Let no one eat fruit from you ever again

 

 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a 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 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.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."

 

- Mark 11:12-26

 

On Saturday we read that, as Jesus and the disciples are on the road toward Jerusalem, they 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.  

 

For the churches of the West (and the Orthodox Armenian Apostolic Church), yesterday was Palm Sunday.  For most Orthodox Churches, Palm Sunday is this coming Sunday.  These events are covered in an intervening reading between Saturday's reading, above, and today's.  Please see Matthew 11:1-11, the story of Jesus' Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem.

 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry.  And seeing from afar a 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 an early fall foliage, indicating a first crop, but without bearing any fruit.  Jesus, finding not even one fig, condemns it.  This is a symbolic gesture; in Scripture a fig tree is often a symbol of Israel (Hosea 9:10).  My study Bible says that her spiritual fruitfulness has ceased, so the Kingdom will be taken from her and given to another people, who are called to bear spiritual fruit (see Matthew 21:43; Galatians 5:22-23).  

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.   This act by Jesus is called the cleansing of the temple.  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals to be used for sacrifices.  The money changers would trade Roman coins for Jewish coins, as Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (worshiped as a god) and were considered defiling in the temple.  The text also mentions those who sold doves:  these were the smallest and most inexpensive sacrifice, the one made by the poor.  It is likely that those who sold doves are mentioned specified as prices were inflated for pilgrims coming for the Passover feast, thereby this sacrifice of the poor would become a way to profit from those who had very little to begin with.  My study Bible comments that the cleansing of the temple also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), it is also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.

 

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 comments here that the cursing and withering of the fig tree is a prophetic act on the part of Christ.  It signifies the judgment of Israel.  The disciples need to learn, it says, that the old covenant with Israel is becoming "obsolete" and will "vanish away" (Hebrews 8:13).  They will establish His Church, ultimately to be filled with Gentiles and Jews, and they need assurance that they are following Christ's will.  This 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 receive them, and you will have them."  Clearly, Jesus is addressing what must be their astonished reaction to the withered fig tree.  My study Bible says that while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved a mountain, the patristic consensus is that they had this authority if the need had arisen (there are stories of certain saints who made crevices appear in mountains).  Moreover, not everything the apostles accomplished was written down.  Beyond the literal meaning of these statements, Christ's promise is additionally an illustration of the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.  Theophan comments, "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things. 

"And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."  This statement really should be coupled with the one above it, as it is given here as a necessary component of prayer.  While we may call upon God's power to help us in all times, we should also understand that it is part and parcel of that same understanding of faith that we give up to God our own concerns and "debts" we feel have been incurred by others.  In this way, all things are truly in the hands -- and the power -- of God, and our prayers are no doubt more effective for being more in alignment with God's will and God's truth for us.  My study Bible notes that this teaching is repeated in the parable of the unforgiving servant (Matthew 18:21-35), which concludes with the same teaching.  To be unwilling to forgive (literally meaning to "let go" in Greek) is to flee from the forgiveness of God for ourselves.  Let us note that we "let go" to God (as in "forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors," Matthew 6:12), so that we are able to walk in response in this world the way that God directs us to do.

This vivid, unforgettable image of the withered fig tree has to be something which had a distinctive effect upon the disciples.  We have to note that it is Peter, who, as they pass by, remarks, "Rabbi, look!  The fig tree which You cursed has withered away."   Effectively, Jesus did not simply wither the tree with a wave of His hand in front of them.  It was a spoken command that had this effect, whether or not the effect was immediately noticeable:  "Let no one eat fruit from you ever again."  This is not just any command from Christ.  It is, rather, a curse.  Let us think back to the whole of the Gospels, and ask ourselves if we can recall another time when Christ used His power to curse anything or anyone.  But this withered fig tree, however, remains a testimony to all of us about ourselves and our fellow human beings.   It is a symbol of what is spiritually unfruitful, of lives lived by choice to care nothing for the things of God, the things of beauty, truth, goodness -- a life lived in willing sacrifice of spiritually good things in exchange purely for what we can gain through selfishness and a focus on the material.  This is because the story of this fig tree is so clearly juxtaposed around the cleansing of the temple, Christ's visible expression of condemnation of the practices He calls out in this one act which involves physical force that we can think of by Christ.  In so doing, Jesus teaches, "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.'"  He puts together two verses from different prophecies for this statement:  Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11.  So in the act of cleansing the temple, and in Jesus' words -- which, lest we forget, are the Lord's words as given to the prophets -- Jesus gives us the "text" for the image of the withering of the fig tree.  This is a failure of the spiritual leaders to guide the people to what is spiritually fruitful.  It is a collapse, into a nutshell, of the failure to find faith in Christ's mission through the Incarnation.  Similarly, when Jesus chastises the cities to which His ministry has gone:  "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes" (Matthew 11:21).   When He mentions those mighty works done in those cities, we are also to keep in mind the "mighty works" He could not do, such as in His hometown of Nazareth, because of the lack of faith He found there (see Mark 6:4-6).  Such works are also spiritual fruit in that sense in which they also depend upon the faith of the people.  We're given the sense, through these images and acts in the Gospels, that God's power is always at work, always on offer, as is God's love, but spiritual fruit also depends upon faith, and in this sense, the works of human beings matter too.  It's a sense in which humankind is really the ground of God's work; there is a way in which our free will, as given by God, becomes a sort of gate-keeper to God's work in the world.  It can work through us with our "yes" -- or our lack of faith can become a stumbling block, a closed gate, because even Christ could perform no mighty work without the presence of faith.  When Jesus speaks about prayer in today's reading, and its connection with God's power working through faithful human beings, such as the apostles, He makes clear the role of faith in the work of God's power in the world.  Moreover, and so importantly, He adds the words about forgiveness as an essential part of our prayer.  Without the willingness to "give up" the things in life that challenge us, the injustices and hurts, the things that cause us to believe others owe us something for what has been taken away from us, the trespasses and bad acts done against us, we are not putting all of our lives in the hands of God and allowing God to work God's grace fully in our lives.  As Christ would go to the Cross, so we are to take up our crosses -- which means that our suffering, as well as our joys, is in the hands of God, and that we turn to God to find the ways God wishes for us to walk through an imperfect and unjust world in which evil still plays an active part.  And this is where we are until the Judgment, until we await Christ's final return and the full life of Resurrection promised through the events we celebrate as Easter or Pascha.  In the Church, as faithful in the world, we give everything into the hands of God, so that God's grace may work through us to produce the spiritual fruit Christ is looking for.  For this is who we are as His followers, and His commands that He has given us.  In that sense, the withered fig tree stands as a warning to all of us, for what happens when the love of God is supplanted by the love of something else.