St. Mark 11:1-33: "1 Now when they drew near Jerusalem, to Bethphage and Bethany, at the Mount of Olives, He sent two of His disciples; 2 and He said to them, 'Go into the village opposite you; and as soon as you have entered it you will find a colt tied, on which no one has sat. Loose it and bring it. 3 And if anyone says to you, "Why are you doing this?" say, "The Lord has need of it," and immediately he will send it here.' 4 So they went their way, and found the colt tied by the door outside on the street, and they loosed it. 5 But some of those who stood there said to them, 'What are you doing, loosing the colt?' 6 And they spoke to them just as Jesus had commanded. So they let them go. 7 Then they brought the colt to Jesus and threw their clothes on it, and He sat on it. 8 And many spread their clothes on the road, and others cut down leafy branches from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 Then those who went before and those who followed cried out, saying: 'Hosanna! "Blessed is He who comes in the name of the LORD!" 10 Blessed is the kingdom of our father David That comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!' 11 And Jesus went into Jerusalem and into the temple. So when He had looked around at all things, as the hour was already late, He went out to Bethany with the twelve. 12 Now the next day, when they had come out from Bethany, He was hungry. 13 And seeing from afar a fig tree having leaves, He went to see if perhaps He would find something on it. When He came to it, He found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. 14 In response Jesus said to it, 'Let no one eat fruit from you ever again.' And His disciples heard it. 15 So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. 16 And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. 17 Then He taught, saying to them, 'Is it not written, "My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations?" But you have made it a "den of thieves."' 18 And the scribes and chief priests heard it and sought how they might destroy Him; for they feared Him, because all the people were astonished at His teaching. 19 When evening had come, He went out of the city. 20 Now in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the fig tree dried up from the roots. 21 And Peter, remembering, said to Him, 'Rabbi, look! The fig tree which You cursed has withered away.' 22 So Jesus answered and said to them, 'Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, "Be removed and be cast into the sea," and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them. 25 And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses. 26 But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses.' 27 Then they came again to Jerusalem. And as He was walking in the temple, the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders came to Him. 28 And they said to Him, 'By what authority are You doing these things? And who gave You this authority to do these things?' 29 But Jesus answered and said to them, 'I also will ask you one question; then answer Me, and I will tell you by what authority I do these things: 30 The baptism of John--was it from heaven or from men? Answer Me.' 31 And they reasoned among themselves, saying, 'If we say, "From heaven," He will say, "Why then did you not believe him?" 32 "But if we say, "From men"'--they feared the people, for all counted John to have been a prophet indeed. 33 So they answered and said to Jesus, 'We do not know.' And Jesus answered and said to them, 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.'"
In today's reading our Lord Jesus enters into Jerusalem and pronounces sentence against it. It is easy to read this text, which contains two well known narratives--the triumphal entry of our Lord into Jerasalem and the driving out of the Temple of the money-changers--and skip over the seemingly insignificant narrative of the withering of the fig tree. At first sight this scene seems rather odd. Why is our dear Lord Jesus withering fig trees? Couldn't He just find some other means in which to find some food? As a matter of fact, why is He upset that the tree doesn't have fruit when the Evangelist St. Mark tells us that it wasn't the season for figs? But this withering of the fig tree is more than it seems. For notice that the Evangelist St. Mark relates what the other Gospel writers do not, that after entering into Jerusalem and going to the Temple, He just looks around. In the Gospels of St. Luke and St. Matthew, Jesus immediately goes into the Temple to drive out the money-changers.
However, here in this pericope, we get the fuller narrative of what our Lord did upon His arrival into Jerusalem. Our Lord Jesus upon looking around and doing nothing, goes outside of the city of Jerusalem, and seeing a fig tree from a far off, goes to it and pronounces judgment against it. This fig tree represents Jerusalem, and our Lord's proclamation against the fig tree, is His proclamation against Jerusalem. This prophecy against Jerusalem was fulfilled in 70 A.D. when the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple leaving not one stone upon another. In the Gospel of St. Luke we are reminded of this by our Lord Jesus Christ's weeping over Jerusalem, as He enters into this once holy city. (St. Luke 19:41-44) This also takes place before the cleansing of the Temple.
