Listen to the audio of today’s Reflection:
https://soundcloud.com/hapearce/reflection-for-march-25-2024
Mark 11:12-25
Jesus Clears the Temple
The next day as they were leaving Bethany, Jesus was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to find out if it had any fruit. When he reached it, he found nothing but leaves, because it was not the season for figs.14 Then he said to the tree, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard him say it.
15 On reaching Jerusalem, Jesus entered the temple area and began driving out those who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves, 16 and would not allow anyone to carry merchandise through the temple courts. 17 And as he taught them, he said, “Is it not written:
‘My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it ‘a
den of robbers.’”
18 The chief priests and the teachers of the law heard this and began looking for a way to kill him, for they feared him, because the whole crowd was amazed at his teaching.
19 When evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.
The Withered Fig Tree
20 In the morning, as they went along, they saw the fig tree withered from the roots. 21 Peter remembered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree you cursed has withered!”
22 “Have faith in God,” Jesus answered. 23 “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in their heart but believes that what they say will happen, it will be done for them.”
It’s Holy Week, and our readings recount the events that followed the triumphal procession of Jesus into the city of Jerusalem – the entry we remembered on Palm Sunday in worship. These readings come from Mark’s gospel, which we understand to be a record of Peter’s remembrances of Jesus’ life and teachings. So these readings are understood to come from an eyewitness account.
When we thought about Jesus’ Triumphal Entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday, we said that this wasn’t the only triumphal entry in history. In the ancient world, kings and conquerors would often process into important cities on ceremonial occasions. (We also mentioned that there had been other triumphal processions into Jerusalem itself – including one led by King David and another led by Alexander the Great.)
And there was a pattern to these occasions. The king or conqueror would ride into the city at the head of his troops with military bands playing. Then the procession would go to the main temple of the city, where the leader would offer a sacrifice to the city’s main god as a kind of ‘good will gesture.’
But of course, there was a completely different tone when Jesus rode in. Instead of a war horse, Jesus came riding a donkey, which was considered a symbol of humility. Instead of military bands, there were religious pilgrims singing psalms about the Messiah. And in today’s reading, Jesus goes to the temple in Jerusalem, but instead of offering a sacrifice as a good will gesture, Jesus “cleanses” the temple by driving out the money changers and the merchants selling sacrificial animals.
The New Testament scholars say Jesus didn’t drive out the merchants just because he objected to the idea of selling sacrificial animals. That had started out as a service to worshippers, so they didn’t have to drag along animals from far away when they came to make a sacrifice. But over time the priests had given the animal sellers a monopoly, and started to take a cut of the profits. Once there was a monopoly, the merchants had been allowed to jack up their prices. Some historians say that by Jesus’ time, the price for sacrificial animals was eighty times what the same animals cost outside the temple walls. So the scholars say that’s what infuriated Jesus – the merchants were exploiting their position in the temple of God to gouge people who came to worship.
And there’s a connection between that corruption and the strange action Jesus performs at the beginning of today’s passage. It’s an action that strikes some readers as weird, and maybe even irrational. He curses a fig tree and causes it to wither. So what’s up with that?
In Hebrew tradition, the fig tree was a symbol of the temple, and of the Jewish religious establishment in general. That religious establishment was supposed to bear fruit – to nurture people in their faith so they could know and serve God better. But instead, the Hebrew establishment had become corrupt and “fruitless.” So by cursing the fig tree, Jesus was symbolically cursing the religious establishment it represented. And when that tree was seen to wither, it was meant as a sign that God’s favor had been withdrawn from the temple. And within the lifetime of many of those who witnessed this strange action, the temple would be destroyed forever by the Romans.
Then Jesus tells the disciples that they didn’t need to worry about the temple having lost its divine blessing – that they could pray anywhere with equal power. Jesus probably intended the bit about moving mountains as a metaphor. Jesus often used exaggerated metaphors to make a point – remember what he said about having a log in your own eye and about getting a camel (or a rope) through the eye of a needle?
It’s also important to know that Jesus is speaking to the disciples as a group here, so he was telling them that God would grant the prayers of the church as a body. The word translated “you” in the passage is second person plural – like ‘you all.’ So Jesus’ point is that God will hear and respond to the prayers of the gathered church – not necessarily that every individual’s prayers will always be granted.
This passage is mostly about the Hebrew religious establishment, about God’s disappointment with its lack of fruitfulness and the withdrawal of his blessing from it. A New Covenant was being formed, and God’s blessing was being transferred to the followers of Jesus. The important lesson for us, it seems to me, is that God’s blessing carries with it the expectation of fruitfulness. So the question it asks us, it seems, is whether we followers of Jesus – the people of the New Covenant – are bearing the fruit God expects of us.
Let’s pray. Lord, during this Holy Week, move our hearts to a greater commitment to serving you in the world, individually and as the one body of Jesus. Empower us to bear fruit for your kingdom in all we do. Amen.
Grace and Peace,
Henry
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