Jesus Cleanses the Temple

 

June 16, 2020

 

Mark 11:12-25

 

On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry.  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.   And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.  Not the season for figs, then why did Jesus curse it?  I heard this passage preached on many times and yet I had no understanding of why He cursed the tree.  

It was not the season for ripe figs, but it should have had buds, small figs that would have had some food source, but it did not.  

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

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 moneychangers and the seats of those who sold pigeons.   And he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple.   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.”   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.  And when evening came they went out of the city.  The people selling and buy were in the out part of the Temple in the area more than likely where the gentiles were allowed to enter.  Jesus is not promoting civil disobedience, but those who were prospering from these actions, such as the chief priest and those doing business had no regard for the things of God. 

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree

As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots.   And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.”   And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God.  Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.  Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.   And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”

The fig tree and the temple and all of Jerusalem would soon experience the same curse in that they totally forgot their reason for being, they were no longer a blessing to anyone.  And God's judgment fell on His chosen people.

 

I am fearful that we the people of the United States of America have followed the same path as the priest and like the chosen people of God, we who have been entrusted with so much have forgotten to be thankful and like the fig tree, we have no fruit.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice