TLK Valentine
I've already read the books you want burned.
- Apr 15, 2012
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Probably because they've accepted, without question, the notion that Jesus' arrival in Jerusalem coincided with Passover.
Now, I have to give credit to this exegesis to Bishop Spong (no surprise there) who believes that the Gospels were originally preserved in the synagogue, read aloud throughout the Jewish liturgical year. His theory is that Mark's Gospel was read from Rosh Hashanah to Passover. So even though the reading of the arrival in Jerusalem happened during Passover season, the actual event may not have.
It's possible that when Mark's Gospel was put to writing, the fig tree incident was included to support the tradition of Jesus arriving during Passover, even though the actual description of the event itself indicates otherwise.
Matthew, of course, copied Mark, so the incident appears there as well (slightly shortened; perhaps Matthew didn't know the reason for its inclusion, and wanted to gloss over it?), Luke omits the fig tree, but he also omits the crowd waving branches when Jesus arrives in Jerusalem, thus making the reference unnecessary.
John's a bit of a puzzler - He also omits the fig tree, but he's the one who specifies palm fronds, as opposed to just plain old branches... noting that palm trees are leafy year round, so it wouldn't matter when the event happened.
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