The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE BARREN FIG TREE AND THE DEFILED TEMPLE
The Life of Christ in the Synoptic Gospels
THE BARREN FIG TREE AND THE DEFILED TEMPLE
Golden Text: “By their fruits ye shall know them.” (Matt. 7:20)
Lesson Plan:
1. The Curse of Refusing to Bear Good Fruit (vs 12-14; 20, 21)
2. Defiling the Temple of God (vs 15-19)
3. The Power of Faith (vs 20-24)
4. The Power of Love (vs 25, 26)
Lesson Setting:
Time: Monday morning, April 3, A.D. 30. Jesus leaves Bethany the day after His Royal Entry into
Jerusalem.
Place: Near Bethany
Research and Discussion: The barren fig tree. The desecration of the temple. The den of thieves. The power of Jesus to cast out evils. Removing mountains. The power of faith. The power of love.
Scripture Reading: Mark 11:12-14, 20, 21
1. The Curse of Refusing to Bear Good Fruit
v 12 ... “On the morrow” the day following the Royal Entry into Jerusalem, Monday morning, April 3, A.D. 30, Jesus came out “from Bethany [and] He was hungry.” Quesnell suggests that He had spent the night in fasting and prayer after His triumph.
Seeing a fig tree in the distance, He went to it expecting to find some figs for His hunger, but “He found nothing but leaves. For the time [the usual season] of figs was not yet” (v 13). Jesus had reason to expect fruit on the tree, because of “the ostentatious show of leaves. The fig often comes with or even before the leaves, and especially on the early kind. If there was no fruit on this leafy tree, it might justly be condemned as barren” (The Land and the Book). Some varieties are earlier than others, and sometimes in warm, sunny nooks the trees develop weeks earlier than in other situations. The leaves of the fig tree professed the existence of fruit. The leaves said, Come and get some fruit. v 14 ... “Said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.” This was the sentence of a judge. It was a prophecy, as well as a curse. There is no greater curse than living life barren of good fruit.
The next morning, traveling the same road, Peter called Jesus’ attention to the tree: “Master, the fig tree which thou curedst is withered away” (vs 10, 21). Some people are antagonistic against this miracle because it contradicts a popular, stereotyped image of Jesus, i.e., loving everything and everybody. This view is of course true in the highest sense. However, the perverted application of it makes Jesus a namby-pamby weakling willing to accept anything that mankind may do – giving men eternal life no matter what deeds may mar their lives. C.E.B. Cranfield commented on the question of whether ‘this miracle of destruction’ should be viewed ‘as inconsistent with the rest of what we know of Jesus.’ The view here is that Jesus did this wonder for the purpose of correcting the false view that might have prevailed if no destructive miracle had ever been wrought. In other words, the view that God will not destroy is false. Ask Sodom and Gomorrah, Babylon and Nineveh, Tyre and Sidon. Ask Israel. All of the great writers of the New Testament were fully conscious of the ultimate judgment against sin which God will bring upon the world, as, for example, in the words of Paul in 2 Thessalonians 1:7-10. In the last analysis, it is sinful man’s rebellion against any such judgment that underlies the cavil directed against this miracle of withering the fig tree (Coffman, Commentary on Mark). Regarding the words, “For ever,” E. Bickersteth wrote: “These words, in their application to the Jewish nation, have a merciful limitation – a limitation that lies in the original words rendered ‘for ever,’ which literally mean for the age ... until the times of the Gentiles be fulfilled” (Pulpit Commentary, Vol. 16, p. 121, Eerdmans, 1962).
Scripture Reading: Mark 11:15-19
2. Defiling the Temple of God
On that Monday morning, when Jesus reached the Temple, He immediately, as King Messiah, began to do the kingly works of the Messiah. His first work was to cleanse the Temple from the evil men and the evil deeds which were defiling it, thus destroying the very purposes for which it stood. The Temple was God’s house. Its purpose was to kindle and sustain and inspire the religious and moral life of the nation. To defile it was to destroy the very foundation of the nation. Gradually, over time, shrewd business men had brought into the large court of the Gentiles the business of selling doves, animals, oil, wine, and other things necessary for sacrifices and temple worship. Why? For the convenience of pilgrims who came from all parts of the world to offer sacrifices during the Passover season – those who could not themselves bring offerings along on their journey. Others were bankers, or exchangers, who were necessary because pilgrims coming from all over the civilized world needed Jewish money to pay the temple tax. Their excuse was that these were sacred things, connected with worship.
