The inadequate fig tree

2 Samuel 17:24-18:8; Acts 22:30-23:11; Mark 11:12-26

On the way to Jerusalem, Jesus had spoken in parables as a means of calling out the true remnant of Israel. Those who understood, who had ears to hear, were the true chosen people of God, the first fruits of the new order being gathered around the true Messiah. The stage was being set for the overthrow of the old order, the sacrificial system centered around the Temple under the corrupt leadership of the religious elites. These elites could perceive Jesus was speaking his parables against them, but they could only respond with anger and indignation. It was, after all, their system that was about to be rendered obsolete. The cursing of the fig tree and the cleansing of the Temple were two enacted parables which drove this point home even more emphatically.

The fig tree had long been a symbol of the nation of Israel. It had been a sobering symbol, at best. From the beginning, its provision had been known to be inadequate. Adam and Eve tried to cover their nakedness with its leaves, but were unable to cover their sin. The fig tree should have stood as a reminder to Israel that the provision God had made for them through the Old Covenant of the law and its Temple rituals was only temporary. It pointed to a more  perfect embodiment of God's plan for redemption who, in the fullness of time, would come to gather his people from the ends of the earth.

When Jesus came, however, he found Israel complacent and faithless, unable to recognize the time of its visitation. Like the fig tree out of season, Israel was a fruitless branch. In cursing the fig tree, Jesus pronounced judgment on this fruitless, faithless Israel in the shadow of the very mountain on which stood the symbol of its apostasy. The Temple was supposed to be "a house of prayer for all the nations," but under its corrupt leadership, it had become "a den of robbers."

As the fig tree withered at Jesus's word, so the Temple, and the corrupt system it had come to represent, would be made to pass away as Jesus brought the Word of God to its perfect fulfillment. Within a generation, the Temple would become a smoldering ash heap; its temporary provision exposed for the inadequate covering it was. From its ruins would spring forth a new tree, the ever fruitful tree of life that is the cross of Jesus Christ.