In this part of Mark's Gospel, we are shown that what was going on in Jerusalem at the time was empty ritualism, not living faith. Jesus looked for the little berries on the fig tree that would have proceeded the flowers and fruit, but He found none – and so He cursed it. Then He walked into the Temple in Jerusalem. It was an externally beautiful building, but the interior was corrupted with greedy people who had set up a marketplace and were talking advantage of even the poorest of God's people. Sadly, this still goes on today. It is God Who needs to be worshiped, not we who need to be entertained.
Jesus was righteously angry at all this. Just like the fig tree, He found no spiritual fruit within the glorious and beautiful Temple. After seeing the dead fig tree again, He used this as an opportunity to teach His disciples a lesson about faith. He was not saying that the Lord will just dump blessings on you if you pray hard enough. But God did move heaven and earth to procure the forgiveness of our sins. Do we believe that? Jesus came for us to have a living faith, not just a trust in signs and symbols. |