All these Jesus drove out of the temple court, saying “Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations, but ye have made it a den of robbers” (v 17) (R.V.). Christ quotes from Isaiah 57:7 and Jeremiah 7:11. Through each of these cleansings Jesus presented a dramatic claim that He was God’s Messenger, suddenly coming into His temple. The spirit of worship was lost in the desire of the dealers to make money. This court was, for the Gentiles, their only place of prayer, worship, and learning about the true God. But the noise and confusion of buying and selling, i.e., the atmosphere of worldliness destroyed for them the very purpose for which the Temple was built.
The opportunities for fraud were very great, and the selfish men who were willing to destroy the hope of the salvation of the Gentiles, would be certain to make this place of business “A den of thieves” (v 17). The very purpose of the Temple, the hope of the nation, was sacrificed for the greed of gain. Naturally those in high places sought how they might destroy Him. But they were afraid of the multitude who “all hung upon Him, listening” (John).
v 19 ... “And every evening He went forth out of the city.” Jesus left the city each night, staying either in Bethany or some secluded place on the slopes of the Mount of Olives. The purpose was probably to, as much as possible, avoid identification with any of the places previously accounted sacred. For instance, Jesus sitting by Jacob’s well (Jn. 4:6) dignified a place not mentioned in the Old Testament, where there is no record of Jacob ever digging a well. Nazareth, Cana, Bethany, Bethsaida-Julius, and the majority of places made memorable by Jesus were simply not identified among the Jews as having of notability. Refusing to stay overnight in Jerusalem was compatible with the obvious design of His whole life. Our Savior’s lifetime example demonstrated that no unimportant, obscure place or person was so obscure or unimportant as to be denied participation in God’s mercy and grace.
Scripture Reading: Mark 11:20-24
3. The Power of Faith
v 20 ... “And as they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away from the roots.” The tree not only wilted or had begun to fade away; it had completely dried up, root and all.
v 21 ... “And Peter ... saith ... Rabbi, behold the fig tree ... is withered away.” Peter only stated the astonishment that must have filled all the disciples that morning. Peter evidently expected a reply, which was promptly forthcoming.
v 22 ... “Have faith in God.” The Lord’s answer to Peter probably astonished the apostles as it has so many ever since it happened. Jesus’ reply stressed the fact and efficacy of prayer regarding His wonderful signs (see Jn. 9:31; 11:41). All of our Lord’s works were accomplished through the oneness Jesus had with the Father; a oneness not expressed independently but always through and after prayerful communication with God, showing us the will and purpose of God in the work of His Son. Taking His point of contact from the wonder of the disciples at the withering of the barren fig tree, Jesus taught them a lesson on the power of faith and prayer.
v 23 ... “Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, he shall have whatsoever he saith.” He repeats this in the next verse in another form. The mountain of course was a symbol of obstacles beyond the power of man to remove. The literal words of these verses are another example of hyperbole which Jesus often used to emphasize His words. Another example is that of the camel and the needle’s eye (10:25). Such faith laid hold of God Himself, making them copartners with God. It was a faith that worked on and on untiringly, waiting in patience. This was fulfilled in the work of the disciples and their successors. They conquered the Roman Empire. Christianity has already removed greater obstacles than mountains.
Scripture Reading: Mark 11:25, 26
4. The Power of Love
This important passage sheds light on the manner of Jesus’ teaching of the Twelve. The Master repeated several basic truths over and over, introducing them in various contexts. For instance, portions of Matthew 6:15 which are conspicuous in the Sermon on the Mount; and almost the same words of Matthew 18:35 used to conclude the parable of the unmerciful servant. Lines in the Holy Word of God “belong” wherever we find them. If they occur several times, then they “belong” several times.
v 25 ... “Forgive, if ye have aught against any one.” This is a prerequisite of all divine forgiveness of human transgression and was most dogmatically stressed by the Son of God. These two verses teach us that we must love those who are our enemies, just as Jesus loved the nation that rejected Him and crucified Him. He loved them so much that He was willing to die for them in order to save them. All of us have many faults and imperfections. We all need forgiveness.
