But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses

 

 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 when Jesus and the disciples drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, "Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat.  Loose it and bring it.  And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it,' and immediately he will send it here."  So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it.  But some of those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, loosing the colt?"  And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded.  So they let them go.  Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.  And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!"  And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple.  So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

 

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 full foliage, indicating a first crop, but without bearing any fruit.  Jesus finds not even one fig, and condemns it.  In Scripture, a fig tree is frequently symbolic of Israel (Hosea 9:10).  Her fruitfulness had ceased, as illustrated by the corruption in the temple allowed by the leadership (as well as Christ's Passion to come and the role they play in His death and leading the people to reject Him), so the Kingdom will be taken from her and given to another people, who are called to bear spiritual fruit, my study Bible explains (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.  Those who bought and sold in the temple were trading in live animals which would be used for sacrifices.  The money changers would change Roman coins for Jewish coins.  This was because Roman coins bore the image of Caesar (who was worshiped as a god), and so were considered defiling in the temple.  The doves were the least expensive sacrifices, and therefore sold to the poor.  The cleansing of the temple, my study Bible says, also points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  As each person is also considered to be a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16, 6:19), it's also a sign that our hearts and minds must be cleansed of earthly matters.  That is, devotion to God comes first.  We may recall here what Jesus will later teach in the temple in this final week of His life, as He debates with the religious leaders:  "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's" (see Mark 12:14-17).  Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7, Jeremiah 7:11.

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 that the cursing and withering of the fig tree is a prophetic act, which signifies the judgment of Israel.  The disciples need to learn that the old covenant with Israel is becoming "obsolete" and will "vanish away" (Hebrews 8:13).  They will establish His Church, which will ultimately be filled with Gentiles and Jews, and they need assurance that they are following His will.  The fig tree will provide them with an indelible image in the 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."  My study Bible comments that while it is not recorded that an apostle literally moved a mountain, the patristic writers are clear that they had this authority if the need had arisen (certain saints are said to have made crevices appear in mountains).  Moreover, not everything the apostles accomplished was written down.  Beyond the literal meaning here, this promise also illustrates the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.  My study Bible quotes the commentary of Theophylact:  "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."  As in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:14-15), Jesus insists on mutual forgiveness between people as a precondition of God's forgiveness.  Here, He links this statement inextricably to the power of prayer, as in the Sermon on the Mount where these statements are made immediately after teaching the Lord's Prayer (or the Our Father- see Matthew 6:9-13).  In the Sermon on the Mount, this teaching reiterates and enforces the statement of the prayer in verse 12, "Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors."   Here, the efficacy of prayer is linked to our commitment to forgiveness before God.

