the unwelcome revelation of God in Jesus

 Jesus curses a fig tree (Mk 11:14) because it had no figs-- even though, as Mark is careful to point out, "it was not the season for figs."  Certainly Jesus who used gardening events to teach knew it was not the season for fruit.  The curse seems severe, "No one shall eat figs from you again!" and unwarranted.  Our exegete,  Dr. Sabin, tries to soften the severity by telling us "some scholars have suggested that the phrasing is more accurately rendered, "May no one ever eat fruit from you to the end of the age."   "If one has been following Mark's view of Jesus," she goes on, "one sees  that he always shows Jesus' power directed toward healing.  So here it seems right to understand Jesus' reply (to Peter) as encouragement to have faith in the fig tree's restoration."  If this were true, then why would  Jesus have cursed the fig tree at all,  since he could have used his power to have the fig tree bear fruit out of season-- rather than denying himself and everyone else the fruit of the tree for the foreseeable future. Creating fruit out of season would have demonstrated the power of prayer just as well and maintained Dr. Sabin's preferred image of him only using his power for healing.   Then there is the matter that His Father could have responded to Jesus' curse by simply declaring this tree to be a non-fruit bearing variety of fig tree,  like the non-fruit bearing cherry trees we have by the grace of God. There does not seem to be any intrinsic need to cause the tree to wither just because it bears no fruit.  


But then the revelation of God that this story and the surrounding stories were meant to convey would have been lost.  It is an important revelation into the very nature of God and man that proves unwelcome even today --even among church going people. 

  Coty Pinckney is more respectful of the sacred text than our exegete, Dr. Sabin.  He notes that the text says that Jesus approached the tree to see if he could find any fruit on it (presumably knowing full well that it was out of season) but when he came up to it he found nothing but leaves.  "Many trees produce leaves and flowers simultaneously, and the fruit follows later. Figs appear to be an exception, but in reality they are not.  Fig trees produce flowers simultaneous with their leaves, but the flowers are encased in a fleshy, protective covering that has the same shape as ripe figs, giving the false appearance of fruit.  The fruit doesn't develop until after pollination occurs inside these coverings which requires the assistance of a special type if wasp. Then the fruit develops inside these flower coverings.  The skin of the ripe fig is actually this exterior protective covering of the flower."  When Jesus approached the tree, he found that the tree had neither ripe figs nor the flower modules-- the text says "he found only leaves."  The tree seemed from afar  to be flourishing, but in reality it was producing nothing of value.  It was a non-fruit bearing fig tree.  Jesus curses the appearance of fruitfulness without the reality.  God reveals this reality, which had been hidden, by causing the fig tree wither. 



In the middle of this story of the fig tree Mark tells the story of Jesus casting out the money changers from the courtyard of the Gentiles. He had scoped out the situation the day before, it was not a brash act.  Dr. Pinckney points out that the fruit of authentic prayer had already been driven out of the temple by the money changers.  The withering of the fig tree was the judgment of God and the precursor to the destruction of the prayerless temple.  It is the revelation of God in Jesus Christ that like salt that loses its savor, and temples that only produce prayers for show,  sin will have tragic consequences even though God continues to be gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love (Psalm 145:8).  The parable that begins the next chapter in Mark is also about the judgment of God on useless vineyard. The vineyard produces grapes, but not to the benefit of the owner.  "What will the owner of the vineyard do?" Jesus asks the temple authorities.  Without waiting for them to answer he tells them. "He himself will come and make an end of the tenants and give the vineyard to others." The temple authorities, who offered prayer fro show and drove out authentic prayer to God,  understood that he was speaking about them specifically. They get it, but this was an unwanted and unacceptable revelation. Rather than repent their sin like the Ninevites in Jonah's time  , they preferred to kill  "one greater than Jonah."  The salt that looses its savor, the fruitless fig tree, and the profitless vinyard are used by Jesus to reveal the same eternal truth.  The salt gets trampled under foot, the fruit tree withers, the tenants are killed,  the foolish virgins are kept out of the wedding feast. And the teachers of the law  (Mk:12.40-41) who take the best places at feasts, take advantage of widows robbing them of their home then make a show of saying long prayers." Their punishment will be all the worse!" he says.  A God who loves sinners also punishes the unrepentant.  It is precisely the unwantedness of the revelation of God in Jesus that nails him to a leafless tree.  He tells us "my flesh is true food and my body true drink (John 6:55). The leafless cross is the tree of new life.