Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
This next week I’ll be teaching on from Mark 11 in our fourth week of our series entitled “Walk On.” We’re discussing and looking at people who walked with God and while this particular text doesn’t explicitly say someone “walked with God”, the event itself takes place as the disciples are walking with Jesus from Jericho to Jerusalem.
It’s on this journey that we receive what could be argued as one of the most cryptic things Jesus utters in the gospels. It’s quite bizarre actually. There is a fig tree, out of season (meaning it shouldn’t have had any figs on it at this time) and Jesus curses it for not bearing fruit. Then he goes into the temple, and drives out the people who were selling animals for the daily sacrifices (which is not inherently wrong, see Old Testament law on this one.) From there they leave, and the disciples note that the fig tree has withered!
As Cliff Claven of Cheers used to say, “What’s up with that?”
I would love it if you might read the passage a few times this week, and if you have any thoughts on the text and it’s meaning…let’s hear them.
20090811.1115p
Did you know that the fig tree tells us when the crucifixion happened? The Holy Spirit revealed to us (plural) that Jesus was crucified on August 17. I heard this revelation in 1983 but it was only from 1999 to 2003 that I checked whether there is any ring of truth in it or not. True enough, the revelation is correct. Today, I posted a blog relating the parable of the fig tree to the crucifixion. Please read my blog. Your comments are most welcome.