Mark 11: 12-21

"And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, [Jesus] 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....And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who sold and those who bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons;...As they passed by in the morning, [the disciples] saw the fig tree withered away to its roots." (Mark 11:13-14,15b, 20)

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"There can be no doubt that this, without exception, is the most difficult story in the gospel narrative. To take it as literal history presents difficulties which are well-nigh insuperable." (Barclay, The Gospel of Mark, New Daily Study Bible p. 314)

Not the most encouraging start to what is, indeed, a difficult passage to understand. In his above commentary, Wm. Barclay treats as a unit the two separate parts (the cause and effect if you will) of the incident with the fig tree and then moves on to the cleansing of the Temple. While this seems a good and desirable way to treat this narrative, the fact that it is presented in context in two parts with Jesus' cleansing of the Temple interposed is not insignificant and I believe the arrangement of the text this way helps to unravel something of its mystery.

Firstly, this story takes place in the midst of the Passover season, so it would be around mid-April. Figs don't generally bear fruit until May or June, so no one would have expected there to be any on the tree. While there is no fruit, it is in leaf, so there are obvious signs of life and continuity.

Is this in fact an allegory for the practices of the Temple in Jesus' time? The leaves are there: the prayers and sacrifices continue, the letter of the Law is being fulfilled, as it had been since Moses commanded what he had received from the Lord. The fruit, however, is missing: the offering of sacrifices has been overrun with commercialisation and people coming to worship are being victimised by extortioners.

Just as no one would expect to see figs on the tree, did anyone really think the current practice of the Temple could/should be reformed?

Sometimes the only way to effect a cure is to completely cut off the disease. Thus, Jesus' dramatic action in overturning the tables of the money-changers is symbolically represented in the withered tree. The fig tree is then both 1. what the Temple had become through corruption and 2. a sign of its coming supercession thanks to Christ's self-offering on Calvary.

When the disciples notice the withered tree, likely still in shock over what had happened the previous day, it becomes yet another sign for them of who Jesus is and what He has come to do. I imagine Him asking them: Do you see now how serious your situation is? This tree and the Temple are in exactly the same state of being.'

One thing is clear, things could not continue on as they had. A radical change/fulfillment was necessary both in the externals of worship and in the hearts of all men.

Here is an interesting story:

"Flavius Josephus reports strange happenings in the final years before the outbreak of the Jewish War, all of which, in different and unsettling ways, heralded the end of the Temple....In A.D. 66 '[A]t the Feast of Pentecost, when the priests had gone into the inner court of the Temple at night to perform the usual ceremonies, they declared that they were aware, first of a violent movement and a loud crash, then of a concerted cry: Let us go hence.' Whatever exactly may have happened, one thing is clear: in the final years before the dramatic events of the year 70, the Temple was enveloped in a mysterious premonition that its end was approaching." (Pope Benedict XVI, Jesus of Nazareth, vol. 2, pp. 25-26)

Peace