Appearances can be deceiving. I was reminded of this several years ago when I was waiting in line at a McDonalds with two of my sons. A guy came into McDonalds who looked really suspicious. He had long hair, tattoos everywhere, several body piercings, and he just looked scary. This guy seemed to be acting pretty suspicious too. I was convinced that he was going to rob the McDonalds while I was standing in line with my two sons. So in my mind I started formulating my plan for keeping myself and by boys safe, when suddenly the guy looked at me and started staring. Suddenly he broke into a huge grin and said, "Tim, is that you?" It turns out I’d gone to Upland high with the guy, and I realized that he’d looked just as scary in high school, but that he was harmless.
Appearances can be deceiving at times. And nowhere can appearances be more deceiving than in the spiritual life. People who outwardly appear to be very unspiritual can in fact be some of the most spiritual people you’ll ever meet. And other people who outwardly appear to be very spiritual can in fact be some of the most unspiritual people you’ll ever meet. Appearances can be deceiving.
Today we’re going to look at two of Jesus Christ’s most misunderstood actions. These two actions of Jesus aren’t what they first appear to be. And both of these two actions deal with the deceptive power of appearances. The two actions I’m talking about are Jesus Christ’s cursing of a fig tree and 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 we’ve been in a series through the New Testament book of Mark called Following Jesus In the Real World. In this series we’ve been going through Mark’s biography of Jesus in the Bible, seeing what it means to live as a follower of Jesus Christ in our world today. Today we’re going to continue that series through Mark.
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 first story. Mark’s going to start 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.
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 hankering 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 the Hebrew prophet 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. 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.
My second year as pastor of teaching here at LBF Church, I preached a sermon series through the book of James. I met a woman who’d been attending our church for a few years, and everyone assumed that she’d already established a relationship with Jesus Christ. She had lots of leaves in her life, impressive leaves, but there was no fruit underneath. When I was preaching from the second chapter of James about how a true faith in Jesus Christ always good works, she realized that she didn’t have genuine faith in Jesus Christ. Her conversion that day shocked many of her friends, who assumed she’d been a Christian for a long time.
It just reminded me how 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 moneychangers 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 cursing 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 cursed 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. 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 (Edwards 341). 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. Ancient Jews believed that their temple in Jerusalem was literally the center of the universe, because it was the one place in the world where heaven and earth intersected (N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God, p. 407). 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 (Edwards 343). 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. They were like the Italian godfather who goes to mass each Sunday, thinking he’s safe from God’s judgment for his sins. So they turned God’s holy temple into a hang out for robbers.
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" (Louw and Nida, Greek English Lexicon, 39.37). 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. In fact, just 37 years after Jesus said this, a group of Jewish terrorists called zealots took over the temple and moved their headquarters into the most Holy Place. The zealots thought they’d be safe from the Roman authorities there, and for two years they lived there, turning the temple’s most holy place into a literal den for terrorists.
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 (Garland 438). The den is their hideout, their place of security that they go to after they’ve finished robbing people. So a den of 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, they’d turned it into a national shrine for Israel alone. Instead of being a place for people to find forgiveness and restoration, a place to worship God with joy and holiness, the temple had become a safe house for sinful and violent people.
This generation no longer worshipped the God of the temple, but they worshipped 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.
When we make the good things in our lives more important than our devotion to Jesus Christ, we make the same mistake. I love my family--my wife, my boys--but my devotion to Jesus must take priority over my family. If it doesn’t, I turn my family into an idol, and they become the object of my worship. A person who worships his family can’t be the husband or wife, father or mother their family needs them to be.
I love this church. This church has been my home for over twenty years. It’s the place I’ve grown in my faith, the place I’ve learned to pastor, the place that took a chance on me. I love this church. But I can’t love this church more than I love Jesus, or this church will become an idol.
What are you tempted to love more than Jesus Christ in your life? Your country? Your friends? Your lifestyle? Don’t make the same mistake this generation of leaders made with the temple. If you make these things more important than Jesus, he might have to tear it down to show you what’s truly important.