After all of the miracles performed during Christ's ministry, we might pause to wonder why this image of the withering and cursing of the fig tree plays such a strong role in the minds of the apostles.  Perhaps they understand its symbolic implications for the people of Israel and the future of the Christ's Church.  But nevertheless this strong promise of the power of prayer by Christ is accompanied by another iteration of the need for the practice of forgiveness.  In the context of the Lord's Prayer (Matthew 6: 9-13), "debts" illustrate the principle of forgiveness, in the same way that we would say a debt to a bank or other creditor is forgiven when it is wiped off the books.  In this case, a debt-holder would a person who has been injured (metaphorically or otherwise) by some sin of another person, and to forgive in the context of prayer is to give that sin up to God for God's adjudication, and forego vengeance of our own device.  It is a way of asking for and acknowledging our own need for forgiveness.  It does not simply dismiss a sin as if it never happened, and it doesn't dispel the need for discernment in terms of one's relationship with the person involved.  It doesn't take away responsibility.  But it does put us more firmly in relationship to God in the ways we acknowledge community, with God and faith at the center of that community and guiding how we relate to others and conduct ourselves.  It is in this context that we see how it is related to the notion of powerful prayer, as it more firmly places us within our faith and in relationship to God to whom we pray.  If we give up debts to God in order to be guided in our lives as to how to respond, then we become more deeply dependent upon our faith, and more clearly efficacious in our prayer as fewer things stand between us and our communion with God and community.  It is a way of clearing the barriers to faith, the things that get in the way of a heart fully devoted to putting God first before everything else, even a personal sense of having been wronged, and placing all in God's hands, seeking God's guidance in life.  In the context of the cleansing of the temple, we can see how it is affirming to a certain way of life, as Christ proclaims, with Isaiah, that God has made the temple "a house of prayer for all nations."  But giving it up to commerce, and in particular as the text highlights those who sell to the poor so that they may participate in the sacrifices, we are asked to understand how earthly notions of commerce get in the way of God's grace and love and worship in the temple, the community God has sought to establish among God's people.  Sin is not a matter of adding up column A and column B and seeking to rectify debts or trespass through like retribution; instead, sin is a matter of God's arbitration.  In giving up our debts or the trespasses of others against us, we seek God's will in how we respond.  And therein is embedded the power of prayer, bringing us closer to God, and closer to understanding the things we truly need and for which it is worthwhile to pray.  In that sense, God is the banker who ultimately holds all debts, and it is to God we go to make our prayerful requests.  In the text, Jesus phrases the debt or trespass in the term, "if you have anything against anyone."  This more clearly sets the tone of lifting restrictions or barriers by giving them up to God, so that God arbitrates community and how we are to function within it -- thus also removing barriers in our relationship to God.  It's not a way of saying that crime or violence against us doesn't need to be addressed in worldly terms, not a way of saying every material debt must be foregone payment, nor is it a way to say that we must be in close relationship to those who would offer us harm.  Neither does it preclude any of those things, but rather gives us freedom for prayerful response.  It is a way of placing all things in the hands of God, of seeking first the Kingdom (Matthew 6:33) before we decide that our own ideas are better for policing our own backyard.  It is a way of recognizing the true Judge before our own passionate responses.  Our lives do not consist only of debts and credits and a materialistic bottom line, but also of the grace we seek.  So let us make it a habit to offer God all the debts we hold in life when we offer prayer and stand before the Judge.  For ultimately all things must be held in the place we worship, and it is from there we seek to know God's wisdom for our lives and how to live them.  For, as my study Bible reminds us, we are each temples of God.  Jesus gives us a way to build the faith that moves mountains.  In the withering of the fig tree, He illustrates what it is to forget what we are meant to be about.

 

 

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

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

Yesterday we read that when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; and He said to them, "Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat.  Loose it and bring it.  And if anyone says to you, 'Why are you doing this?' say, 'The Lord has need of it,' and immediately he will send it here."  So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it.  But some of those who stood there said to them, "What are you doing, loosing the colt?"  And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded.  So they let them go.  Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it.  And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Blessed is the kingdom of our father David that comes in the name of the Lord!  Hosanna in the highest!"  And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple.  So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve.

 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.  This fig tree has sprouted an early foliage, as if there is going to be a first crop of figs -- but it's not the season for figs yet, so it hasn't borne any fruit.  In Scripture, my study bible notes, a fig tree is often the symbol of Israel (Hosea 9:10).  This fruitless fig shows promise, but is empty.  Jesus is in Jerusalem, and has been welcomes as king and Messiah (Saturday's reading above), but the Kingdom He brings will be taken away and given to other 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.   Those who bought and sold included those seller animals for sacrifice.  Doves were a more inexpensive sacrifice, perhaps the only affordable to the poor.  The money changers were those who traded Roman coins for Jewish coins.  Roman currency bore the image of Caesar, and so were considered defiling in the temple.  My study bible suggests that Jesus' cleansing of the temple points to the necessity that the Church be kept free from earthly pursuits.  And, as each person is considered a temple of God (1 Corinthians 3:16; 6:19), it's also a sign that our hearts and minds should be cleansed of "earthly matters" -- particularly where materialistic outlook substitutes for the perspective of faith.  If our souls are nourished by prayer, then we must take care how we either nurture the soul or deprive it of life.   Jesus quotes from Isaiah 56:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. 

