Jesus and the fig tree

[jsimms615]

In case you haven't noticed, I am studying the Gospel of Mark. I ran across a passage in Mark 11:12-14,20-22 in which Jesus curses a fig tree. I thought it unusual since the passage says in verse 13 that it was not the season for fig, yet Jesus went to look to see if perhaps some were on the tree. You would think he would know without going to look at it that there was no figs there?
I find Jesus curse of the tree unusual and harsh also seeing that it wasn't the season for figs.
Any thoughts on this?

 

[S Walch]

It was so He could use what He did to make a point to the disciples.

The point is made in verses 22-25.

Also see the same story in Matthew 21:18-22.

 

[jsimms615]

It was so He could use what He did to make a point to the disciples.

The point is made in verses 22-25.

Also see the same story in Matthew 21:18-22.

So then, the statement that he went there looking to see if there might be some figs wasn't really true then? See Mark 11:13

 

[S Walch]

Well, it does say that the Fig tree was in leaf, which means that there should actually have been some figs on it. Sounds like it was just before the season for figs to be sprouting.

I do the same thing when I go to see whether there's Apples on my apple tree when it's full of leaves, even if it's not exactly in the middle of the season for it to be baring Apples.

Sometimes we get lucky with the cooking apple tree.

 

[jsimms615]

Well, it does say that the Fig tree was in leaf, which means that there should actually have been some figs on it. Sounds like it was just before the season for figs to be sprouting.

I do the same thing when I go to see whether there's Apples on my apple tree when it's full of leaves, even if it's not exactly in the middle of the season for it to be baring Apples.

Sometimes we get lucky with the cooking apple tree.

Okay, maybe I'm splitting hairs here. It just seemed to me that verse spoke of intent. I guess we'll never know. Maybe Jesus just saw the opportunity later to use it as an object lesson. He seemed to like using object lessons from simple things.
J

 

[Beasley]

Interesting that he had just come into Jerusalem on the colt and they spread the leafy branches before him. This practice is usually done at the Feast of Tabernacles, which they were commanded to keep in Jerusalem, and to build temporary shelters of palms. It looked forward to the reign of Christ as King. They were out of order, to early. The Spring Feasts had to occur first, with the Passover sacrifice. They were celebrating the wrong thing.

 

[dcyates]

In case you haven't noticed, I am studying the Gospel of Mark. I ran across a passage in Mark 11:12-14,20-22 in which Jesus curses a fig tree. I thought it unusual since the passage says in verse 13 that it was not the season for fig, yet Jesus went to look to see if perhaps some were on the tree. You would think he would know without going to look at it that there was no figs there?
I find Jesus curse of the tree unusual and harsh also seeing that it wasn't the season for figs.
Any thoughts on this?

I think this was one of those instances where, instead of simply telling a parable, Jesus acted out a parable, largely for prophetic purposes. Other examples of this very thing are found in Jeremiah 19, where the prophet purchased a clay pot and then smashed it to pieces, in order to graphically illustrate what God had in store for Judah and Jerusalem because of their disobedience; and Ezekiel 4-5, where Ezekiel fashions a model of the city of Jerusalem and then sets part of it ablaze and shatters the other part with a sword, again as a graphic illustration of what lay in their future.

