as well.
1. The Fruitless Fig Tree (Mark 11:12-14, 20-21)
We begin with Jesus cursing a fig tree starting with one side of the sandwich in vv. 12-14 and then the other side of the sandwich in vv. 20-21.
Many people have struggled with why Jesus curses this fig tree. This is Jesus’ last recorded miracle in Mark’s biography, and it seems odd that it’s a miracle of destruction. Since Mark tells us that wasn’t the season for figs, Jesus’ expectation to find figs seems unreasonable to us at first. In fact, the famous atheist writer Bertrand Russell listed this miracle as one of the reasons why he’s not a Christian.
Jesus has left Bethany and is on his way to Jerusalem. So most likely the tree would be found in the vicinity of the Mount of Olives which would be on his way to Jerusalem. On the protected side of the mount of olives fig trees can be seen in leaf many times at the end of March or early April. Early green figs will appear before the leaves, they do not taste very good, nor do people eat them. They do not ripen until June, and very oft en will fall off, leaving only leaves. Jesus knows there will be no fruit. Yes, Jesus is hungry, but his action, like the action of entering Jerusalem and the action of cleaning the Temple point to a greater, deeper meaning, what will happen to Jerusalem, Israel and the Temple.
The prophets frequently spoke of the fig tree as referring to Israel’s status before God: Jer. 8:13, 29:17; Hos 9:10, 16; Joel 1:7, Micah 7:1-6. Jer. 8:13 “ ‘I will take away their harvest, declares the LORD. There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.’”
The destruction of the fig tree is associated with judgment Hos. 2:12 “I will ruin her vines and her fig trees, which she said were her pay from her lovers; I will make them a thicket, and wild animals will devour them.” Isaiah 34:4, Luke 13:6-9. Here in this context the fig tree symbolizes Israel in Jesus’ day and what happens to the tree is the fate (it withers) that will happen to Jerusalem.
So as the action taken against the fig tree is primarily pointing to messianic actions – This action with the fig tree is parallel to Jesus’ action in the court of Gentiles and the entering of the city.
But this story isn’t what it first appears to be. Jesus encounters this fig tree on his walk from the city of Bethany to the capital city of Jerusalem during the Jewish Passover holiday. He sees this fig tree in full leaf from a distance. Fig trees were extremely common in ancient Israel, even as they still are today. And fig trees are unique from most other trees because they produce fruit before they produce leaves. So the fact that this tree has leaves suggests that some kind of fruit will still be on it, either leftover figs from the summer harvest or immature figs that were also edible. So even though the formal fig season was over, it wasn’t at all unreasonable for Jesus to find something on this tree. But Jesus finds nothing but leaves, which tells us that this is a sterile fig tree, a fig tree that doesn’t produce any figs.
Now there’s more happening that first meets the eye here, because this event isn’t just about Jesus having a liking for a fig. Remember that Jesus is on his way to the Jewish temple, and what happens here with the fig tree is symbolic of what Jesus is about to do in the temple. There’s a passage from the Old Testament prophet Jeremiah that’s especially relevant to what’s happening here. This passage is found in Jeremiah chapter 8.
They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. "Peace, peace," they say, when there is no peace. Are they ashamed of their loathsome conduct? No, they have no shame at all; they do not even know how to blush. So they will fall among the fallen; they will be brought down when they are punished, says the LORD. I will take away their harvest…There will be no grapes on the vine. There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them (Jeremiah 8:11-13 NIV).
This message from Jeremiah around five hundred years before the birth of Jesus was a message of judgment against the nation of Israel. People of Jeremiah’s generation were minimizing the seriousness of Israel’s sins, downplaying Israel’s rebellion toward God. So God says he’ll judge Israel, and that like a fig tree with no figs, Israel will wither.
Jesus is using the imagery from Jeremiah and applying it to the temple in his own generation over five hundred years later. By having lots and lots of leaves the fig tree promised to be fruitful, but in the end it didn’t produce anything.