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."  My study bible calls the cursing and withering of the fig tree a prophetic act, which signifies the judgment of Israel.  It says that the disciples need to learn that the old covenant with Israel is becoming "obsolete" and will "vanish away" (Hebrews 8:13).  These disciples will establish His Church, which will ultimately be filled with both Gentiles and Jews -- and they need assurance that they are following His will.  The image of this fig tree with be unforgettable.  Jesus focuses, however, not on the cursing and withering of the fig tree, but once again on faith and the power of faith.  This is the pillar of the Church and the ground for the disciples.  We note how immediately Jesus couples the power of faith in prayer with forgiveness.  The connection in prayer with the Father goes hand in hand with offering forgiveness.  This pillar on which we rest our  faith is a three-way bond:  the Father is the center and mediator of both our prayers and our forgiveness.  It is a constant practice.   My study bible quotes Theophan's commentary:  "Whatever we ask, without hesitation and believing in God's power, we shall receive" when we ask for spiritually profitable things.  This applies to the power of faith and prayer in all areas of life.

What is the power of prayer?  I think we could tie in Jesus' teachings on prayer with both the cleansing of the temple and the symbol of the withering and the cursing of the fig tree.  That is because the unassailable power of faith is based on the power of God.  Jesus' symbolic cursing of the fig tree shows an aggrieved Lord who is rejected by those whom He loves and for whom He has come to sacrifice all, to endure pain and suffering and death as one of us.  The cleansing of the temple is again another type of symbolic cursing:  God's people -- even in His house -- show a disrespect, a lack of love for all the teachings brought through the prophets, for the love God has shown God's people throughout a spiritual history of shepherding and nurturing, by turning God's house of prayer into a den of thieves.  It is finally the Son who has been sent, as suffering servant, who voices the complaint and drives out the money changers and those who sell animals for sacrifice to the poor, for whom this house of prayer is refuge.  We look to the power of prayer to establish God's presence in us and among us, just as Jesus quotes from the prophesy of Isaiah:   "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations."  It is in the power of this bond that the temple is cleansed, the power of this bond that the fruitless fig tree is cursed, for God's power at work in the world isn't without its effects, depending on how we respond to it.   There are those who would say God is simply a far away being, a Creator who began the universe and then left it to run on its own.  But a witness to the Gospel sees something quite different:  a God who not only gives us life and sustains the world, but cares even for the number of hairs on our heads, or the life of a single sparrow.  The God we know from the Son who has been sent to live and suffer and die for us is the God who is involved in the minute details of our lives, who loves us with a passion we couldn't contain nor comprehend because God is the absolute of love.  And this God, we learn from Jesus, lives within us and also among us.  It is there we go to prayer, indispensable for faith and the power of faith.  And this prayer, says Jesus, must also be offered with our forgiveness:  both at the same time given to the Father, given to the God who loves us and knows us better than we know ourselves, to the God who knows our faults and weaknesses and even sins of which we are as yet unaware.  It is in this bond that we create the power of faith, this synergy of love with the power of God at work in the world.  It is that bond of which Jesus says, "Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them."  It is that bond to which we give up all things -- even the hurts and grudges and slights we know in the world -- through which God establishes God's temple and power at work in us.  

My house shall be called a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves

 Then Jesus went into the temple of God and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "  Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,

'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants
You have perfected praise'?"

Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again." Immediately the fig tree withered away.  And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"  So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."

- Matthew 21:12-22

Yesterday, we read that when they drew near Jerusalem, and came to Bethphage, at the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, "Go into the village opposite you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her.  Loose them and bring them to Me.  And if anyone says anything to you, you shall say, 'The Lord has need of them,' and immediately he will send them."  All this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying:  "Tell the daughter of Zion, 'Behold, your King is coming to you, lowly, and sitting on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey.' "   So the disciples went and did as Jesus commanded them.  They brought the donkey and the colt, laid their clothes on them, and set Him on them.  And a very great multitude spread their clothes on the road; others cut down branches from the trees and spread them on the road.  Then the multitudes who went before and those who followed cried out, saying:  "Hosanna to the Son of David!  'Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!'  Hosanna in the highest!" And when He had come into Jerusalem, all the city was moved, saying, "Who is this?"  So the multitudes said, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth of Galilee."

  Then Jesus went into the temple of God and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.  And He said to them, "It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,' but you have made it a 'den of thieves.' "  My study bible explains:  "Those who bought and sold in the temple traded in animals used for sacrifices.  The money changers were needed to provide currency acceptable to the temple, because Roman coins bearing the head of Caesar were considered defiling.  When Jesus sees that worship has become commercialized, He acts against the abuses, boldly overturning the tables and casting the tradesmen out.  The cleansing of the temple is seen as an image of the cleansing of our souls."

