Mark

The withered fig tree. 11:12-26

The story of the withered fig tree is woven around Jesus' cleansing of the Temple. It stands as part of the story of Jesus' entry into Jerusalem and his confrontation with the religion of Israel. The religion of Israel had failed and for this reason she stood condemned. Jesus goes on to speak to his disciples, the new Israel, teaching them about the real nature of religion.

v12-14. On the previous day, Jesus had entered the temple, surveyed the state of affairs, and then spent the evening at Bethany. Now, the next morning, Mark notes that Jesus is hungry. Having found a fig tree without fruit, Jesus curses it, even though it was out of season. Clearly Jesus is performing an acted-out parable.

v15-17. Leaving Bethany, Jesus travels to Jerusalem and enters the temple. Israel was God's special people, a holy nation, and the temple was the visible expression of this reality before the whole world. Yet, the temple had been turned into little more than trash-and-treasure market. With righteous anger Jesus enacted God's condemnation.

v18-19. Jesus, having offended the holier than thou religious crew of his day, now found himself the focus of their hate. They feared his power and his popularity.

v20-21. The message of the acted-out parable of the cursed fig tree is plain enough: faithless fruitless Israel, like the fruitless fig tree, will wither and die.

v22. Jesus' exhortation to the disciples, as they look upon the withered fig tree, is "take hold of God's faithfulness." Don't be like the people of Israel who have ignored God's gracious kindness, ignored his overflowing mercy. Mark follows up with three related sayings:

v23. In the first saying Jesus tells us that faith can move mountains. Israel has failed in the faith department. The temple should have been a beacon of salvation to the Gentiles, but the Court of the Gentiles was more a flea-market than a place of prayer. The followers of Christ, the new Israel, now have the honor to hope, pray, plan and act for the salvation of the world through the gospel of Christ.

v24. In the second saying we are reminded that resting in faith on the promises of God is the way we realize those promises. Although "whatever" could mean "anything", it actually means "whatever God promises", and at the top of his list of promises is forgiveness.

v25. In the third saying we are reminded that a genuine appropriation of the mercy of God, of his forgiveness, prompts a desire to channel that mercy to others.

"I will forgive their wickedness and will remember their sins no more", Jer.31:34.

I was taught that if I claimed to be a follower of Jesus I must be willing to forgive others when they sin against me. If I fail to forgive them then God will not forgive me. So, when crossed, I was immediately forced into one of two tacks. On the one hand I played the..... "I still love you, I forgive you [but I will never forget]" routine. This means that we will never trust them again. Of course, this is a long way from what God means by forgiveness. On the other hand I played the..... "Well, obviously you're not a Christian, so I don't have to forgive you", routine. Again, not quite what God means by forgiveness.

To break open this problem there a a number of things we need to understand:

First, forgiveness is not a requirement for salvation. My salvation always rests on what Christ has done for me, not on what I can, or can't, do.

Second, there can be no forgiveness without repentance. Forgiveness is given to those who ask. We do well to remember that God only forgives those who ask for forgiveness.

Third, we can only ever hope to forgive imperfectly. Thankfully, our imperfection is covered by Christ's perfection.

Fourth, our limited capacity to forgive rests on God's abundant forgiveness. When we struggle to forgive someone we need to focus on what God has done for us in Christ.

Our forgiveness of others will always only ever be an imperfect reflection of the forgiveness offered us in Christ. No matter how high the mountain of our sin, in Christ, God will not even remember it. The offer of God's forgiveness was once to radiate from the chosen family of Israel. Now, in these last days, it is to radiate from us. The house of Israel has withered and died. Let the light of Christ shine from us into a world of darkness.

1. The cursing of the fig tree is an acted-out parable. What is the message of the parable?

2. A mountain-moving faith is a faith that trusts God to do what he says he will do. What are some of the mountains?

3. If God's forgiveness prompts our forgiving, can our forgiving prompt God's forgiveness? If not, why not?