Here we find a principle that’s important for our lives.
(1) We follow Jesus when we refuse to live our lives by mere appearances.
Don’t confuse leaves with fruit, because as impressive as leaves are from a distance, they don’t mean anything if there’s no fruit. The Jewish temple, as we’ll see in a few minutes, looked impressive. It had all the appearances of something great, with its massive walls, it’s ornate architecture, it’s sheer size. The temple courts alone were five football fields long. During the Passover celebration well over 200,000 sacrificial lambs were sacrificed on the altar of this incredible temple. But the temple wasn’t producing the fruit of godly people, the fruit of joyful worship, the fruit of an Israel who was compassionate and righteous. The temple had become all leaves and no fruit.
Many people’s spiritual lives are like that too. A person might attend a worship service on Sunday, but fail to actually give God praise and honor. A person might read her Bible every day, but fail to listen and obey it’s message. A person might put a Christian fish symbol on his business card, but fail to actually conduct his business by the values of Jesus. You see, the leaves are the outward trappings that might impress people from a distance. But unless those leaves are producing godly fruit in our lives, then they’re only there for show.
It is very easy to confuse leaves with fruit. But followers of Jesus refuse to live by mere appearances.
2. The Barren Temple (Mark 11:15-19)
Now sandwiched in the middle of the cursing of the fig tree is Jesus’ action in the Jewish temple. Traditionally this event is called "the cleansing of the temple." The typical explanation goes something like this: Jesus was trying to reform the Jewish temple because of the dishonesty of the people selling sacrificial animals there. his explanation views the money changers as being like merchants selling trinkets in the holy land today, and Jesus is upset because they’ve commercialized the worship at the temple. So in his anger, Jesus calls the temple "a den of thieves," because of these money changers peddling their wares for a profit. That’s the traditional explanation of this event, but remember appearances can be deceiving.
But I don’t think Jesus is trying to cleanse or reform the temple at all. If the fig tree in the previous verses and the following verses symbolizes the temple, then Jesus isn’t cleansing the temple, he’s condemning it. In fact, two chapters later Jesus is going to tell his followers plainly that this temple is going to be destroyed (13:1-2). Jesus didn’t cleanse or try to reform the fig tree, but he condemned it so it withered up and died. And I think what Jesus is doing here is similar, not a cleansing but a symbolic statement of judgment.
That’s probably different from what you’ve heard before about this event, so let’s look at it more closely.
First let’s talk about the Jewish temple itself. This is Israel’s second temple; the first temple was built by Solomon, and it was destroyed by the Babylonians years earlier. According to the Book of Ezra, construction of the Second Temple was authorized by Cyrus the Great and began in 538 BCE, after the fall of the Babylonian Empire the year before. Eventually that temple was rebuilt by Herod the Great, the Roman puppet king over Israel in Jesus’ day. The area Jesus is in is probably the outer court, often called "the court of Gentiles." The court of the Gentiles was an outdoor court that surrounded the entire temple structure. This court covered the length of five football fields, the width of three football fields, covering roughly 35 acres . So we’re talking about a huge area.
The court of the Gentiles was the first of a series of concentric squares. Each concentric square was more restrictive about who could enter it with both Jewish and non-Jewish people allowed inside the court of Gentiles, only Jewish people allowed in the next court, only Jewish men allowed in the next court, only Jewish priests allowed in the next court, and then only the Jewish high priest allowed in the final court. In the court of the Gentiles there was a sign posted that threatened death to any non-Jewish person who attempted to go beyond the Court of Gentiles.
It’s hard to overstate the importance of this temple to ancient Judaism They believed God’s presence indwelt the temple in a special and unique way. They also viewed the temple as the only place where a person could find forgiveness of sins because it was the place where sacrifices were offered. The temple was also a symbol of Israel’s national status. So the temple had both religious and political significance to the people of Jesus’ day.
