Jesus Curses the Fig Tree & Clears the Temple

 Meditations of the Gospel of Mark

September 23, 2020

Jesus Curses the Fig Tree & Clears the Temple

I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours.

Mark 11:24

Read: Mark 11: 12-25

The way Mark places Jesus clearing the Temple between the two parts of Jesus’ encounter with the fig tree are helpful in understanding the Messiah’s agenda.

Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem was in the early spring time so Jesus would not have expected any fruit to be on the fig tree. Jesus cursed the barren fig tree because it represented Israel which had become barren in fulfilling her mission to be a light to the world.  Then he arrives in the Temple area and drives out the people who were performing a service necessary for the Temple functions of making sacrifices and offerings to God. Jesus’s action effectively shut down the Temple activities for a while, which was Jesus’ way of demonstrating God’s judgment against the Temple because the intended role of the Temple had become corrupt at its core.

The key phrase in understanding Jesus’ actions is “‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer for all nations, but you have turned it into a den of thieves.” The Lord intended Israel to be a light to the nations; instead she had become prideful and exclusionary. Interestingly, today at the base of the Mount of Olives, the path Jesus traveled on his way into Jerusalem, stands the Church of All Nations.

Jesus concludes with an instruction on prayer. He begins the instruction with “Have faith in God” and ends with “forgive anyone you are holding a grudge against, so that your Father in heaven will forgive your sins, too.” The inference for me is that my prayers will be answered with the power of God when my prayers reflect the heart of God for His church and His Kingdom.

My Takeaway: Two disciplines help me practice Jesus’ teaching on prayer. First, I begin my daily prayer time with silence as I reflect on Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am God!” Secondly, before I formulate my prayer requests I contemplate Philippians 2:5, “Let the same mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.”

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com. The BLOG is also available on Amazon Kindle, by subscription.

Copyright © 2020 by Alex M. Knight

Publications by Alex M. Knight:

• Seeking the Life in Christ, Meditations on the New Testament and Psalms has been published and is now available at Amazon.com in paperback and Kindle.

• The second edition of  First Think – Then Pray is available on Amazon Kindle.

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.