Jesus comes to a fig tree looking for fruit, and finds only leaves. He curses the tree (Mark 11:12-14).
In the next scene, He’s in the temple throwing the furniture and calling it a den of brigands (vv. 15-18).
The next morning, the fig tree is withered, and Jesus talks about throwing the temple mount into the sea with prayer (vv. 20-26).
The fig tree is the temple. Like all trees, the temple serves as a canopy and a covering (see the similar use of vine imagery in Psalm 80). It’s a firmament. It’s supposed to be a fruitful tree, nourishing Israel and the nations. It’s supposed to be a burning bush, radiating the light of God’s presence as well as serving the bread of God.
The temple has become an unfruitful tree; its worship is nothing more than fig leaves, a pathetic covering for an Israel as ashamed as Adam in Eden.
And what few figs it produces are unripe and will be shaken off (Revelation 6:13). When the fruit/stars of the tree of Israel are shaken off, nothing is left but fig leaves, and that is not sufficient covering when the Lamb appears.
YOU MIGHT ALSO LIKE
Lift My Chin, Lord
Lift my chin, Lord,Say to me,“You are not whoYou feared to be,Not Hecate, quite,With howling sound,Torch held…
Letters
Two delightful essays in the March issue, by Nikolas Prassas (“Large Language Poetry,” March 2025) and Gary…
Spring Twilight After Penance
Let’s say you’ve just comeFrom confession. Late sunPours through the budding treesThat mark the brown creek washing Itself…