Then the blind and the lame came to Him in the temple, and He healed them.  But when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that He did, and the children crying out in the temple and saying, "Hosanna to the Son of David!" they were indignant and said to Him, "Do You hear what these are saying?"  And Jesus said to them, "Yes.  Have you never read,  'Out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants You have perfected praise'?"  Then He left them and went out of the city to Bethany, and He lodged there.  We look at those who come to Jesus in the temple, and a gift freely bestowed, as a contrast to His condemnation of the commercialization in the temple.  The leadership, who in some sense are representing a very material-minded perspective, can only feel envy, and hence indignation.  The quotation Jesus refers to is from Psalm 8:2.

Now in the morning, as He returned to the city, He was hungry.  And seeing a fig tree by the road, He came to it and found nothing on it but leaves, and said to it, "Let no fruit grow on you ever again."   Immediately the fig tree withered away.  And when the disciples saw it, they marveled, saying, "How did the fig tree wither away so soon?"   My study bible explains that the fig tree is a symbol of prosperity and peace, which here withers because of fruitlessness.  It calls this is a prophetic act, for after three years of preaching, teaching and healing, the establishment leadership are destitute of spiritual fruit; therefore, He withers them with His reproach.  It notes, "He curses the tree to warn of the curse on those who will crucify Him.  He submits Himself willingly to the Cross; He is the Suffering Servant who yields to their torture."

So Jesus answered and said to them, "Assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will not only do what was done to the fig tree, but also if you say to this mountain, 'Be removed and be cast into the sea,' it will be done.  And whatever things you ask in prayer, believing, you will receive."  My study bible tells us:  "Jesus does not expect His disciples literally to move mountains, but this extravagant image accurately depicts the astonishing power of undoubting faith . . . To receive whatever things you ask in prayer, one must have the faith and discernment to ask for what is in accordance with God's will.  God cannot be manipulated by our prayers."

It's interesting to take a look at the themes put together in the reading for today:  the materialism in the temple which Jesus condemns, the lame and and blind who come for help and healing -- and the praise that comes out of the mouth of babes and nursing infants that becomes strength to silence the enemy and avenger.  There is the envy and indignation of the leadership which is blind to what is good in Jesus and in His ministry.  We pair this with the withering of the fruitless fig tree, and Jesus' testimony about the power of faith.  Along with cleansing of the temple, the condemnation of materialism and the material perspective of the leadership that condemns Jesus' followers, we have the true fruits of faith:  the strength of the weak who praise God, the power of their praises, the faith that can move mountains.  We contrast virtues -- the things of God -- with the material emphasis Jesus is condemning by cleansing the temple.  Together with these current readings in Matthew's Gospel, the lectionary has been giving us sections of the Epistles of Peter.  St. Peter tells us about faith and fruitfulness:   "But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love. For if these things are yours and abound, you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ"  (2 Peter 1:5-8).  I've emphasized the word "add" because he's telling us about fruitfulness, and it's important to note how St. Peter's understanding of fruitfulness is in such contrast with the material prosperity of the temple.  This fruitfulness of faith has nothing do with what we can add up, and everything to do with the intangibles that make up what it is to truly become a human being in the model of Christ:  virtue, knowledge, self-control, perseverance, godliness, brotherly kindness, and finally the crown which is love.  These are the fruits Jesus has taught His apostle, and that the apostle passes on to us.  So St. Peter makes sense of today's passage when, in some sense, the mountain that is moved is that which is within ourselves -- the transformation that takes place in this kind of addition.  Fruitfulness surely has nothing to do with material prosperity in this picture and contrasts to mere "good deeds," but rather in essence consists of the things that we become -- the things which we add to our faith.  Without these, St. Peter goes on to say, a believer is shortsighted, even to blindness, and has forgotten salvation.  Let us consider what it is to be truly fruitful in this model, and what is not.  How do you add to your faith?  What are the things -- the treasures -- that make you one of St. Peter's living stones?