It’s Not About the Temple (Mark 11:12-25)

Intro

In Mark 11:12-25 Jesus relates a fruitless fig tree to the greatest symbol of religion in the Jewish faith. In the process he redefines the role of the temple in the Christian faith.

• Q: Why don’t Christians worship in temples? Or What was the purpose of temples in the OT?

The Curse

Jesus cursed a fig tree – the only destructive miracle in the gospels. He did it to make a point about how, in all Israel’s outward religious activity, they failed to live up to things God really wanted.

Mark 11:12-14 (NLT) The next morning as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. He noticed a fig tree in full leaf a little way off, so he went over to see if he could find any figs. But there were only leaves because it was too early in the season for fruit. Then Jesus said to the tree, “May no one ever eat your fruit again!” And the disciples heard him say it.

• This is one of the most difficult stories in the gospels to make sense out of.
  • Seems unreasonable to many that Jesus would wither the fig tree
    • Just because he was hungry and it didn’t have any fruit
    • Especially when it was 2-3 months before it would normally bear fruit
  • But it begins to make sense, not as a stand-alone story, but when it is considered in the larger narrative
    • Seen as one continuous story in light of other incidents that surround it
• Fig trees in that region come into full leaf in March / April
  • But don’t bear fruit until June
  • Timing; a week before Passover, so most likely March 
• Jesus addressed the tree directly → performed a miracle of destruction
  • The only miracle of destruction attributed to Jesus in the Gospels
  • Why did Jesus not use his divine power, instead in destroying the tree, to force a crop of figs out of season?
  • Mark explains the situation: “it was too early in the season for fruit.”
  • “This detail is a clue for the reader to look beyond the surface meaning and to see its symbolic meaning. This action is not about a particular unfruitful fig tree; it has to do with the temple.” (The NIV Application Commentary)
• “The best explanation is to see the miracle as an acted-out parable. Jesus’ hunger provides the occasion for his use of this teaching device. The fig tree represents Israel (cf. Hos 9:10; Nah 3:12; Zech 10:2). The tree is fully leafed out, and in such a state one would normally expect to find fruit. This symbolizes the hypocrisy and sham of the nation of Israel, which made her ripe for the judgment of God. “A people which honored God with their lips but whose heart was all the time far from him (7:6) was like a tree with abundance of leaves but no fruit.
• The parallel between the fig tree and Israel isn’t exact, but it is instructive. The fig tree shouldn’t have had fruit on it. But Israel should have. They showed a lot of outward “leaves” – all their religious activity. But they showed no real “fruit” – the things that God was looking for that satisfied him. 

The Clearing

One thing God really wanted from Israel was a heart for him and for outsiders. Jesus’ cleansing of the temple revealed how they had failed on both counts.

Mark 11:15-18 (NLT) When they arrived back in Jerusalem, Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out the people buying and selling animals for sacrifices. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves, and he stopped everyone from using the Temple as a marketplace. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” When the leading priests and teachers of religious law heard what Jesus had done, they began planning how to kill him. But they were afraid of him because the people were so amazed at his teaching.

