MARKAN MEDITATIONS

Meditations in the Gospel of St. Mark

St. Mark 11:12-19

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WE HAVE two incidents in this short section of Mark's Gospel the incident with the fig tree and the incident concerning the clearing of the temple.

The incident with the fig tree for me certainly presents a difficulty, at least on the surface. It is one of those places in the Bible that the Christian needs to humbly understand that more light is needed. Jesus cannot be doing wrong by cursing the fig tree. Perhaps the fig tree by having leaves was deceiving with the idea that it was fruitful, when it was not. We are told that it was not the time for figs, and perhaps it should not have had the leaves either.

Jesus as God is sovereign over his creation. This act of cursing the fig tree was a divine act of sovereign will to which creation must submit, just as the fish in John 21 obeyed their creator when he desired them to be caught, even though it meant the loss of their lives. Creation submits to the Creator. Sinful human beings are the rebels.

There is in fact a very important figurative lesson being taught by Jesus here, and that is the importance of bearing fruit. The fig tree's purpose in life is to bear fruit. If it is not fruitful then it is useless and unable to fulfil the purpose for which it was created. Here is a parable concerning the Jews at the time of Jesus. They outwardly had much potential which is represented in the fig tree by the leaves. The Jews outwardly followed all the aspects of their religion, but as the clearing of the temple illustrates in the next incident in this passage, they were not fulfilling the purpose for which they were chosen by God. They were failing to bring forth fruit unto God. In fact all their outward show was sham, because in the end they rejected their Messiah and murdered him.

Fruitlessness means that the Jews were useless for the purpose for which God chose them, and they were ripe for judgement as the cursing of the unfruitful fig tree illustrates. All believers are chosen, justified, born anew for the purpose of bringing forth fruit to God. We must be producing the fruits of the Spirit. We must be fruitful in the use of the gifts God has given us. If not we are not fulfilling the purpose of our salvation. A totally fruitless Christian is a sign of a spurious Christian. All true believers are seeking to be fruitful more and more as time goes by. It is the character of the believer to be fruitful.

The situation in the temple, illustrated by the commerce that was going on there, shows forth the unfruitful state of the Jewish church in the time of Jesus. Jesus is not condemning all buying and selling in the temple and in churches today. Bookstalls in churches can't be condemned outright on the basis of Jesus' action here. The buying and selling no doubt grew up to provide a spiritual service for the people. People could hardly bring animals a long journey in order to offer sacrifices in the temple. It was a necessary extension of this that foreign money could be exchanged for the currency in Jerusalem so that purchases of animals for sacrifice could be made. This is not bad in and of itself.

The heart of the matter is in the words of Jesus where he says that the temple had been made into a den of robbers. Worshippers were being exploited. The sellers were asking their captive customers extortionate prices. The temple authorities and the Jewish hierarchy were no doubt getting their cut for permitting the trade. All this was justified by saying a service was provided, and necessary revenue was being raised for the maintenance of the temple. However Jesus exposes what was really going on. People were being robbed in the name of religion. God was being dishonoured. The purpose of the temple was being corrupted.

How easily does the spirit of the world and the values of the world creep into the church. How easily can a good thing be corrupted. How blind can people become to what is really going on. How difficult it is to purify the church once such worldliness has entered and become established. The danger is that if the church will not reform itself, then Jesus will come to judge a corrupt church, just as Jesus did here in the temple.

Just as Jesus had power to cleanse his temple here, and the Jewish authorities had no strength to oppose him, so Jesus has power now to cleanse his church if the church becomes corrupted by the world.

There is one further warning which is so clearly sounded in this episode. In verse 18 we read that the chief priests and the teachers of the law began to look for ways to kill Jesus. Far from being convicted by Jesus' action in cleansing the temple, they were rather incensed against Jesus and true godliness. Satan often succeeds in so corrupting the church that its leaders, who should be standing for godliness, work to uphold the ways of the world and greed.