SCRIPTURE: Mark 11:12-19
This is not an isolated account of Jesus being ornery because He is hungry.
Mark ties this story together with what happens in the temple to show what Jesus was doing.
A barren fig tree was a powerful cultural symbol for the Jews, a sign of God’s judgment: “I will ruin her vines and her fig trees…” (Hosea 2:11-13).
Jesus’ point is that a time is coming when God will hold us accountable for our barren lives.
God created us for love and good works, but so many humans produce bad fruit – hate, greed, lust, selfishness, cruelty.
Again and again God hopes for good fruit, He gives us so many opportunities and resources to produce them.
But so often we twist and pervert our world, even our religious activities, for selfish purposes.
This temple marketplace is an example, turning peoples’ spiritual need into an opportunity for personal greed.
God is patient for a time, but a time is coming when He will hold people accountable, and the barren (read ‘willfully selfish, cruel and immoral’) will be cursed.
What is striking in this passage is that it is the religious people that God is most angry with, what does this say about Christians and churches today?
What do you sense the Lord saying to you?
PRAYER
Lord, You desire love and good works from us, that is why You created me, that is why You have put me here in this time and place. Help me to see this as my full-time calling.