Mark 11:12-14, 20-25
This passage occurs around in intertwined with the triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the Palm Sunday passage, in Mark. Matthew also has a version of this story. Jesus enters, looks for figs out of season, doesn’t get any, curses the fig tree, goes in to the temple, chases out the money changes, and comes back the next day to a withered fig tree. Jesus’s response to Peter afterwards makes things even more confusing.
What do we do with a Jesus with a bad temper, who curses, who destroys the life of a fig tree? Fruit trees appear a lot in Scripture, either being fruitful or fruitless, and about what we should expect a tree to bear. So what is this passage all about?
In the OT, Israel is a fig tree quite often. Here in this place, Jesus could be referring to the temple as being empty, as not bearing fruit. Or he could be referring to Jerusalem the same way. It’s probably not about one fruit tree. It’s probably about us. How human is Jesus right here? How do the disciples then experience this? How do the disciples today experience this?
