Mark 11:12-19, The Message - As they left Bethany the next day, he was hungry. Off in the distance he saw a fig tree in full leaf. He came up to it expecting to find something for breakfast, but found nothing but fig leaves. (It wasn’t yet the season for figs.) He addressed the tree: “No one is going to eat fruit from you again—ever!” And his disciples overheard him.
They arrived at Jerusalem. Immediately on entering the
Temple Jesus started throwing out everyone who had set up shop there, buying
and selling. He kicked over the tables of the bankers and the stalls of the
pigeon merchants. He didn’t let anyone even carry a basket through the Temple.
And then he taught them, quoting this text:
My house was designated a house of prayer for the
nations;
You’ve turned it into a hangout for thieves.
The high priests and religion scholars heard what was
going on and plotted how they might get rid of him. They panicked, for the
entire crowd was carried away by his teaching.
At evening, Jesus and his disciples left the city.
A humorous made-up word that is
used often right now is “hangry,” the combination of “hungry” and “angry.” It
refers to the irritability sometimes experienced by someone who is hungry. In today’s scripture, we witness Jesus appearing
to be hangry Himself. He’s hungry. He sees
a fig tree, so He thinks breakfast is served.
Finding the tree empty of anything edible, he curses the tree saying, “No
one is going to eat fruit from you again – ever!” As we’ll find out in the scripture for next
time (caution…spoiler alert), the tree is indeed cursed and can no longer bear
fruit. In just as moment. we will talk
about this seemingly silly encounter between Jesus and the fig tree, for Mark
includes the story for an important reason. But for now let’s move on to what happens
next.
After denouncing the tree, Jesus
walks into the temple, where his denouncing will continue. He encounters those buying and selling. Without an extensive history lesson here, it
should suffice to say that required sacrifices to be offered at the temple were
being sold under the direction of the chief priests and temple leaders. The merchants took great advantage of the
those required to purchased sacrifices, for there was no competition and the
people who had often traveled great distances, were forced to pay inflated prices. Many could scarcely afford it, but made the
purchase anyway because they felt they had no choice. Jesus sees this and unleashes a flurry of
righteous anger upon the merchants and the religious leaders who contracted
them. In condemning them, Jesus quotes
the prophet Jeremiah twice.
The significance of this event
cannot be overstated. In condemning the temple
leaders, Jesus is attacking the heart of the entire Hebrew system of religion. And he’s making that attack standing in the
Temple, the sacred space established as the center of the religious system. Mark is writing the account of the incident
after the temple has been destroyed. Recalling
this event in hindsight, Mark now sees that what Jesus was doing here was
leveling His final indictment at the corrupt and spiritually bankrupt institution. Just as Jesus’s words proclaim the fruitlessness
of the fig tree, He now proclaims the same about the temple and its
leaders.
Jesus’s intent is clearly
understood by the leaders, for they immediately begin to conspire to get rid of
Jesus. They realize that if Jesus is
allowed to continue, their very existence is threatened. The cosmically thick irony here is that their
“getting rid of Jesus” is what marks the downfall of the Temple they want to
protect.
When we read this account in the
twenty-first century, we need to place ourselves in the place of the religious
leaders and system that Jesus is condemning.
If we can be vulnerable enough to do so, we can hear Jesus speaking into
our own religious practices that miss the mark of biblical ideals. Sometimes, fund-raising takes way too prominent
a place in our modern-day churches.
Sometimes, those of lower socioeconomic status are taken advantage of by
slick and savvy merchants who claim to “just be offering a needed service” but
are really in it for the money.
Sometimes, we have allowed our religious practice to stray so far from
the original purposes established by God that the church Jesus started resembles
the Temple Jesus condemned in very unflattering ways. It’s all too easy to let Jesus’s
confrontation be only for first-century Judaism, but to do is to miss the prophetic
voice of Jesus that persists still.
Prayer: Jesus,
forgive us Lord for any way in which we have strayed from the ways you have
taught us to practice our faith. Show us
the places where we have focused on the wrong things. Point us toward true faith, worship, and service
of Your Kingdom. Amen.
Prayer Focus: Pray
for people that you know that have left the church.
Song: Lord, Have
Mercy – Robin Mark
