Sermon Tone Analysis

*Mark 11:12-14…* Now the next day, as they went out from Bethany, he was hungry.

13 After noticing in the distance a fig tree with leaves, he went to see if he could find any fruit on it.

When he came to it he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs.

14 He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.”

And his disciples heard it.

*Commentary*

            In Mark 11:1-11 Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem was explained.

He entered the city by the east gate on Monday March 30, AD 33.

A multitude had followed him and shouted in joy believing the long awaited Messiah had come to sit on David’s throne.

Jesus then went into the temple that night, looked around, and went back to Bethany some two miles away where he was staying with Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

Now in Mark 11:12 Jesus has gotten up from a night’s sleep (Tuesday morning March 31) and proceeded onward again toward Jerusalem.

The text says that he was hungry, one of those passages that proves Jesus’ humanity.

As Jesus looked, in the distance he saw a fig tree “with leaves,” but when he got to the tree he found no figs, for it was not the season for figs.

Then he cursed the tree, loud enough for his disciples to hear it, so that it would never bear fruit again.

Now this is peculiar because even the last clause of v. 13 says that it was not the season for figs.

So why would Jesus take such an action?

The answer is that Jesus was using the fig tree as an illustration for Israel, the Jews.

They had the outward appearance of piety, like the fig tree with leaves, but inwardly they had no fruit to show that they were God’s chosen people.

Fig trees begin to grow leaves in late March and early April – the time in which Jesus was there.

If it had leaves it should have also had fruit.

The point of v. 13 was that Jesus noticed a fig tree “in the distance,” and it gave the appearance of having figs.

Once Jesus was upon it, however, it was clear that this wasn’t the case.

So Jesus used it to illustrate Israel.

So it was with Israel then – so it is with the church today.

Because it wasn’t the season for ripe figs Jesus was making the point that because the tree had leaves – which meant it should have had figs too – it was only pretending to have good fruit.

The OT prophets oftentimes spoke of Israel’s relationship to God as a fig tree (Jer.

8:13; Joel 1:17).

The destruction of the fig tree in the OT is associated with judgment.

The curse that Jesus put on the tree was a foreshadowing of the future fate of Jerusalem which was destroyed 35 years later.

The Jews honored God with their lips, but their hearts were far from Him (cf.

7:6).

In the next context Jesus goes into the temple in Jerusalem and in righteous indignation cleanses it from the corruption there.

The fig tree in this context foreshadows that incident, and when he walked outside the city the tree had withered from the roots in response to his curse on it.

Jesus was patient towards Israel.

While in Jerusalem at the beginning of his ministry he made himself known and was rejected.

When he went in three years later he was rejected again.

So, the Jews were put under a curse – a curse that was implemented some 35 years later when the holy city was destroyed.

Today the Jews today are still under a curse.

They’re preserved but unblessed (cf.

John 1:11).

Though back in the Promised Land they have yet to inherit God’s full blessings.

*Food for Thought*

Christians are called to bear fruit year-round.

There’s no “off-season.”

A tree is always measured by its fruit.

So an effective Christian is always producing – just like an effective fruit tree.

Some churches and Christians look real spiritual on the outside (their clothes, buildings, numbers, clerical vestments, etc.), but these, like the fig tree with leaves and no fruit, are cursed.

There may be lots of prayers, crying, loud and beautiful music, but inside there is no life.

So let us take inventory of our “tree.”

Is there any fruit in your life that proves you are truly saved?

*Mark 11:15-19… *Then they came to Jerusalem.

Jesus entered the temple area and began to drive out those who were selling and buying in the temple courts.

He turned over the tables of the moneychangers and the chairs of those selling doves, 16 and he would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts.

17 Then he began to teach them and said, “Is it not written: ‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’?

But you have turned it into a den of robbers!” 18 The chief priests and the experts in the law heard it and they considered how they could assassinate him, for they feared him because the whole crowd was amazed by his teaching.

19 When evening came, they went out of the city.

* *

*Commentary*

            Jesus strolled into town after the incident with the fig tree, and his actions at the temple that day clarify why he did what he did to the fig tree.

Jerusalem was teeming with people for the annual Jewish Passover feast.

Pilgrims traveling from all over came to make the necessary sacrifices at the altar, but because they were not permitted by Jewish law to bring their sacrificial animals from far away, the merchants in the temple provided them for a price.

This practice was not only beneficial but biblical.

Merchants, however, began to take advantage of people, and this is what Jesus took exception to.

You see, trade was controlled by the priestly nobility who profited greatly at the expense of ordinary pilgrims.

Some of these people needed their currency converted for use in the temple, but the charge for doing so in some cases was up to 25%!

And those who needed to purchase a lamb for the sacrifice were sometimes charged ten times the amount it would normally cost.

Truly the temple courtyard was filled with corruption.

Furthermore, some folks, loaded with merchandise, were taking shortcuts through* *the temple area and using it as an access road from one part of the city to another.

This brought further confusion and chaos to an area that was supposed to be devoted to prayer and worship.

And Mark makes special note of those who sold doves, for the dove was one of the few sacrifices that the poor people could afford and that God allowed them to offer (Lev.

14:22).

But they too were being victimized by the greedy merchants.

So Jesus went on the attack.

Jesus cited two texts as the basis for his attack on the temple merchants.

The first is Isaiah 56:7 where he reminds them that God’s temple was to be a place of worship for all nations.

The second text he cited was from Jeremiah 7:11, where Jeremiah condemns the notion that the temple provides protection for the Jews in their sin.

On the contrary, God would destroy his temple (Jer.

7:3–15), and this He did at the hands of the Romans some 35 years later.

Jesus was furious over the fact that God’s temple was being used as a place to profit instead of worship.

*Food for thought*

Though our bodies are called the new “temple of God” (1 Cor.

6:18-20; Rom.

12:1-2) we still worship in buildings we call church and “houses of prayer.”

These are simply buildings, however, for they are not like the Jewish temple where God’s presence was in the days of Jesus.

The place where God’s Holy Spirit dwells, and where He Himself is present, is in the body of Christians.

We are the temple of God.

But just like the temple that Jesus angrily cleansed of its corruptions, our bodies too become corrupted when we fill our minds with filth, selfishly pursue wanton pleasure, and fail to use our bodies for God’s glory.

It was Martin Luther who came to hate the indulgences of his day just – the supposed buying and selling of God’s grace.

His disdain for this practice ushered in the Protestant Reformation and moved people back to the study of the Scriptures.

We too should cry out today for Christ to expose our sins and cleanse us just like he did in the temple that day.

Only then can we truly reap God’s eternal blessings.

*Mark 11:20-25…* In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots.

21 Peter recalled and said to him, “Rabbi, look!

The fig tree you cursed has withered.”

22 Jesus said, “Have faith in God.

23 Truly I say, if one says to this mountain, ‘Be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.

24 For this reason I tell you, whatever you pray and ask for, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.

25 When you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your sins.”

*Commentary*

On Monday March 30 Jesus came to the Jerusalem temple, looked around, and made his way back towards Bethany where he was staying.

On Tuesday morning he went to Jerusalem from Bethany, and on the way he cursed the fig tree for not bearing fruit.

When he got to Jerusalem he cleansed the temple in an angry rage because the Jewish leaders there, like the fig tree, had the appearance of life but in reality were dead in sins and bore no fruit.

Now in v. 20 it is the next morning – Wednesday April 1, AD 33.