Jesus is essentially doing the same thing here. The fig tree represents the nation of Israel, specifically as Israel is represented by the Temple. Mark's Gospel often tells its stories in 'sandwich' form. For instance, here we have the outside 'bread' portions of the story concerning the fig tree, with the inside 'meat' portion dealing with the Temple--particularly Jesus' cleansing of the Temple, which is again, an acted parable. The Temple in Jerusalem was supposed to act as a dwelling place for God, wherein he dwelt in the midst of his people, who were commissioned to be 'a light to the nations', so that through Israel the Gentile world would be drawn to Zion to worship him. However, God, in the person of Jesus, returned to Israel and the Jerusalem Temple and found that, instead of it "being called a house of prayer for all the Gentiles" (quoting Isaiah 56.7), it had been turned "into a den of brigands" (Jeremiah 7.11). Here Jesus is referring to the religious zealots who fomented violent revolution against Israel's perceived enemies--specifically Rome--which Jesus evidently saw as exactly the wrong way to bring about the kingdom. It was to the Temple that these revolutionaries pointed as the crentral focus of their ideology. Thus, part of Jesus' charge against his fellow Jews was that Israel as a whole had taken its vocation to be a light to the world and, turning this on its head, used it as an excuse for a hard, narrow, nationalistic piety and politics in which the rest of the world was to be, not enlightened vis-a-vis the worship of YHWH, but rather condemned. The way Jesus' contemporaries had organized things, the Temple had come to symbolize not God's welcome to the nations but insead their exclusion. It's worthwhile noting that that particular part of the Temple that Jesus 'cleansed' was the Court of the Gentiles, which had been overrun by animal vendors and money-changers, so that, even if Gentiles did wish to come and worship God there, where they could even find space to do so, it would have to be done in the midst of a cacophony of animal noises and business dealing (not to mention the smell). Not exactly what one would call conducive to contemplative worship and prayer. (It should also be noted though that there was definitely a legitimate place for these transactions somewhere close to the Temple, just not there in the Court of the Gentiles.)

Similarly, the guardians of the Temple--the Sadducees, scribes and chief priests--grew notorious for their rich and oppressive lifestyles. Hence, with violence and condemnation toward outsiders, and injustice and opprseeion towards the common people of Israel itself; this was what the Temple had come to mean in Jesus' day. Consequently, as with the fruitless fig tree, Jesus' only words for the Temple were those of judgement.

 

[jsimms615]

Thanks. that makes a lot of sense to me.

 

[pletho]

Hello and God bless, in those days the fig tree was known as the peoples tree, meaning any one could eat from it, they were public not private property. During the late spring, the fig tree normally blossoms with both leaves and sweet, edible buds. These buds are what Jesus intended to eat, later they the buds would develop into figs. That it why it says "he found nothing but leaves". The time of figs was not yet it was still spring, it was "the time of buds" before "the time of the mature fruit Figs". Since there were no buds, which later would have developed into fruit "the Fig" he cursed it saying that no man shall eat of the hereafter forever. It's very enlightning to Understand that the Fig tree symbolized Israel.

Israel at this point in time was not budding with fruit, it was barren. Although from a distance (just like Jesus Christ looking at the tree from a distance) looking from the outside they looked to be flourishing, the rituals, the ceremonies ect.. they looked like they were doing what was right but they were far from God in their heart, unfruitful, honoring God with their lips but their heart was far from Him, they had rejected God's only begotten Son Jesus the Christ, and from this point on no fruit would come out of Israel as a nation, she was unprofitable. When I say fruit, I mean believing on God's son Jesus Christ. They just stumbled. Bless, Steve

 

[gentlestorm]

I think that the parable is demonstrating something similar to the 4th chapter of John's Gospel where He talks about the fields being ripe for harvest NOW.
The teaching Christ brings is above nature's cycles.
Man is living in a world of nature and a world of Spirit.
Our 'fig' tree better bear fruit out of season because 'the fields are ripe' now. THis teaching is about going against nature. It is about transcending our lower stuff.
We bear fruit when we see the spiritual side of the Gospels and live it...otherwise we are just prisoners of nature and bear fruit only in nature's seasons.

 

[Lyle]

Do notice the wording there. the fig tree was "in the way". The story deals with how God views unreality.

 

[dcyates]

Do notice the wording there. the fig tree was "in the way". The story deals with how God views unreality.

Huh? Excuse me, but are you suggesting that Jesus cursed this fig tree because he couldn't be bothered to walk around it? What do you mean when you assert that the "story deals with how God views unreality"? What does "unreality" have to do with the fig tree? Where and how does "unreality" enter into the story at all?