02.05 | Cursing a Tree
Mark 11:1-26
‘On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it.’
Mark 11:12-14
Nearly six hundred years before the time of Jesus, there was a young priest who lived a few miles from Jerusalem. Though he was young, God began to speak to him, sharing His heartbreak and yearning for His people, who had rejected Him. Central to His grief was their abdication of their intended purpose. He had called them to bring life and peace and justice and wisdom to the whole world, and yet their rejection of God led to their utter failure to this calling. The young priest wrote down the words of God, often using striking visuals to describe what God was expressing to His people.
One such image was of the fig tree—a symbol of flourishing life and provision for God’s people.
The prophet’s name was Jeremiah. An in chapter 8 of his writings, he shared these words:
‘“I will take away their harvest,” declares the Lord. “…There will be no figs on the tree, and their leaves will wither. What I have given them will be taken from them.”’1
At a first reading, it’s easy to read Jesus’ actions today as bizarre. It looks, at a quick reading, like an uncharacteristic moment of irritation from a hungry and overstretched Jesus, taking His frustration out on an unsuspecting fig tree.
But the backstory is essential. Because what happens with the fig tree isn’t a rash moment of anger, any more than the cleansing of the temple is (note that Jesus saw the temple, and then left and slept on it before returning). Rather, it is a deeply prophetic act, inhabiting the backstory of God’s people and demonstrating just how radical a transition His arrival is bringing.
Look at the heart of God being expressed.
God’s desire for the temple—His house upon the earth—was that it be a place of prayer from which all the nations of the earth were to be blessed. A house of prayer for all the nations. The mandate on His people was that they, as those who gathered around His presence as His people, would be the vehicle through which His goodness and life would flow to all nations. They were like a tree that was supposed to bear good fruit. Their faithfulness was meant to lead to flourishing that overspilled into the whole world.
And yet, when Jesus arrives, there is no fruit. There is dead religion and financial corruption and abuse of power and oppression of the poor. The nations are pushed out and the vocation of God’s people has been abandoned.
Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem for the events that would culminate in His crucifixion and resurrection spell the dawn of a new age. In this new age, the ‘temple’ of God would no longer be the bricks and mortar on the mountain of Jerusalem. Rather, it would be His mobile people, filled with His presence, walking through the midst of the pains of the earth. Rather than the nations being drawn to this mountain to receive the good fruit that He longs to give them, the people of God, as His living temple, would be sent out to carry this good fruit into all the world. As Jesus cursed that fig tree, it was a extraordinary prophetic act. The former mission had been abdicated and Jesus was launching a new one.
And yet, the promise and heart of God endured. A new age was coming, where His goodness and life and power would be carried into all the world by His faithful people, filled with authority, trees planted by abundant water who bear fruit in all seasons. Whose devotion would lead to flourishing that would bring foretastes of the very heaven of God.
So great is His heart for those who do not know Him.
And so great is His mandate upon us.
Reflect:
God’s desire is that we be a place of prayer, that brings His life to all people who do not yet know Him.
This calling is huge. And it begins in the simple faithfulness and courage of living today well.
How may He be calling you to bear good fruit today?
Remember, you don’t do it alone. Ask Him to fill you afresh with His power and compassion, that you may carry His presence and love into every place you go.
Pray:
Father,
I see today,
That your heart for those who do not know you
Is greater than mine.
So often I make peace with people’s distance from you.
I let the temple courts be cluttered with religion,
With rules and obstacles and self-interests,
And so I abdicate my calling.
Father,
Enlarge my heart;
Embolden me to speak courageously;
Enliven me to love greatly;
Empower me to serve beautifully;
And may your living presence upon my life,
Make me abundantly fruitful,
As we walk together,
That the nations may be healed.
In Jesus’ Name
Amen
Old Testament:
For those also reading the Old Testament this year, your additional readings are here:
1 Samuel 16-17 | Psalm 57
Jeremiah 8:13