What that means is that in two Gospels we have between our Lord's arrival on a donkey into Jerusalem and the cleansing of the Temple, we have our minds directed towards it's destruction, one, the Gospel of St. Luke, does this by showing our Lord weeping as His praises are being sung by the crowds as He enters Jerusalem, and the second is here in the Gospel of St. Mark, where our Lord, through the destruction of the fig tree, foreshadows Jerusalem's destruction.
Thereupon, He cleanses the Temple (for the second time, for He did this at the beginning of His ministry as related by the Evangelist St. John) and having done so, the scribes and chief priests sought to destroy Him. This is interesting indeed. For the Lord has already passed judgment on Jerusalem through the withering of the fig tree, which He does because of the unbelief of the Jews, and now, having cleansed the Temple, the Jews seek to destroy Him. We see in this a picture of the battle between God and the devil. For God has already passed judgment on the devil, and for this reason, he seeks to destroy mankind, and now that the Son of God has shown up to save mankind, he seeks to destroy Him.
But the Lord Jesus shows His authority over these would be destroyers, for here they come to question Him on whose authority He does these things. This is strange, for they know full well, which is shown us by their reasoning amongst themselves over our Lord's question to them about St. John the Baptist. They knew he was from God, but did not want to admit it, for this would reveal their unbelief. See how unrepentant they are! The same is true of their view of our Lord, for they know that He is from God, even all the people see it, but they cannot bring themselves to confess it, for their unbelief is great.
This again leads us back to the fig tree, for as St. Peter points out, the fig tree that our Lord Jesus cursed, has withered, and the disciples, wanting to understand this, ask of Him what it meant. To which our Lord Jesus reveals that it is about faith. The fig tree represented the unbelief, or the unfruitfulness of the Jews, which led to the destruction of the Temple and Jerusalem, but those who have faith, those who believe that our Lord Jesus is the Son of God, sent from the Father to win forgiveness of sins, eternal life, and salvation, produce much fruit. And this faith, this fruit, always comes back to forgiveness of sins.
This is perhaps an odd thing for our Lord to say, since He was not very forgiving to the fig tree for not having any figs when it wasn't the season for them. But this is made more clear when one understands the fig tree to represent the unbelief of the Jews, who in their unbelief cannot forgive. Therefore, our Lord Jesus is teaching His disciple to not be like the scribes and chief priests, but rather be forgiving. For whenever there is forgiveness, the fruit of faith is produced, in those who are truly repentant. For forgiveness is only half of the equation, the other half is repentance, or confession of one's sin. The Jews refused to confess their sin of unbelief, and as a result they condemned themselves to destruction.
Therefore, we should view this a stark warning to ourselves to confess our sins, and receive absolution. This is why private confession, which sadly, has fallen into disuse among Lutherans, on account of pietistic and Reformed influence, is starting to be observed in more parishes in the Lutheran Church. This is rightly so, since our Lutheran Confessions state that it should not fall into disuse. This private confession, offers a chance for an individual to get into the habit of bearing one's sins to God the Father, and being able to hear the absolution from God pronounced by the minister sent by Him to do this.
This is especially important as we enter into the season of Lent, where our eyes will be directed to our sinfulness over the next few weeks. We have a great opportunity to relieve ourselves of those burdens of sin which trouble us, by seeking out our minister and confessing to him our sin, so that he may forgive us. Even if your parish does not provide set times for private confession, if you contact your minister, he will be happy to hear your confession. If he is not willing, or doesn't know what he is doing, then perhaps you need to seek a new parish and minister, one who knows the importance of these things, and actually follows the Lutheran Confessions.
May God be with you!
Deacon Dulas