When Jewish people came to the temple to celebrate the Passover holiday, they had to offer a sacrifice and pay their annual half shekel temple tax. This explains the presence of the money changers in this outer court. The money changers were bankers who exchanged Roman currency for the half-shekel so Jewish people could pay their temple tax. You couldn’t pay the temple tax with Roman currency, so you had to exchange it for shekels. So the money changers were essential for Jewish people to fulfill their obligations. And the selling of animals in the temple courts for sacrifice was also prescribed by the Old Testament law, because many people traveled too far to bring their sacrificial animals with them. So to exchange currency or sell animals weren’t necessarily against God’s intention of the temple.
Now Jesus’ action isn’t designed to take over the temple, but it’s more of a symbolic protest. What Jesus does is temporarily stop the temple from functioning, causing a brief interruption in the offering of sacrifices. Notice that he drives out both those selling and those buying, which tells me that the issue isn’t just that the sellers were dishonest.
The key to understanding Jesus’ action here are the two passages from the Old Testament that he quotes in v. 17. The first Old Testament passage he quotes is Isaiah 56:7. The 56th chapter of Isaiah from the Old Testament promises a future time when people formerly excluded from temple worship will be welcomed.
"Let no foreigner who has bound himself to the LORD say, "The LORD will surely exclude me from his people."…And foreigners who bind themselves to the LORD and serve him, to live the name of the LORD and to worship him…these I will bring to my holy mountain and give them joy in my house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house will be called a house of prayer for all nations" (Isaiah 56:3, 6-7 NIV).
Many people of Jesus’ day believed that the Messiah would drive out all foreigners, yet Jesus quotes a text that looks forward to the very opposite. Jesus doesn’t clear the temple of non-Jewish people, but he clears the temple for them . So part of Jesus’ action has to do with the inclusion of non-Jewish people within God’s people, something that will take place when the Church is born.
The other text Jesus quotes here comes from Jeremiah chapter 7. Let me read the context:
Do not trust in deceptive words and say, "This is the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD, the temple of the LORD!"…Will you steal and murder, commit adultery and perjury, burn incense to Baal and follow other gods…and then come and stand before me in this house, which bears my Name, and say, "We are safe"-safe to do all these detestable things? Has this house, which bears my Name, become a den of robbers to you? (Jeremiah 7:4, 9-11 NIV).
This section is just one chapter earlier than the passage about the fig tree we looked at earlier. In Jeremiah’s day, Jewish people were living like the devil throughout the week, and then believing that they were safe from God’s judgment because they went to the temple each Sabbath. They were trusting in the temple, rather than trusting in the God of the temple.
Now it’s important to note that the word "robbers" here does not mean a "thief" or "swindler." This Greek word translated "robber" here always means "someone who robs by force and violence" . In fact, sometimes it’s used to describe a terrorist. So a "robber" isn’t someone who sneaks into your house while your gone and steals your computer; a robber someone who mugs you, beats you up, and steals your wallet. I think this rules out the idea that Jesus is talking about the merchants selling animals or the money changers exchanging currency. Jesus is talking about people who use violence and brutality to get what they want and then who hide in the temple, thinking that they’re secure from God’s judgment.
The other reason why I don’t think Jesus is talking about the merchant’s dishonesty is his use of the word "den." Robbers don’t do their robbing in their den . The den is their hideout, their place of security that they go to after they’ve finished robbing people. So a "den" for robbers is where violent people find refuge from the police. Jesus is saying that the temple of his generation has degenerated into the same sorry state of affairs that it had in Jeremiah’s generation. Instead of being a place of prayer for all peoples, it was turned into a place where sinful and violent people thought they could be safe from the wrath of God.
