Holy Week-Monday

The above picture is a fig tree. As you read the scripture today, let's put your imagination to work. Jesus is walking down a dusty road, His stomach is growling, and He see a fig tree already beginning to leaf, but without fruit. It's probably March or April on our calendar now, Passover on the Jewish calendar, and it would not have fruit or full leaves until June.

For today's reading: Mark 11:11-18; Matthew 21:12-22; Luke 19:45-47; John 2:13-16. I will be teaching from Mark 11:11-18.

And he entered Jerusalem and went into the temple. And when he had looked around at everything, as it was already late, he went out to Bethany with the twelve. Jesus Curses the Fig Tree 12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 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. 14 And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it. Jesus Cleanses the Temple 15 And they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. 16 And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 And he was teaching them and saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a den of robbers.” 18 And the chief priests and the scribes heard it and were seeking a way to destroy him, for they feared him, because all the crowd was astonished at his teaching. 19 And when evening came they went out of the city.

Verse 11: More than likely, Jesus was staying with Martha, Mary and Lazarus in Bethany. One of the commentaries said, "This verse shows Jesus as thoughtful, deliberate." He was pausing, because the guilty verdict was in, and the sentence would be carried out the next day. Judgement was coming because of the things he had seen in the temple.

Verse 12: The next day is Monday of Passion Week. He is leaving Bethany headed back into Jerusalem and He is hungry. Him being hungry is fascinating to me. Martha would have surely made sure He was fed, but I believe the meaning is deeper than just a stomach hunger. While I could not the answer in the commentaries, I believe it is leading up to the next verse regarding the fig tree. The significance of the fig tree is so much greater than food. Let's take a peek!

Verse 13: Look back at the beginning where I talked about the fig tree. While March/April would bring the tree into getting leaves, full leaves and fruit would not happen until June. This tree was full of leaves, it is Passover, so it's too soon.

Jewish Rabbi's believe the fruit from the Garden of Eden is actually a fig, not an apple as we have been taught. Jesus is using the fig tree as symbolic. Meaning the fig tree represents a faithless Israel.

Food for thought: While the fig tree is representing an Israel that does not believe Jesus is the Messiah, could it also be traced back to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden? Could they represent faithless and disobedience?

Verse 14: Judgement, cursing, has now come upon the fig tree (Israel). "Israel, like the fig tree, appeared to be thriving; but the appearances were deceiving because Israel and the fig tree were bearing no fruit." This verse is leading us into Jesus entering the temple and bringing about judgment.

Verse 15, 16: Imagine Jesus coming into the temple and flipping tables!! Goods, doves and money go flying, literally, everywhere. The temple courts is where they would worship God and pray. While people were coming into Jerusalem for Passover, they would need animals to meet the requirements for sacrifice. However, setting up booths of money tables and animal pens in a holy place should have never been done. Why you ask? "It was the set of practices that denied the nations access to the house of prayer." The doves were used for sacrifice for the poor, cleansing of certain skin disease, purification of women and other purposes.

Verse 17: Isaiah 56:7 states, "these I will bring to my holy mountain, and make them joyful in my house of prayer; their burnt offerings and their sacrifices will be accepted on my altar; for my house shall be called a house of prayer for all peoples.” The temple courts were for worshipping the Lord. The Jewish religious leaders were interfering with God's provision. The court was now noisy, loud and smelly.

Verse 18: The chief priests and teachers of the law (Jewish Pharisees/Sadducees) now saw Jesus as a threat, a dangerous threat, to their livelihood.

As you study and pray over these scriptures, use your imagination. Ask God to show you something new in them.

May you be blessed,

V

The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), Mk 11:11–19.

Rodney L. Cooper, Mark, vol. 2, Holman New Testament Commentary (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 185.

James A. Brooks, Mark, vol. 23, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1991), 180.

Ronald J. Kernaghan, Mark, The IVP New Testament Commentary Series (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2007), 218.