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Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar the fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it.
So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. When evening had come, He went out of the city.
Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away." So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them. And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."
- Mark 11:12-25
On Saturday, we read that Jesus and His disciples came to Jericho. As He went out of Jericho with His disciples and a great multitude, blind Bartimaeus, the son of Timaeus, sat by the road begging. And when he heard that it was Jesus of Nazareth, he began to cry out and say, "Jesus, Son of David, have mercy on me!" Then many warned him to be quiet, but he cried out all the more, "Son of David, have mercy on me!" So Jesus stood still and commanded him to be called. Then they called the blind man, saying to him, "Be of good cheer. Rise, He is calling you." And throwing aside his garment, he rose and came to Jesus. So Jesus answered and said to him, "What do you want Me to do for you?" The blind man said to Him, "Rabboni, that I may receive my sight." Then Jesus said to him, "Go your way, your faith has made you well." And immediately he received his sight and followed Jesus on the road. The lectionary skips over the events which we commemorated yesterday, on Palm Sunday, which you can read here.
Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. And seeing from afar the fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. In response Jesus said to it, "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again." And His disciples heard it. My study bible explains that "it was not the season for figs means that this fig tree had sprouted an early full foliage, indicating a first crop, but without bearing any fruit. Jesus, finding not even one fig, condemns it. In Scripture a fig tree is often a symbol of Israel (Hos. 9:10). Her fruitfulness has ceased, so the Kingdom will be taken from her and given to another people, who will bear spiritual fruit (see Matt. 21:43; Gal. 5:22)."
So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations'? But you have made it a 'den of thieves.'" And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. When evening had come, He went out of the city. My study bible says here that "John appears to report the cleansing of the temple as occurring early in Jesus' ministry (John 2:13-22), whereas the other Gospels place it in the week before His Passion. Perhaps there were two cleansings. More likely, John is not concerned with chronological order and places the event early for teaching purposes. Jesus acts as the King of Israel would, utterly in control. He disrupts business and makes a sweeping condemnation of the religious system, yet He is untouched. The religious rulers and the Roman soldiers are close by, but all are paralyzed. In the light of the imagery in the account of the fig tree [above], the temple is all leaves and no fruit, a picture of the nation itself."
Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. And Peter, remembering, said to Him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away." My study bible tells us that this cursing and withering of the fig tree is a prophetic act, which signifies the judgment of Israel. It says, "The disciples need to learn that Israel is being rejected. They will establish His Church, ultimately filled with Gentiles and Jews, and they need assurance that they are following His will. The fig tree will be an indelible image in their minds."
So Jesus answered and said to them, "Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you will receive them, and you will have them." Another note explains that "the cursing of the fig tree also demonstrates the power of faith in God and prayer. This mountain probably refers to the Mount of Olives, but Jesus speaks not of its physical relocation, but of great deeds done through undoubting faith. Neither Jesus nor the disciples moved any actual mountains, but they did turn society upside down with the message of the Kingdom. We all need such faith in our struggle for full repentance and life in Christ. . . . We can have assured faith in answered prayer, according to St. John Chrysostom, when we ask things worthy of the Lord and strive for holiness. Of course, human requests neither limit nor control God's omniscient freedom."
"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses." In many manuscripts, there is another verse added here, that says, "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." My study bible says that "a call to forgive follows the promise of nearly unlimited possibilities of faith in prayer. What can deter faith that is able to move mountains? Failure to forgive -- the greatest hindrance to knowing God. Not only does unforgiveness cripple our prayers, but even the Father in heaven does not forgive the unforgiving. As the fig tree is rejected for bearing no fruit, so are unforgiving people rejected."
Today's reading combines several elements. We start with the most vivid and perhaps shocking: the cleansing of the temple. It follows a theme about wealth that Jesus has been teaching about, most notably in the story of the rich young man who wished to inherit eternal life. (See Children, how hard it is for those who trust in riches to enter the kingdom of God!) There, the very moral young man (according to the Mosaic Law) was told to sell all he had, and give to the poor, and follow Christ. It is a question of separating identity from the riches themselves. Next, He taught the disciples about greatness: that "whoever desires to be great among you shall be your servant." This is another kind of teaching about attachment to things, like power and status in life. His greatness asks of us a kind of fruitfulness that is of service. We see an emphasis in teaching that would strip away the focus on things we own or have, and get to the core of who we are and what our capacities really are. In this light, we view the fig tree, that has failed to produce fruit. There's a great show of foliage, like an external brilliance, but where are the real gifts and capacities of this creation? Fruit we read as an analogy to spiritual fruit, something which comes from the persons we really are, not simply some product of status or wealth. In this context we move to the temple and its cleansing, with its complete focus on wealth as a measure of status, of success, of ability: selling the "better" sacrifices for the Passover for a higher price, making an effectively material judgment on that which is to be spiritual. The psalms teach us: "You do not desire sacrifice, or else I would give it; You do not delight in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart—These, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:16-17). Psalm 51, perhaps the best known penitential prayer, teaches us truly about preparation for this time. We strip away the reliance on things, even material gifts to God, and get to the heart of what really matters, what produces the spiritual fruits God truly wants of us. This is borne out through the teachings of Jesus on the road to Jerusalem, to this day of cleansing and the withering of the fig tree. Finally, the "judgment" we see in the fig tree is couched in Jesus' teachings on the place we really are utterly ourselves: in prayer. What is faith? What does it mean? I think there's an important implication here about faith, and about "asking for things" in prayer. What does faith do? How are we really "stripped down" with God, down to who we really are and what we face about ourselves? The focus here is combined with the need for forgiveness, another kind of stripping away. Forgiveness is literally "giving up" in the Greek. We give up to God the things we hold inside. It is a great teaching on the true sacrifice, the broken and contrite spirit, the heart that is truly circumcised in Spirit. Forgiveness is the act of giving up more "things" we hold that serve to define us, that substitute for or mask who we really are when we are with Him in prayer, in that place where we come face-to-face, or rather, heart-to-heart. This is the place of real faith, where everything else, all the flashy foliage, is stripped away, and we are finally capable of bearing the real fruits He asks. This is where utter confidence truly resides, because what is left is what is real, a foundation of our true identity, a place of security that's not dependent on what can be stripped away. In short, this is the place of faith in what is genuine. We strip away even the things we hold against others to find who we are in that place where we are with Him in prayer, where He can teach us what service He'd like, what capacities we have and real fruits we can bear, what prayer can do. Let us consider this treasure, and what we are willing to give up to truly find it.