• All three synoptic gospels have the cleansing of the temple at the end of Jesus’ ministry. Only John has it at the beginning. It’s possible that he did it twice.
• “The temple cleansing is sandwiched between the two incidents of the fig tree, an arrangement meant to link the accounts. The judgment symbolized by the cursing of the fig tree is initiated by Jesus’ cleansing of the temple, and the cleansing of the temple is prophetic of the destruction of Jerusalem and the eschatological judgment (cf. Mark 13).” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).
• The cleansing of the temple fulfilled Malachi 3:1-3. Thus it was Jesus’ second messianic act during this week so far, along with the Triumphal Entry.
  • Malachi 3:1-3 (NLT) “Look! I am sending my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. Then the Lord you are seeking will suddenly come to his Temple. The messenger of the covenant, whom you look for so eagerly, is surely coming,” says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies. “But who will be able to endure it when he comes? Who will be able to stand and face him when he appears? For he will be like a blazing fire that refines metal, or like a strong soap that bleaches clothes. He will sit like a refiner of silver, burning away the dross. He will purify the Levites, refining them like gold and silver, so that they may once again offer acceptable sacrifices to the LORD.”
• “For the convenience of pilgrims, the cattlemen and moneychangers had set up businesses in the Court of the Gentiles. The animals were sold for sacrifices. It was far easier for a pilgrim in Jerusalem to purchase one that was guaranteed kosher than to have to bring an animal with him and have it inspected for meeting the kosher requirements. The Roman money the pilgrims brought to Jerusalem had to be changed into the Tyrian currency (the closest thing to the old Hebrew shekel), since the annual temple tax had to be paid in that currency. Exorbitant prices were often charged for selling the currency. By overturning the tables of the moneychangers and the benches of those selling doves, Jesus was directly challenging the authority of the high priest, because they were there by his authorization. In John’s account Jesus drove them out with a whip made from pieces of rope. Mark does not mention a whip. Nevertheless the words ‘driving out’ and ‘overturned the tables’ suggest that Jesus used force.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).
• “The first passage quoted by Jesus (verse 17) is Isaiah 56:7, a prediction that non-Jews who worship God will be allowed to worship in the temple. By allowing the Court of the Gentiles, the only place in the temple area where Gentiles were allowed to worship God, to become a noisy, smelly public market, the Jewish religious leaders were preventing Gentiles from exercising the spiritual privilege promised them.” (Expositor’s Bible Commentary).
• “God did not plan for the temple to become a national shrine for Israel. Isaiah 56:1-8 contains God’s promise of blessing for all who might think they are excluded from God’s salvation….Most assumed that Isaiah 56 spoke of some distant future, but Jesus expects it to be fulfilled now!” (The NIV Application Commentary)
• “By quoting Jeremiah 7, Jesus reminds the people that something holy can be perverted. He claims that the same abuses that sullied the temple cult in the time of Jeremiah taint it now…. Jesus’ prophetic action and words attack a false trust in the efficacy of the temple sacrificial system. The leaders of the people think they can rob widows’ houses (Mark 12:40) and then perform the prescribed sacrifices according to the prescribed patterns at the prescribed times in the prescribed purity in the prescribed sacred space and then safe and secure from all alarms. They are wrong. The sacrifice of animals will not enable them to evade the doom that God purposes for those guilty of lying, stealing, violence, and adultery (see 7:21-23). The sanctuary, supposedly sanctified by God has become a sanctuary for bandits who think they are protected from God’s judgment.” (The NIV Application Commentary) 
• “The significance of the cleansing of the temple is that with the coming of the Messiah, ‘[Jesus] seeks to make available to the Gentiles the privileges which belonged to the new age and thereby he proclaims that the time of universal worship, uninhibited by Jewish restrictions, has come.’ This would have been particularly meaningful for Mark’s predominantly Gentile readers.”
• “[Jesus] does not intend to reform the temple. Jesus has been acclaimed as a prophet. Prophets do not simply make announcements; they also engage in prophetic actions to communicate. Jesus appears in the temple as a charismatic prophet and graphically acts out God’s rejection of the temple cult and its coming destruction…. He symbolically attacks the very function of the temple and heralds its destruction. The temple’s glory days are coming to an end, In private, Jesus will predict to his disciples that the temple will be destroyed (13:1-2), and his hostility to the temple emerges as a charge at this trial (14:58) and as a taunt at the cross (15:29)” (The NIV Application Commentary)
• This shows two elements that God really wanted from his people. 
  • First, he wanted them to have a heart for him. The temple was about worshiping him and maintaining a relationship with him. The people in charge of the temple turned it into a commercial venture. 
  • Second, he wanted them to have a heart for outsiders. God made provision in the temple for Gentiles to draw near and worship. But the temple leaders took the space dedicated to Gentiles and turned it into a loud, smelly marketplace.

The Lesson

What pleases God is a two-fold heart attitude: trusting God for all our greatest needs (faith), and forgiving others the way God has forgiven us.

Mark 11:19-21 (NLT) That evening Jesus and the disciples left the city.

The next morning as they passed by the fig tree he had cursed, the disciples noticed it had withered from the roots up. Peter remembered what Jesus had said to the tree on the previous day and exclaimed, “Look, Rabbi! The fig tree you cursed has withered and died!”

• These verses form the second part of the story of the fig tree, surrounding the account of the cleansing of the temple.
• When they all saw the fig tree withered, Jesus did not interpret the event. Yet the meaning stands out: Jesus’ predicted judgment on the temple later that day (ch 13), and his other statements of judgment against Israel (chapters 12) will come to pass as surely as his withering of the tree.
• “For a fig tree in full leaf to shrivel so completely within a day is a miracle, and it conveys that the temple’s condemnation is not a temporary measure. It is everlasting. This event also contrasts the sterility of temple Judaism with the authority and power of Jesus.”(The NIV Application Commentary)

Mark 11:22-25 (NLT) Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours. But when you are praying, first forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.”

• The main point of the fig tree episode is the sure judgment of God on the temple, and on Israel more largely. But Jesus uses the incident to also teach some lessons on faith and prayer. The power demonstrated by the fig tree’s destruction points to how Christians respond to that same power. God, its source, must be the object of our faith.
• Jesus speaks figuratively. A mountain is a symbol of great difficulty. The greatest possible difficulties can be removed when a person has faith.
• To be effective, prayer must be offered in faith – faith in the all-powerful God who works miracles. But it must also be offered in the spirit of forgiveness. So two conditions for effective prayer are: faith; and the willingness to forgive.
• Relationship with God is not based on ritual sacrifices, as at the temple, but simply on faith and forgiveness. 

Close

By the time Mark wrote his gospel, the temple may have already been destroyed. He wants to let his readers know that this was the judgment of God predicted by Jesus, and that the temple was no longer necessary for a real relationship with God. 

Hebrews 10:11-16 (NLT) 11 Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. 12 But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand. 13 There he waits until his enemies are humbled and made a footstool under his feet. 14 For by that one offering he forever made perfect those who are being made holy.15 And the Holy Spirit also testifies that this is so. For he says,16 “This is the new covenant I will make with my people on that day, says the LORD:I will put my laws in their hearts, and I will write them on their minds.”