Israeli Fig Tree

Good morning, beloved,

Well, part two of Holy Week takes us to the next morning.  Allow me to remind you of a few things about this week…this is Passover week for the Jews, right? The Last Supper is a Seder meal (more on that later in the week) so that would mean a few things…1. Passover always occurs in the 1st month, 14th day which is  March-April in our calendar. 2. The weather in Israel during this time is not conducive to “fig” production, so my picture is not accurate for how it would have looked in the following passage.  With that said, let’s dive in!

Mark 11

12On the day following, when they had come away from Bethany, He was hungry.

13And seeing in the distance a fig tree [covered] with leaves, He went to see if He could find any [fruit] on it [[c]for in the fig tree the fruit appears at the same time as the leaves]. But when He came up to it, He found nothing but leaves, for the fig season had not yet come.

14And He said to it, No one ever again shall eat fruit from you. And His disciples were listening [to what He said].

15And they came to Jerusalem. And He went into the temple [area, the [d]porches and courts] and began to drive out those who sold and bought in the temple area, and He overturned the [[e]four-footed] tables of the money changers and the seats of those who dealt in doves;

16And He would not permit anyone to carry any household equipment through the temple enclosure [thus making the temple area a short-cut traffic lane].

17And He taught and said to them, Is it not written, My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations? But you have turned it into a den of robbers.

18And the chief priests and the scribes heard [of this] and kept seeking some way to destroy Him, for they feared Him, because the entire multitude was struck with astonishment at His teaching.

19And when evening came on, He and [f]His disciples, as accustomed, went out of the city.

Why did Jesus kill a fig tree? Jesus never minces words. There was a very good reason He killed a fig tree. It came from Jeremiah, the weeping Prophet.

Jeremiah 8

13I will gather and sweep them away, utterly consuming them, says the Lord. [I will find] no grapes on the vine, nor figs on the fig tree, and even the leaf is withered; and the things that I have given them shall pass away from them [for I have appointed to them those who shall pass over them].

What’s He saying? Could Jesus be pronouncing an end to the temple system? Yikes? Their entire culture, way of life, gone? Jesus is symbolically, prophetically showing these followers…I am the better way. The temple system shall pass away. Okay, He is also declaring destruction..we’ll get to that later.  He is giving them a visual cue for them to think about and talk about and consider. They will not forget. Would you?

Site Where Jesus Overturned the tables..

I’ve never really understood this scene. Well, yes, I have in my limited sense.  I understood that the people set up tables and were selling products. My understanding saw Jesus’ passionate response as this is holy anger! How dare they use His house this way! Yet, I failed to tie in the Old Testament to what Jesus was doing in the Temple. Honestly, if I think this through (I could be wrong here..) but do we think that this was the first time in Jesus’ life tables were set up in the Temple exchanging monies? Just saying. I can also just imagine the scene Jesus created. Good heavens. What a mess! 🙂 Overturning tables, stopping traffic, just think that through in your mind…

So, Jesus quotes Jeremiah, again.

Jeremiah 7

9Will you steal, murder, commit adultery, swear falsely, burn incense to Baal, and go after other gods that you have not known,

10And [then dare to] come and stand before Me in this house, which is called by My [a]Name, and say, [By the discharge of this religious formality] we are set free!–only to go on with this wickedness and these abominations?

11Has this house, which is called by My Name, become a den of robbers in your eyes [a place of retreat for you between acts of violence]? Behold, I Myself have seen it, says the Lord.

I hate to do it…part three..tomorrow…