3. Teachings on Faith (Mark 11:22-25)
Now let’s look at Jesus’ teaching about faith in vv. 22-25. Now this teaching comes right after Peter calls attention to the withered fig tree. To understand this teaching we need to remember that for many of the people of Jesus’ day, the object of their faith was no longer the God of the temple but the temple itself. The temple was the place where your prayers were most likely to be answered. The temple was the place where you expressed your faith, the place where you received forgiveness. All the things Jesus talks about here were things that people of Jesus’ day would normally do inside the temple.
Jesus calls people to trust God, not to trust in the temple. When he says, "Anyone who says to this mountain throw yourself into the sea, it will be done," Jesus is alluding to the temple. You see, the temple was built on a mountain, Mount Zion. That’s why he says "this mountain," because the only mountain around when he says this is the temple mount. So Jesus’ point isn’t merely that faith moves mountains, but that faith in God is more powerful than faith in the temple on the mountain. Now Jesus isn’t giving us a formula for using faith to do miracles, but he’s pointing to the absolutely central place faith has in our lives. Faith is of more value than the temple.
Jesus then talks about prayer. Again, prayer was believed to be most effective if performed inside the temple. Praying inside the temple was the Jewish equivalent to praying in Jesus’ name for Christians. So Jesus is saying that prayer isn’t dependant on the temple, but it’s dependant on faith in the one you’re praying to. Again, this isn’t a formula for us to use to get our way in prayer. There are plenty of other passages about prayer in the New Testament that qualify this promise. Prayer needs to be done in accordance with God’s will for that prayer request to be realized. So we can’t tear this verse out of its context and then build a whole doctrine of prayer based on it alone. We need to look at all the verses about prayer in their context. If we do that we see that prayer indeed does change things and make a difference, but we must prayer in accordance with God’s will. Prayer is as much aligning our will with God’s will as it’s asking God to do things. So we can’t lose the point that Jesus is here saying that prayer is not tied to the temple to be effective, but that it’s tied to faith.
Jesus also talks about receiving and granting forgiveness. Again, the temple was viewed as the only place where people could find forgiveness of their sins. Different kinds of animals were sacrificed in the temple for different kinds of sins. The Jewish people of Jesus’ day believed that if you offered an animal sacrifice in faith, God cleansed you of your sins. Your guilt was transferred from you to the animal who was sacrificed. God had commanded Israel to seek God’s forgiveness in this way. But now that Jesus has come, things have radically changed. Jesus is about to offer his own life as a final sacrifice for human sin, making all animal sacrifices obsolete. This makes the temple irrelevant, because Jesus is now the new temple, the new place where forgiveness is received. British historian N. T. Wright says that the Christian faith is the first faith in history to have a religion that didn’t involve animal sacrifices (The New Testament and the People of God, p. 363). Jesus is saying that forgiveness is found in him, and that offering forgiveness to others is essential to our experience of forgiveness. Refusing to hold something against a person who’s wronged us is essential to our own experience of forgiveness.
Here we find a final principle. We follow Jesus by embracing a life of faith.
Jesus has become the center of faith. Trusting in Jesus is essential to living a life of faith, experiencing answers to our prayers, and experiencing forgiveness in our lives. Jesus not the temple is the center now.
When we took our summer vacation in Yosemite last summer, my oldest son and I took a rock climbing class. One of the things we learned to do was to belay. The person on belay is the person who anchors the person climbing, so if the climber slips and falls the belay line will hold him secure. The instructor said that the climber and the person on belay enter into a verbal contract with each other, a kind of covenant, where they place their life in the other person’s hands. As they were talking about it, I thought, "What a wonderful example of faith." When we enter into faith in Jesus, we place our lives in his hands. Jesus becomes our belay, the one we trust to hold our lives up, the one we trust when we fall to keep us secure. The Christian life is a upward climb of the mountain of life, and Jesus is our security, the object of our faith.
Conclusion
Jesus calls us to follow him, not to follow a temple, a religion, a church, or a philosophy. Following Jesus Christ means living a fruitful life of faith in him. It means refusing to be content with mere appearances, but devoting our lives to actual fruitfulness. It means refusing to trust in anything more than Jesus, even the good things in life. And most of all it means living a life of faith in him, trusting him with all we have.