This generation no longer worshiped the God of the temple, but they worshiped the temple itself. The temple had the same problem that the fig tree had: leafy from a distance but no fruit inside. Jesus didn’t go there to reform or cleanse the temple. He went there to pronounce judgment on it, that it’s days are numbered. Jesus is there to declare that there’s now a new temple for people. Jesus himself is that new temple. Jesus is the place where both Jews and non-Jewish people can encounter God’s presence; he’s the place where people can find forgiveness and cleansing of their sins. The destruction of the temple in 70 AD by the Roman general Titus during the Jewish wars was the fulfillment of Jesus’ symbolic judgment enacted here.
Here we find another important principle. We follow Jesus by refusing to allow good things to take priority over our devotion to Jesus.
The temple was a good thing. God commanded the people of Israel to build this temple. It wasn’t their idea; it was God’s idea. God commanded Israel to worship in the temple, to offer sacrifices there, to invest themselves in the temple.
But the temple was always a tool, nothing more. It was a tool for encountering the God of the temple, a tool for finding forgiveness from God. The temple was a tool for worship, a tool for praise, a tool for celebration, a tool for repentance.
But religious leaders of Jesus’ day turned a good thing into the most important thing. The temple had become an idol, a substitute for the God of the temple. And what God had intended for good had become an instrument for evil. So God had to tear down something good because it had become an idol. Also according to Jeremiah 7 the people sinned against the Lord and thought that they could find security in the Temple. That is why Jesus said "You have made it to be a den of thieves."
The story we read today is an interesting one. It’s one that doesn’t really fit with the picture of Jesus that we usually think about. How does a loving Jesus, who goes around teaching good morals, fit with this violent figure who curses a fig tree, disrupts a market place, stops temple worship and causes chaos.
1. We have the story of the fig tree. Again considered in isolation this is a bizarre story. Jesus sees a a fig tree and sees it has no figs so he curses it and it dies. Why, it was not the time of year for figs. The tree had leaves on it which was right for the time of year, why did Jesus curse it. Because he wanted to make it absolutely clear that his disciples understood what was going on in what he did in the temple. You see it wasn’t just that Jesus cursed it, it was that it withered as well. Jesus was giving an object lesson about fruitfulness. Unless something was going to produce the fruit it was supposed to, it was going to be destroyed.
2. When Jesus speaks about what he is doing in the temple he does so by using two quotations from the Old Testament. One from Isaiah and one from Jeremiah. The first is from Isaiah 56:6-8. This speaks about the temple being used not just for Israel but for the whole world. Then we have a quotation from Jeremiah chapter 7 where God complains that his people are not living a godly lifestyle and are worshiping other gods but they believe that God will save them because they have the temple and make sacrifices there. God tells them that this is not the case. If they do not repent then he will destroy the temple.
3. Jesus tells his disciples that if they tell this mountain to throw itself into the sea then it will be done. Notice he says this mountain. Jesus was obviously pointing at a particular mountain. There is only one mountain in this context he could possibly be referring to. The mountain that Jerusalem and temple itself were built on.
So given all of this what can we say about what Jesus was doing in the temple. In the tradition of the old testament prophets Jesus was acting out a parable. He was demonstrating in a small way what was going to happen in a big way. Jesus activity was to stop the temple from functioning, for a brief period no-one could enter and sacrifices would have stopped. The sacrifices were the reason for the existence of the temple. Without the sacrifice the temple had no purpose to exist. Jesus was acting out the destruction of the temple. The setting of the story amidst the withering of the fig tree, a quotation from Jeremiah that talks about the temple being destroyed and then talking about throwing the temple mount into the sea make it absolutely clear that Jesus was demonstrating and talking about the destruction of the temple.
It was probably this act that led directly to his crucifixion. Why? The temple was the heart of Jewish worship but it was also the power base of the Jewish leaders. Jesus was essentially condemning the whole system.
We read in other verses that Jesus was not just talking about a destruction and rebuilding of the temple but a destruction of the temple and to replace it with himself as the meeting place between God and man where sins could be dealt with.
