Step 35

Mark 11:12-25 Mountains Removed

About Mark: The fig tree incident is peculiar. It is the only destructive miracle attributed to Jesus, and so out of character it compels our attention. But if we view it as Mark presents it, it becomes a parable. As Jesus enters Jerusalem the fig tree is condemned (12-14). The next morning the disciples see that the prediction has been fulfilled (20-21).

These two incidents bracket another condemnation; the condemnation of the temple (15-18). The withering fig tree becomes a parable about the eventual destruction of the temple. As the fig tree withered and died, the temple too will be destroyed; a prediction fulfilled in AD 70 when after an extended Roman seige the city and the temple were brought to ruins.

So in this passage, the fig tree is one metaphor for the temple. Another metaphor of the temple is "this mountain". With its rising tiers, now 50% higher through Herod's renovations, it appeared as a mountain of gold, glistening in the rising or setting sun. Isaiah had written of "the mountain of the Lord's house ... and all the nations shall stream to it" (Isaiah 2:2). This is one mountain that would be "cast into the sea" but faith in God was needed until it occurred.

Bible: Mark 11:12-25, Jesus Curses the Fig Tree
12 On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. 13 Seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see whether perhaps he would find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 He said to it, "May no one ever eat fruit from you again." And his disciples heard it.

Jesus Cleanses the Temple
15 Then they came to Jerusalem. And he entered the temple and began to drive out those who were selling and those who were buying in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves; 16 and he would not allow anyone to carry anything through the temple. 17 He was teaching and saying, "Is it not written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations'? But you have made it a den of robbers." 18 And when the chief priests and the scribes heard it, they kept looking for a way to kill him; for they were afraid of him, because the whole crowd was spellbound by his teaching. 19 And when evening came, Jesus and his disciples went out of the city.

The Lesson from the Withered Fig Tree
20 In the morning as they passed by, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. 21 Then Peter remembered and said to him, "Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered." 22 Jesus answered them, "Have faith in God. 23 Truly I tell you, if you say to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and if you do not doubt in your heart, but believe that what you say will come to pass, it will be done for you. 24 So I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. 25 "Whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses."

Comment: MOUNTAINS REMOVED
People came to the temple in the same way that the hungry approach a fruiting fig tree. But the temple betrayed the hope it symbolised. Instead of being a place of prayer for all people of all nations (17), as God had intended, Herod had rebuilt it to exclude inner access to all but a privileged and powerful few.

Descriptions of Herod's renovated temple often read like a travel guide to a tour party. Which is quite appropriate. For the poor would immediately be excluded from continuing, unable to pay the temple tax at the money changers. Next the handicapped would be left behind unable to cope with the tiered steps to each successive court.

Then signs threatened immediate execution to any Gentile who crossed an outer barrier. Ethnic discrimination permitted only Jews to continue into the court of the women, where all the women must remain as the party proceeded further. Then at the next barrier, only priests could proceed.

All of this is so obnoxious to true religion that the temple was utterly doomed, as the fig tree incident signified. The temple was intended as a house of prayer for all nations, indicating an all-inclusiveness. But Herod and the High Priests had transformed it by corrupt commercialism into an exclusive institution of rapacious profit and perpetual power.

Jesus condemned the temple. And he showed the way to God without it. Jesus posed a direct challenge to their commercial empire, which is why his opponents tried to eliminate him.

But beyond the present situation, with its corruption and despair, Jesus commands, "Have faith in God!" This temple "mountain" as it was known (Isa.2:2-3), and as it looked from the adjacent Mount of Olives, would - when God acted - be taken up and cast into the sea, probably referring to the Dead Sea under which old Sodom lay; visible in the distance from Olivet.

Discipleship today: However elaborate and extensive it may be, as this mountain can be cast into the sea to relieve God of an intolerable impediment to true faith, so also at the individual level, God can also remove the mountain of our sins, ... if we forgive the sins of others also (24-25).

There are rapid transitions of thought here. But think carefully about those words to catch Mark's meaning. The temple impeded the purposes of God in the national life of Israel. We too can have impediments to God's purposes in our personal lives. It is phrased here as "anything against anyone" (25).

Part of our praying business is to trust God and forgive people. If not, we shall continue to bear a mountain of guilt like a burden on our back. Trust God. Forgive people. And God can then forgive you!

The word forgive actually means "let go, leave, depart, say goodbye to". While we tenaciously hold others' sins against them, we corrosively poison ourselves with bitterness and vindictiveness. By letting them go, we release and relieve ourselves!

And if we release others of their sins, God graciously releases us of our sins. The converse appears as verse 26 in some manuscripts, "But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses." In all forgiveness we must trust God, for he alone can balance the books of life's injustice. In his own death Jesus set the model, forgiving those who crucified him. Peter says, "....when he suffered he did not threaten; but he entrusted himself to the one who judges justly" (1 Peter 2:23).